Day one (03.10.08)
The journey from Cusco to the Manu National Park in the Amazon was a long, bumpy and at times hair-raising one. Eleven of us (2 Spanish, 2 Italian, 2 Swedish, 1 Argentinian and 2 Peruvian guides) sat in the mini-bus on what appeared to be a suicide mission on the driver's part. We swerved potholes and landslides, drove on the edge of breath-taking precipices and narrowly missed other cars and lorries on the road – for 8 hours. We drove through the mountainous Peruvian countryside, past old and young people working on the land, building their mud brick houses and herding cattle, sheep and pigs out of our way.
The journey was interrupted at points with cultural visits to some pre-Inca tombs, 
a village called Pancantamba, a town at 4,000 meters altitude, which is famous for it's fiestas and which is a trading point between farmers and people who live in the jungle. 
The town was very quiet and we walked around and just observed local life. On arriving at the entrance of the national park our guide informed us that we would only be entering the beginning of the forest, and that the largest area of the forest was banned to tourists. That area is home to native tribesmen – some of whom are believed to be cannibals, 3 different types of deadly poisonous snakes, flesh eating diseases and a whole host of other scary plants and animals that can easily injure or kill unwary tourists. Tourists are also banned because the smallest cold/flu can wipe out hundreds of tribesmen who have different immune systems to us. He also assured us that there were plenty of dangerous things to watch out for in the area that we were entering, So we descended into the 'cloud forest' driving down and down for hours into the jungle. The views were stunning – whole mountains covered in dense jungle and valleys further than the eye can see. We eventually reached our drop-off point and walked to a small platform to do some bird watching. Al and I aren't the most avid bird watchers but it was nice to see this bright red bird, called Cock of the Rocks, which is the national bird of Peru. 
However after about ten minutes we had seen enough and waited patiently for our fellow travellers to finish – we were there for around an hour - definitely too long to watch any one animal, let alone a bird. 
We then took a nice night time stroll down to our hostel, observing various butterflies and insects along the way. 
group of bats began to fly around us and our guide cheerfully informed us that you can get vampire bats in the jungle that do actually suck blood from their victims – great. Our hostel for the night – or should I say shack – was pretty scary. We had mosquito nets over our beds but the rooms were open and exposed to anything that wished to crawl or fly in. I decided that as I was in the jungle I would get over my fear of insects and get on with things, poor Al though who has a phobia of spiders found it particularly difficult. Sleeping was difficult, once you are in bed and have tucked in your mosquito net you can't easily get out and I had left my earplugs in my bag so it wasn't a very restful night as the jungle is alive with the strangest sounds at night and I kept thinking something was in my bed although there was nothing there... I hoped. Day 2 (04.10.08)
We awoke early to the sunlight and breakfast and headed off on a long walk down the road to spot some interesting animals... we didn't see too much: some roadkill – two snakes that had fallen victim to some mountain bikes which passed us, some insects (none of them deadly) and some black birds with a bright yellow tail. We were slightly disappointed but we were now going to head even deeper into the jungle so who knows what we will see later?! In the van again heading deeper into the forest we passed a small bread-making shop where our guide stocked up on provisions and we all had a snack of toasted cheese and some chirimoya fruit- really good.
We also took a look at the local guinea pigs – being fattened up for the next fiesta. Our next stop was a coca plantation where our guide explained to us the origins of the coca leaf and its role in Peruvian culture. It has been used since pre-Inca times to control the effects of altitude sickness and give farm workers energy and contains lots of vitamins and minerals. Some people actually live on it. On the down-side it is leading to deforestation of the rainforest as people clear away the trees to build coca plantations as these are quite profitable. The government tries to regulate the production of coca due to pressure from the Americans but most farmers grow it for legitimate uses – it takes a few kilos of coca leaves to make about a gram of cocaine. 
