The Jungle Post

Here I am, one day late. I couldn’t bring myself to write last night because a)I just wanted to sleep, b)I wasn’t sure how I was going to recount the happenings of the past week: the Amazon rainforest, a wedding, a day trip to a national reserve etc., and c)I was not up for writing and didn’t have the energy to put on an upbeat voice in my post and I really didn’t feel like inviting my readers to a pity party. (I shudder at the thought.) You can thank me later.

Now, 24 hours after originally planning to write, I’m back. Ready to go!

Vacation was great, but I realize that by the end of those fifteen days I think I had gone a little stir-crazy--hence the moodiness, etc. I can’t go that long without being a productive human being: it’s just not in me. Today was back to work, in the classroom with new faces, new subjects to teach, and it was good. I’m glad to have people to think about other than myself. 

But honestly, I would almost rather be in the jungle. It was FANTASTIC! Getting there was quite an adventure in itself--an 8-hour bus ride, a 2-hour bus ride, a 3-hour motorized canoe ride, and then finally, finally we arrived. 


There were three of us on our tour--it's a low season right now. My friend Debbie and I were joined by an Australian, who was on his eighth week of travel Wow.


(NOTE: For the life of me, I don't know why the format of the rest of this post is messed up. And I'm too tired to struggle to fix it any longer. Sorry.)

We were there for four glorious days. We did quite a variety of things: early-morning bird watching, late night walks through the jungle (so many frogs and spiders and bats and even a jungle mouse!), swinging on vines, I managed to climb about 3 meters up a vine, too; swimming in a river (it took us a while to work up the courage), pirana fishing, cayman hunting, tracking pink river dolphins, etc. We ate live ants! They tasted like lemon, seriously. Kind of tasty. And...BUG LARVAE! It was inside a small coconut found in the jungle. First, we ate the coconut and our guide told us how sometimes larvae grew inside the coconut and ate the fruit and fit snugly into the little space. I thought that sounded kind of gross. Then, lo and behold, the next coconut we came across had the very larva in it. We were told it tasted like the coconut it had been feasting on and that we should try it. Well. Try it we did. It was the squishiest, juiciest, coconut flavored morsel I've ever eaten. The thought of it now kind of turns my stomach. But it was a unique experience alright. Definitely glad to say I did it.

Fishing for pirañas was so much fun. I never before imagined fishing with bits of beef. It's kind of intimidating: they wouldn't go for anything besides flesh. Ew. So many times they escaped with the meat, though--those tricky little guys! I finally caught one, stared into its defiant, beady red eyes, avoided those razor sharp teeth, smiled for the camera and then tossed it back in the river. I'm quite happy I never got bit!

The most thrilling event was cayman hunting. Or rather, cayman searching, as we didn’t want to kill the dear little creatures. I don’t know what it is about jungle animals and their tendency to be rather frightening, but cayman have red eyes, too. At least, they reflect red in the light at night. We boarded the canoe, went up and down the river with our flash lights shining along the bank and came across a cayman. Everyone hushed as we shut off the motor and glided up toward it, using a paddle and the moonlight. Then as we approached, turned on the light, our guide leaned over the side of the boat and grabbed it by its neck and tail. Man, do those things cry when they’re distressed! It was amusing. We were all excited and started taking photos and oohing and such. I reached out to touch its rough, leathery skin as it was flailing in the guide’s grip. Then--

It got loose! It dropped to the floor of the canoe, I think I leapt over it as it fled in a panic below my seat and continued on back through the canoe, crying for its mother or something, into the awaiting arms of our friendly Australian zookeeper. He happens to work with reptiles, too. What luck! 

Tangent alert: On the way out to the lodge, we were chatting and I found out he was Australian, a zookeeper, and worked with reptiles: therefore I immediately thought of Steve Irwin. I half-jokingly asked him if he had known him. HE HAD! He worked for six years at the Australia Zoo, just like Steve. I couldn’t believe it. I told him about how when I was twelve, I had a “pet” garden snake in my back yard and named him Steve. I miss Steve Irwin. 

So, anyway, our Aussie scooped up the cayman and we all laughed and breathed a sigh of relief. After traumatizing the poor thing a little more, we let him back into the water. Later in the evening we saw several more sets of glowing eyes, had some unsuccessful attempts to capture the creatures they belonged to, and then actually saw a cayman we would never want in our boat: it was two meters long!

I went cayman hunting again another night, this time unofficially with a guide/camp assistant. We were joking about it, as he had been quite unnerved by the previous cayman incident, but I said “No, seriously. Let’s go.” Thus, he and I set off in the dark, armed with a paddle and a flashlight. It was entirely unsuccessful and hilarious. We saw about four cayman and they kept eluding us. But, there’s absolutely nothing disappointing about not getting a cayman when you’re paddling around in the dark, through warm, humid air, enjoying a stillness accompanied by a lovely chorus of frogs, monkeys and birds, punctuated by a fish jumping now and then. No, indeed. I couldn’t have cared less if we got a cayman or not. And probably, as I had bare feet, it was better to leave with all of my toes intact.

The best part of the experience was what wasn’t there: pollution, buses, cars, beeping, hoards of people, mirrors, bathing, concerns about clothing, cold weather, technology, urgency. None of that. 

Instead we had hammocks, evenings of reading by candlelight, freshly caught pirana for dinner, conversation and card games, unbelievable natural beauty, grubs and bugs to munch on, natural cures for mosquito bites and more. 

We would go to bed early, maybe around nine or ten (but then again, we were never sure of the time). When it’s dark and you’ve got candles and one light bulb, nothing seems too tempting to keep you from sleeping. I would wake with the bird calls (my favorite is the Oropendula bird call: Google it) and the sun, at about six AM, I believe. The mosquito nets worked well. Most of the bites I’m covered with now occurred during the hours of walking in the woods. Every one is worth it.

One of my favorite moments was paddling out on my own in the big wooden canoe at six AM. The sun was just barely up, the monkeys, birds, frogs, crickets, and fish were becoming more active: it was me, them, and the river. The entire experience was unforgettable.

I did used to say I’d live in the jungle though (when my dreams tended in an entirely different direction). I must say that as much as I loved it, I wouldn’t ever live there long term. I’m glad to get it “out of my system.” People, technology, transportation, conversation about literature, art, film, mirrors, schedules, etc.--that’s the stuff of the life I know. And it is good.

This has become too long: I must end now.

The wedding I went to on Saturday was so full of beauty and love that my eyes were welling with tears throughout the entire Mass. It was the first Catholic wedding I’ve been to, of many more to come I hope, and I can’t imagine a more glorious event and demonstration of the love of God. 

I went to Antisana on Sunday, a volcano and national reserve right outside of Quito. Although it was freezing weather, it was lovely to see a lake, and the expansive green and brown hillsides and meadows with no human touch damaging the view. 

Man, oh man. I am not a city girl at all. All the more reason to embrace this most wonderful opportunity to learn contentment! With so much good, how can I not be content?

And now, I best be off. Gosh, it’s already nine o’clock. It’s getting near my bedtime.

See the rest of my photos--click here!