Amazon – Part 3

Jungle Day 4 cont’d

Our boat from the low jungle picked us up a bit late, so we arrived at our next destination in the high jungle as the sun was setting. We were ushered off the boat at a small village where we were greeted by our guide. A small, energetic indigenous man whose Spanish was super challenging for me to understand and no matter how many times I asked him to repeat his name I just could not capture it. I landed on Apretcha.

While we were still at the dock, Apretcha handed us a fresh pair of rubber boots and informed us that we will need to walk to the lodge about 30 minutes past the village. As the sun set, we pulled out our headlamps and trekked through the jungle in the dark. I remember feeling a bit vulnerable on that night-trek – in the jungle in the dark with this man we just met. The amount of trust we have had to put in strangers during some of our recent travels is incredible!

Dinner was waiting for us when we arrived at the lodge and when we finished, our guide was very eager to take us out on a longer night-hike. At this point, we had already woken up at 4:45 to watch the sunrise, gone on a hike in the low jungle with our other guide, traveled by boat for 3 hours to our new destination, and hiked another 30 minutes. All in the intense Amazon heat and humidity. We were absolutely beat! We postponed for the next day and called it a night. But not before our guide pointed out the freakiest insect I saw while we were there…this thing was about the size of my hand.

Jungle Day 5

When we walked out of our room the next morning, we were greeted by a massive, hairy tarantula who taunted us by not moving from in front of our room for the entire stay.

Before breakfast, our host wanted us to meet Manuelito and Margarita, two huge caimans who live in the lake on the property. Our host, Manuel, pulled out some raw chicken pieces and threw them on the edge of the lake. It didn’t take long before Margarita came in for breakfast! She was at least 6 ft long. We were told that the dogs and the children learn very quickly to stay away from the water…

After breakfast, our guide told us to suit up with our gear for a trek into the jungle. With our long sleeves, long pants, rubber boots, and bug spray, we headed in! This area is called the high jungle because it does not flood in the rainy season like the low jungle. Because of this, different plants and animals thrive as they are not wiped out by the high waters. I immediately noticed that it was much more dense.

Our guide was just as knowledgeable as the previous one about all of the plants and animals. He pointed out several plants for their medicinal purposes. Malaria, mosquito bites, flu, diarrhea, headache, scorpion stings, there was a plant for every ailment! And every plant seemed to have an identical looking counterpart that was poisonous. A lot of trial an error in the early days.

About halfway through our hike, we entered into a much less dense section of the forest. Apretcha called this his garden as it was filled with plantain trees and yucca plants that he harvested regularly. I haven’t looked this up, but I would venture to guess that yucca and plantains are of the top 5 foods in an average Colombian’s diet. They are served several ways and with almost every meal! Yucca has a very similar flavor to potatoes but are a bit starchier. He needed some yucca for dinner, so he showed us how he harvests it. It was pretty simple…just yank out the tree and take the roots!

We were pretty far into the jungle, so I was surprised that Apretcha didn’t bring a bag to carry his yucca hall. He then stopped at a palm tree, plucked a massive branch, and weaved together a backpack with bark for straps within 5 minutes! It was super impressive and he was very proud of it.

During this hike, we were only on a cleared path for a short time. The rest of the time, our guide was hacking his way through the greenery with his machete! At one point I was sure we were lost, I don’t know how he could have possibly known where we were in relation to the lodge. But sure enough, he hacked his way to the property just in time for lunch.

(Sidenote: Alex just informed me that all of the guides are listed on the website of the tour company. Our guides name was not, in fact, Apretcha. It is Abelardo…yikes, I was way off.)

So after lunch we had two hours of free time before our next activity. There was definitely no shortage of activities during this tour, so any downtime was cherished and spent laying on the bed after a cold shower trying not to sweat. The Amazon forever changed my definition of “hot and humid.”

*Abelardo* told us to be ready by 3pm when he would be leading us back into the jungle to set up camp and spend the night in hammocks. I was so nervous for this part of the trip, I almost chickened out! The thought of sleeping in a hammock in the jungle surrounded by all of the creatures I have seen and especially the ones I have not seen was almost too much for me. But I knew I would regret it forever if I didn’t go, so we packed our backpacks and off we went!