Next it was time for the river rafting – woohoo! We all got kitted up and jumped into the raft for what was apparently going to be an easy ride down the Rio Madre de Dios – an estuary of the Amazon river about 100 metres wide. After a briefing in Spanish as clear as the muddy river we set off with our instructor. With all our might we fought the rapids and cross-currents, with metre high waves tossing and turning our boat in the air, close to capsizing. Surely this couldn't be grade 1 rafting! The water was a murky brown colour and soon we were all soaking and the boat looked as if it was going to sink. The scenery was amazing, by far the best way to see the wild jungle is from the river. We gazed at the river bank, cutting its way through the land, covered in jungle, rising up into mountains. But each time we stopped to appreciate the scenery we would be urged on with “vamos vamos” from our instructor. Eventually we landed soaking and muddy, yet safe, in a small port. 
We were ferried into another, more stable boat, and began the last leg of our journey to Erika Lodge. 
We settled into our rooms and had a hot shower – hot water! - the height of luxury and something we weren't expecting! 
Our lodge was based in the jungle, impossible to reach by land, only water and we were one of a few groups who were staying, each group bringing with them provisions for our cook Gloria to make our delicious meals. We were very isolated but in a great position from which to see lots of wildlife. We ended the afternoon by taking a walk for a couple of hours through the nearby jungle. We were full of excitement and enthusiasm – intrepid explorers entering the wild jungle for the first time! I decided that this was the moment that my whole slight obsession with Discovery Channel and Animal Planet had been gearing up towards. Real life exploration! 
The jungle was dense and dark and damp – like in the movies. Trees were competing for sunlight and creepers and vines were handing down to the ground blocking our paths. We climbed up the side of the hill prodding some holes in the ground hoping to find tarantulas, but sadly none came out to greet us. The air was humid but not too hot and the strange calls of birds filled the air – some sound like police sirens, some like people laughing and others like large drops of water hitting a pond – Plop! We saw a huge black ant – apparently if these ants bite you (which is common) you will have a fever and paralysis of your bitten limb for 24 hours – scary stuff!
We also saw a worm that disguised itself as a stick and a yellow bee – which stung Juan, one of our group. The animals here aren't friendly! 
Before we could see any really exciting animals we heard the sound of rain in the distance. We turned back to make our way quickly to the lodge – once your clothes get wet here it takes days to dry them out due to the humidity. We were close to the lodge when it hit hard – huge drops of jungle-sized rain splashed around us 'run!' we cried, pushing and shoving the slow-movers out of the way (Al and I quickly made it to the front). We raced down the steep now-muddy banks which we had earlier come up, ducking and diving from the vines and various insects that got in our way. 
We all went up to the lookout point watching the river swell and the trees being pounded by the rainstorm. Oh well, nothing to do except open a couple of beers and have some hot popcorn and wait for supper to be ready. The sun went down and although we were being attacked by all manner of moths and other huge flying insects which had gathered around the light we were all pretty happy to be in such a cool place. That night we closed our rucksacks against spiders, quickly went to the outdoor bathroom which is a scary place at night in the jungle (I had a frog hopping around my cubicle which was quite alarming), and tucked our mosquito nets into our beds. We settled down for a good night's sleep – trying to ignore the wild calls of the nocturnal animals around our rooms. Then... suddenly in the middle of the night, as everyone slept silently, we heard frantic screaming – not from an animal but from a grown man. “NO! NO! NOOO! NO! NO! NOOO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOO!” It was the sound of a man facing certain death and shouting without dignity or shame at the prospect of meeting his maker. I lay there in terror – was it a tarantula attacking and dragging him back to its layer?...had he seen a snake hanging from the ceiling? I waited in fearful silence. Al's bed was right next to the room where the sound came from, separated only by a thin wall. What was running through Al's mind?... a group of cannibal savages from the forest come to capture some tourists in the middle of the night! When the shouting stopped Al asked if all was OK and got a quiet reply in the affirmative so he concluded that the man was having a bad dream..... we all tried to go back to sleep, but lay there for hours, still fearful of what else was out there in the dark. The next morning everyone was whispering to each other - “what happened, what was the screaming?” One of the Italians had thought it was someone attacked by a puma while going to the toilet in the night, he had been so scared himself that the final “NO!” was actually screamed by him! Juan, our fellow Spanish traveller owned up – he has a sleeping disorder which prevents him from controlling his movements and voice during deep sleep. He can never remember his dreams but his wife has had to prevent him from getting up and walking around or screaming on numerous occasions. Pretty scary stuff. We all laughed at how crazy our imaginations had been that night, everyone had imagined a different terrible fate for the screaming man. DAY 3 (05.10.08)
That morning we were awoken early by more shouting - “Monkeys!” We all rushed out of bed, shoved on our clothes and ran out to see the cheeky primates. Our guide took us up a nearby hill in the forest and there we saw a family of wild monkeys swinging from the trees. The fathers were carrying the babies and he explained that this is because the mother's get so injured during birth that they often cannot carry the baby monkeys on their backs at first. After breakfast we got kitted up for our canopy swing – this was something we'd all been very excited about, swinging through the treetops. On our way there we saw one of many termite nests.
