The one thing that can immediately be taken note about the jungle is its music. Its music that ensnares you at the peak of the day, the dark of the night. No matter which direction you turn, the exotic birds continue chirping, the hopping frogs continue croaking, the kaleidoscope-colored butterflies ever-so-gently flutter their wings.
Being from a city which is tucked into the desert, we were enchanted as we stepped into our little rustic lodge. We had no electricity, and the walls were only partly closing the room, as there were thin screens to protect the rest. Our beds were covered with mosquito nets, and though there was a plumbling system, the water came straight from the Amazon.
Our guides, Gerson, Frank, and LoLin had also told us a bit about the city as we had walked around. During the Victorian era, Europeans came to Peru and discovered the value of the rubber tree, immediately causing a rich city to spring up as they invested in the huge business. It was a tragedy for the native people as they were forced to labor. After a while, everything slowed down, and the Europeans left. But still there are remnants. The ancient rich homes, despite being dilapitated, are a great reminder of the history of the little river town.
We had then drove to Nauta. From there we had climbed into a little motored canoe and rode the Amazon for two hours to the middle of the jungle.
As we rode, I had talked to Mari, practicing my Spanish as she practiced her English. It was funny to discuss our differences. She was absolutely intrigued by my light skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes, and told me that I looked like doll and how she if she had daughters she would want them to look like me. And of course, having been from the U.S., I was totally taken aback as she complimented me like that. At one point she had asked if there are dark-colored people like her in the U.S., and if we were racist. For her, it was a completely absurd concept for there to be lots of diversity. I think she had been relieved when I told her that mostly everyone is accepting because there are people from all over the world, and when she asked if I thought she was ugly, I told her she was beautiful. Because, with her rich brown skin and long black hair and deep dark eyes, how could she not be?
By the time we arrived at our little lodge lighted merely by kerosene lamps, we were ready for sheer adventure.
There were all sorts of critters crawling around. On the first night, we rowed to an area where the river flowed out into a pond. It was really dark, the sounds of night creatures rippled through the forest, and for some reason I couldn't stop thinking of movies like The Mothman Prophecies and The Village. There we went searching for crocodiles.
If you cut branches of this tree just right, allowing oxygen to flow, clear water spouts out. It is called "the purest water on earth," and it really was.
The two above pictures were taken because of a single palm tree. Part of it can be used as "magic paper," and basically you can write on it with anything and after ten seconds, the carvings will fill in with a red ink. Another part of the tree we ate as jungle spagetti. It was really good.
Speaking of food... One night we were eating, and right as we finished, our guides showed us a picture of what it was: maja, or the world's biggest rodent, which they had caught themselves!
There are two seasons in the jungle: the wet season and the dry season. The Amazon rises and falls, and part of the river becomes completely black and like a mirror because, when the water lowers, it sucks the chloroplasts out of the plants.
Yes, we did swim with pirhanas. And there were pink dolphins, too, which the natives believe to be whitemen kidnappers that live in an underwater city in disguise.
How lovely. Snake eating bat.
It was definitely a rain-forest.
The school.
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