Welcome to the Jungle

After a tremendous amount of leg work on the part of Lauren and Dave we were ready to venture off to the jungle. The jungle of Manu is supposed to be one of the best preserved in South America as 80% is not even open to the public and within its limits live numerous indigenous tribes and nearly countless exotic species of flora and fauna. Our group was composed of three Dutchies and us three Americans. Our private bus scooped us up all bleary eyed at 5 AM and thus began the adventure. Day one was comprised of ten hours in the bus… a daunting feat if you ask me. The hours in the vehicle weren’t what scared me, I was more alarmed by the treacherous nature of the “road” upon which we were supposed to travel. Like I said, we were in a bus, which generally means massive vehicle, which also generally means you need a road built for something larger that a bicycle. However, this is Peru and the roads aren't always up to par with what we would consider navigable according to standards in the states. However, Carlos our guide, made the venture quite manageable, what with the numerous stops to take in the surrounding beauty of the local flora and fauna.

Day two of eight was comprised of roughly 6 hours in a motorboat. Now, I know that doesn't sound incredibly appealing to most but we had a super comfy sitch, each with his/her own reclining, padded seat and a fashionable life jacket (a massive improvement from the last boating expedition I embarked upon in a developing country). We had also rented mega strong binocs so as to adequately observe the goings on in the jungle from the comfort of our vessel.

After a full day on Madre de Dios we spent one sweaty night in the "town" of Boca Manu where we were afforded the luxury of electricity between the hours of 6 and 9 PM. During this time we were able to recharge batteries and take showers with the benefit of lights. Now, showers were an ordeal of their own, the water is pumped directly from the river and when showering with lights, one is able to tell that the water does, in fact, run clearish from time to time. Unfortunately, lights don't do crap for the temp which never reaches above freezing. I will have you know that these were the fastest showers of my life. I was in, out and clothed again in under four minutes.

As much as I would prefer to avoid the pain of the frigid shower, it rapidly became a necessity given the suffocating heat of the jungle. This is the type of heat that would make you swear that your internal organs were sweating. You drink water in hopes of providing solace to your melting innards but this only produces subsequent problems, for now you need to deal with relieving yourself. Normally, this comes with an easy solution BUT this is the jungle and nothing is normal here. If you choose to pull down your pants and squat you have exposed the precious tender skin of your nether regions, which provides quite a feast for all manor manner of jungle beasts! Option 2 is to hold it until your eyes turn yellow. This is quite a conundrum!

After three days we finally arrived in the Zona Reservada (the furthest point the public can reach in Manu National Park). During our sweltering four days and three nights in the ZR we had nearly limitless opportunities to see numerous types of jungle life including the endangered giant otter. There is a family of five living in the one of the oxbow lakes and we were fortunate enough to see them playing and eating. One curious male eventually took note of us and swam to our dock to give us hell and try to scare us off. Didn´t work. We stayed and stared in silence. Amazed.

The following day we sailed the glassy lake for two hours on a rough catamaran (basically ten pieces of wood nailed together) in hopes of a jaguar siting. While the illustrious cat remained a mystery, we were pleasantly surprised by the reappearance of the otter and the opportunity to watch a cormorant gobble up a snake and then fight to keep it down as she hadn´t bothered killing it before making it her supper.

Day after day we donned our progressively more disgusting clothing and tromped into the wilderness where we were greeted by only about a billion monkeys, exotic birds galore and 17 trillion insects. After the sun set we embarked upon alternative adventures that took us deep into the jungle to experience the nightlife of venomous spiders and poisonous snakes. For me, this was a terrifying endeavour due to the magnitude of beasts roaming around in the darkness. We even made a special trip to beach of the river to see if we could catch (a glimpse) of the numerous cayman who call those shores home. This enterprise proved quite successful, albeit a bit scary. Especially because of the deadly sand vipers who bury themselves in the sand, waiting for passing prey to present itself. I walked with tender care, terrified that my next step could cause my ultimate demise. After nearly an hour of my heart pounding and adrenaline surging through my veins each time I took a step, Dave chose to inform me that those snakes don't exist, at least not in Manu... What a pal... Thanks Dave, like I needed help thinking the jungle was scary...