Our departure time got postponed because of a storm rolling in. I asked Abelardo if we would still go if it was raining and he assured me that the rain was no problem, we just needed to wait until the wind passed because of the danger of falling trees. So once the wind settled, off we went in the drizzling rain!

We hiked about 45 minutes into the jungle and stopped where our guide saw fit. Within minutes he had an area cleared for camp, with his machete of course. Alex and I helped him as we erected a massive structure out of small trees for support, large palm leaves, and a huge tarp. The whole thing was tied together with strips of wet bark from nearby branches. It was really an impressive structure and very sturdy! Once the shelter was put up, we hung our hammocks and mosquito nets.

Abelardo invited us to enjoy our new accommodations while he gathered wood for a fire and prepared dinner. We were both more than happy to get under a mosquito net, you can only reapply repellent so many times! Once I got into my hammock, I immediately felt secure. I think my fear was stemming from the thought of being exposed, but with our shelter and the mosquito net I found it easy to relax and enjoy the sounds of the jungle.

It didn’t take long for me to doze off to the sounds of Abelardo machete-ing his way around our camp. Before I knew it, he was calling us to dinner. Alex and I emerged from our cocoons to a beautiful scene. Abelardo had set up candles, built a fire/grill out of collected wood, and had made a delicious dinner of grilled fish and boiled yucca. He invited us to sit on the palm leaves he laid out for us and spread out the fish and yucca on some adjacent palm leaves – palm leaves seemed to be the most versatile plant in the jungle! He handed us both forks and we all dug in, sharing one of the most memorable meals I have ever had.

The mosquitos buzzing around my ears and biting through my shirt were enough to send me back into my cocoon right after dinner. I snuggled in and spent most of the night just listening and appreciating where I was. Between the foreign animal sounds and the downpour that rolled through in the middle of the night, I didn’t find much time for sleep and I didn’t really mind.

Jungle Day 6

We were all awake with the sunrise and started tearing down and packing up first thing in the morning. I had done it! I survived a night in the Amazon! We arrived back at the lodge with breakfast waiting for us. Abelardo wasted no time after finishing breakfast and told us to get ready for the next activity. He was taking us to the village he grew up in, a 20 minute walk from the lodge.

We set off for the village totally unsure about what to expect. We partly felt uneasy as we didn’t want to be the white tourists coming in to gawk at the exotic indigenous people, that seemed a bit awkward. But it ended up not being like that at all. No one was expecting us, so we just strolled through the village as our guide pointed out different buildings and shared little tidbits of information. As we made it to the end of the village, we were greeted by Abelardo’s father who was drinking chicha with some friends. Chicha is an alcoholic beverage made from the yucca plant. As we joined their circle, they welcomed us to sit down. One of them scooped a coconut shell into the giant dirty bucket of chicha and offered it to us…how could we refuse? We both accepted and took a sip of the super strong liquor – one sip was enough to know that it wouldn’t take long to be completely blasted from this stuff.

As our presence became known, more villagers joined the circle to say hello. One lady was very excited to show us the little wild boar she had adopted. I don’t think I will ever forget the image of her holding this snotty, screeching little piglet as she nuzzled her face into it’s neck. It was such a bizarre scene! Excitement buzzed around the circle and Alex and I were in the middle just taking it all in. I had a feeling that the chicha was also contributing the general feeling giddiness. What a memorable experience! We didn’t get any photos, it somehow felt inappropriate to whip out a camera in that situation. It will forever live in our memories.

I did snap a couple photos of our walk through the village. The first is a photo of some of the houses and the second is the school.

We walked back to the lodge for lunch and Abelardo told us what our final activity would be before walking back to the dock to leave – another trek into the jungle looking for plants and animals along the way. As we ate lunch, my exhaustion really started to set in. The heat, humidity, hiking, the night in the jungle, the visit to the village, all of the new impressions I was digesting…it was so much to take in! I just didn’t have it in me to go on another jungle hike. We decided we were more than happy with our jungle experience and opted to relax at the lodge and enjoy the property for the last two hours of our trip.

As we boarded the boat to return to Leticia, I felt so fulfilled. What an intense, amazing 6 days! The environment, the wildlife, the food, the people – it was all such a wildly foreign and incredible experience. I am so glad we fit this into our time in Colombia, it was absolutely unforgettable.