Our guide opened up a hole in it and ate a couple of the ants! - apparently they taste like mint and that natives eat them for dessert. Al and I gratefully declined when offered one. We saw a tree full of fire ants, the ants live on the tree and protect it from predators by attacking anything that comes close. It you tap on the tree all the ants come running to attack you, it's pretty cool. Apparently natives use the tree as a form of punishment for people who have been bad. They tie them up to the tree naked and let the ants come for them. We climbed up and up to the heights of the great forest, tripping over tree roots and other plants as we went. We reached the first platform and had a briefing from our guide.
There were four different swings and an abseil at the end. It was seriously good fun. We returned to the lodge knackered and promptly all fell asleep on the chairs in front of the river. 
We were awoken to a splendid feast for lunch, a large buffet with lots of food, enough for seconds and thirds. It was brilliant! Chicken in sauce, rice, potatoes, corn, cheese fritters, salad platter, boiled eggs and watermelon to finish. Potatoes are indigenous to South America, there are over 700 different varieties and being half-Irish I was naturally interested in this fact. They also eat a lot of rice as a staple, introduced by the Chinese in the 1930s. Al and I ate so much that we promptly crashed out for a long siesta. We were awoken for our next excursion, a trip to a different part of the river to spot some animals. We were beginning to wonder if there were any animals at all in the Amazon, we'd seen more on a walk in the park in London than on our trip. We jumped on our boat and off we went to a nearby bank, there we got off and began a 30 min walk through a different part of the jungle, covered in muddy swampland, which eventually led us to a large lake. Unfortunately they didn't have the right number of rafts for us (we were now 6 – Al and I, the Spanish couple and the 2 gay Italian men, one who never said a word and one who was quite fat and talked lots, plus 2 guides) so four of us crammed on to one raft, with one on another raft and one of the Italians (the fat one who carried a small umbrella with him) on his own raft as all the other rafts sank when he tried to get on them. Our raft of 4 was sinking further and threatening to capsize at any slight movement so Alex was shifted onto the raft with the quiet Italian who was shifted onto another raft with his friend although he had to stand. 
It was quiet bizarre. Eventually they were dropped off on their own on a small bank at the other end of the lake and their boatman returned to the small jetty to collect a more sturdy boat. All a bit of a palava. 
Meanwhile myself and the Spanish couple enjoyed a nice relaxing trip on the lake and Al had his own private raft.
We watched some massive birds that lived on the lake called Stink Birds – they look like Camden punks and eat rotten fruit and ferment it in their mouths so that predators will not want to approach them due to the bad smell. Unfortunately there weren't any caymen (alligators) around and we didn't see all that much other than birds. 
After we disembarked from our sinking rafts two young boys ran up to us, they had caught a small emerald toucan, quite a rare bird.
But they wanted to sell it to us and I think the bird had been injured which was sad. On our way back it began to rain which was good because loads of frogs and toads came out, including this massive one we saw. Apparently if you lick them they are hallucinogenic, although as our guide quite rightly pointed out you have to be hallucinating to lick one in the first place. The journey back was beautiful, it was dusk and the mountains were black against the indigo-blue sky. The river looked grey and we sat back as we watched the fire flies on the banks. We had a few beers and some popcorn as is the thing to do in the Amazon before supper 
then went to bed very early, exhausted from an eventful day, and hoping that there would be no more screaming events that night. DAY 4:
I was fairly exhausted having woken at about 4 in the morning desperate for the loo but too scared to go. Eventually after about half an hour of changing position in bed to try and make it go away I had no option but to go for it and race outside in my pyjamas with my boots and torch.
