I awake to the sound of snoring. At least that's what I think the sound is. Sitting there for a few mi its I can hear the odd sound in the distance. Slowly one by one we all wake up in our cabins under the nets.
Jorge Informs us we will need long pants, sleeves, and muck boots for the trek. I obviously got my neon hiking pants and put them on. Our boat took us away from the camp and onto a shore.
The next two or three hours we spent hiking through dense jungles. I was just so excited to be in the actual Amazon. I've spent loads of time in jungles across Asia but this was the Amazon! The Amazon jungle!!! Just the thought gave me chills.
In the Jungle there were loads of plants, insects, and even some animals. Massive ant burrows littered the ground.
You could see the ants marching one by one. I loved seeing the one ant carrying leaves three times their size. It looked like a movie,
Everywhere bizarre plants and greenery grew up from the ground and into the sky high above. Massive blue butterflies continued to flutter by every so often.
Since it rains a lot the path often got really muddy.
At one point Bronte and I lost everyone. Trying to speed up and catch them I felt something but my head. What was that? I stopped. Two second later another stick lands right next to me. I dart my gaze up to the treetops.
There above us in the next layer of life were monkeys pelting me with random objects. They jumped from tree to tree swinging gracefully. Bronte and I couldn't take our eyes off of them. It was a whole different world up there. I imagined what it would be like to join them.
Once we caught up with the group we finished the walk and went back for lunch. Jorge had a change of plans and we decided to go learn some survival skills, how to make food, and meet with the shaman.
Because if he rain we opted out of sleeping in the self built shelter. How we we did learn how to locate edible roots, dig them up, and peel them.
Next we ground up the root on a metal plate and into a hollowed out tree. The shredded root was then wrapped in a braided net and twisted to remove excess liquids. Lastly we out it in a woven strainer to get a fine powder.
Our host grandmother then cooked it into a delicious bread. We are this with tuna and spices in top. The whole experience was really cool because it was so real and not as touristy. Everyone was related to each other and living their true lives in the jungle. We were getting a peak into this life and not just a show.
Our day concluded with some interesting events. We went to the shamans house to have our bodies cleansed. He was out fishing so while we waited we got to play with a local monkey that was just hanging about in the town. When the shaman arrived it was already dark outside. We sat quiet in the sacred area as he described what his job was in the community. He was responsible for trying to cure any problems in the town. This was often done using an herbal drink that was supposed to help its users.
Before he could cleanse our bodies he needed to have extra supplies. Unfortunately he was out of them. He sent us down to the next town to get the supplies. We left our guide and took only the best driver. In the pitch black we began to navigate down the windy river. I'm still overly shocked at how this guy was able to see a thing. It was pitch black! After about 10 minutes we drove straight into the jungle.
Our driver made some bird calls and noises and we waited. Then there in the dark a shaman dressed in his ritual clothes appeared on a small wooden boat out of the jungle. I felt as if I was in a movie. This scene can't really be happened. I felt like a true jungle woman. Supplies in hand we went back to the first shamans house. There he lit a fire and cleansed our bodies, chanted random things, tapped me with leaves, and whisked away the bad vibes.
Back to camp we did another pitch black boat trip. The whole way we chatted about the experience we had just had and how beautiful nature and local people can be. I was so excited to do not a cookie cutter experience. And believe me this was anything but that. The rest of the night we watched the stars, the candle flames dance across our cabin wall, and listened to music. It was a travel day and night that will go down in my history books as one in a million.
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