I could hear strange loud noises all around me as I raced to the bathroom. I carefully checked the cubicle for frogs or spiders or giant ants and turned off my torch so that nothing would be attracted to the light. I started to sing some jungle songs that had been in my head over the last few days – 'Welcome to the Jungle', 'In the Jungle the Lion Sleeps Tonight', 'Jungle Boogie' anything to stop thinking about killer spiders. Anyway I survived and went back to bed, only to be woken an hour later at 5am to be chased into a boat to do some more bird spotting. The macaw clay lick is an area of clay on the river bank where macaws and parrots go to lick the clay and obtain calcium and other minerals. Guaranteed to see some wildlife. However, following the general trend of our trip so far we only saw two small green birds flying around a bush and otherwise nothing. We stayed for an hour but Al and I had long decided that bird-spotting is not for us. Birds are very nice but sitting and watching them lick a wall for an hour is not really our idea of fun – especially when they don't even turn up! How rude of them, didn't they know that we would be coming to watch them, where were they? I decided that macaws are very inconsiderate creatures and could have spared us a lot of waiting had they just flown down to where we were sitting and performed a little dance for us or something, to amuse us tourists who had paid money to see them. Selfish creatures. Later on that day we went on a walk, complete with machetes to clear the path, through the forest to see a giant tree that the natives believe leads the souls of the dead to heaven and searched for more wildlife, but found none.
Very disheartening especially as our guide had said that he had seen many snakes and even a jaguar on this route. No, nope, nothing, nada for our accused group. We were all in agreement by this point that one may as well visit a zoo or take a walk through the European countryside to see an animal. But of course the jungle is an amazing place for many other things other than just animals, the atmosphere of the place is incredible, the trees, plants, humidity, noises. It really is a very special place. Next we decided to try our hand at fishing. We went wish some small makeshift fishing 'rods' to a local pond to sardines to catch to use as bait for bigger fish in the river. We were unlucky in our quest and moved on to the river using small pieces of meat as bait. It was very enjoyable standing on the bank of the river trying to catch fish. A few times Al had felt something pulling on his string but unfortunately they got away. I got stuck in the muddy banks a few times which was funny but otherwise we were unsuccessful. Oh well, nevermind. We returned to our lodge for dinner – chicken not fish. On our last night Al was very excited to see what he had been looking for on every walk, a rhinoceros beetle. We found it on the porch of our dorm rooms and it was pretty huge as you can see from the photo. 
Al was very happy to have seen this. We actually seemed to find most of the interesting creatures that we saw around the cabins or in the loo area. Most of them: giant ant, butterflies, ghekos, beetles etc just hung around the loo block – waiting to scare us in the middle of the night I'm sure. DAY 5:
We awoke early to leave for our journey back to Cusco. 12 hours by boat (1hr) and bus. The trip was rather quiet at first. We joined up with some other tourists who were at the lodge and were given a large comfy bus which was good. We stopped at a little village to see a local fiesta which was cool.
The locals dress up as Amazon warriors and Spanish conquistadors and do ritual dances. All was quiet during the remainder of the journey until we were within 2 hours of Cusco. Our bus stopped to wait for a group of villagers who were unloading massive boulders onto a truck. We weren't sure what they were doing but we waited for them to finish, gave the children some sweets, and drove on.
Soon we reached a huge landslide on the road. A boulder so big that it took 6 guys to try to move it. We eventually managed to pass. 
There was quite a lot of debris on the road and we started coming across more and more 'landslides', strange as it wasn't the terrain for it. We then remembered hearing that there was a general strike over the south of Peru and figured that these landslides were actually placed there by the local villagers to prevent buses and lorries coming through and to enforce the strike. Our bus driver wasn't having any of it, and although we had to clear away a few more boulders and trees from the road he just drove around the majority of them – off road in our rickety bus. Our whole Amazon jungle experience was awesome, we had such fun. Although we didn't see really any animals... but then again the jungle isn't just about animals – it's about the huge trees, the humidity, the river, the noises of the jungle and the atmosphere that you don't get anywhere else in the world. Next time we want to see animals though, we may just go to the zoo (!)
0 comments:
Post a Comment