**Currently listening to: When I'm With You by JJ Heller**
Trip to Yanamaru (the Amazon)
So it's been a long while since I last blogged...so I think it's about time I do so.
It's been over three months now and we're on the home stretch! =] Just under two months til I'm on a plane home and just under a week til I'm on a plane to the Galapagos! Be jealous. =]
So, last weekend I went a trip to the Amazon with an Amazonian Culture class that I'm not even in. I know a guy in the class, Hempe, and he invited a friend, Nanki, and Nanki invited Haley and I to come.
We left from the University around 9am Friday morning and had about a 4 hour drive or so to our first stop, a zoo. Well, it wasn't exaclty a zoo, it was more like a rescue place for animals, but it was still pretty cool. It was raining when we got there, but we walked around anyway. They had a lot of monkeys, birds, long-haired pigs, leopard-like cats and dogs. =] We pretty much just walked around the place with a guide for a while and then left. We weren't there very long.
Then we left and headed to our next stop, Spa en las Cavernas de la Casa del Arbol (roughly: Spa in the caves and the tree house). First, we got to see the tree house. It's built in a 300 year old tree and is probably 10, or so, stories high. We had to climb up all the flights of stairs and then we could look out at the surrounding land. Considering it was still raining, there wasn't much to see, but it was still really cool. Then we walked around the grounds and saw their snakes and fish and then we got to go eat some fish of our own. Well, everyone else did. I gave my fish up and just ate my rice and beans. =] I mean, I'm already not a fish person and then they give me a plate with a fish on it...looking like a fish with a little batter on it...not very appetizing. Once we were all finished, I borrowed rubber boots from the owner and then we went on a hike. Mind you, it's around 5 pm by now and the sun is getting ready to set.
So, we take our hike and the sun is going down and we finally reach our destination. We hiking all the way here, through mud and rain, so we could swing on a rope swing. Joy. I didn't even end up doing it because all the girls had to use a harness to swing across while the boys could just run and jump, but almost everyone who tried using the harness hurt themselves in some way, so I decided not to intentionally hurt myself. By this time, everyone is applying loads of bug spray because the sun has now set and the bugs are hungry...and we still have to walk all the way back. =\ So, we start walking...in the pitch black...with only a few flash lights to even see where we are going. The ground is completely mud from all of the day's rain and probably about 75% of the time I didn't have a flashlight shinning at my feet so I was just taking a chance by even taking a step. I just followed the light shirt in front of me all the way back to the Spa en las Cavernas. We had to climb over and under fallen trees and my only pair of jeans were significanly dirty and wet by the time we got back. AND I'm pretty sure my boots had a hole in them.
When we got back to where we started the hike, Las Cavernas, our guide lined us up in a single file line in front of one of the entrances to the caves. He told us to put our hands on the shoulders of the person in front of us because it was going to be dark inside the caves. Uh-oh. =\ Well when we were all inside and blind he told us "Cerrar sus ojos, sus bocas y sus piernas''--> Close your eyes, your mouths and your legs, and then continued to tell multiple other sex jokes throughout our journey... haha. We walked around these caves for seriously about a half hour and, after that night trek through the woods, I was soo tired. We pretty much just found 3 or 4 different spas and took group pictures and then got out of there.
Right outside of the caves, is a decent sized, inground swimming pool and our guide says, ''So, do you guys want to go swimming?'' So, we did, and it felt AMAZING. Getting all that sweat and dirt off of me felt great.
After swimming for about an hour we finally left and headed to the place where we would actually be staying for the weekend. We all moved in our gear to our rooms and then gathered around the fire for dinner, chicken soup and Yuka (a root). And by that, I mean CHICKEN soup; heavy on the chicken. I legit had the entire rib cage of a chicken just chillin' in my bowl. Needless to say, I and the broth and gave my ribs to one of the guys to eat. Gross. Then we got the lowdown on what we would do the next day. Our ''leader'', Jesús, tells us that we're going to wake up at 5am so we can tell each other our dreams and then we're going to drink this hallucinaginic tea to make us throw up and ''clense our bodies''. Wide eyed Haley and I went strait to bed (around 1030) so we could be able to get some sleep and actually have a dream to tell the group the next morning.
Well we didn't sleep much, cuz Nanki was snoring the whole night and Hempe turned his music on around 5 am reeeally loud and was talking with no consideration of those of us who were still sleeping. Yes, we were supposed to be getting up, but they let us sleep in cuz we were tired, and we didn't have to drink the tea and throw up, thank God. We had a corn and veggie mush for breakfast and then I borrowed some more boots so we could go on another hike. After the last one, I was a little skeptical, but I went.
We hiked to a little indigenous community, and the only reason we went was so that the boys from our group could play the boys from the community in soccer. Joy, another useless hike in rubber boots. BUT on the way there we had to cross 4 rivers. We got to cross two of those in a little canoe, but the other two we had to walk across and the height of the water in the river was taller than the height of my boots. So, needless to say, my boots filled with water. Luckly, on the way there, the rivers we walked through were last so we didnt have to walk far in nasty, water-logged boots and we could take them off and let them dry out while the boys were playing soccer. BUT on the way back, we had to walk through those rivers first. So, the rest of the walk back to the villiage was in the nasty, water-logged boots. Yum. My feet were so sore after that hike.
On our way back we took a side trip through some woods to find some ''heart of palm'' so we could make that hallucinaginic tea. We got back to the ''house'' and Haley, Nicole (one of the gringa students) and I all took a shower in our bathing suits together to get the river water and sweat off of ourselves. We had fish again for lunch. Fish that looked like fish, but without the batter this time, but luckly there was an extra chicken just for me. =] Jesús showed us how to make the tea and some people tried it, not including me, but nothing happened to them. Then we had some kind of beef and rice for dinner.To finish off the night, the residents did a few traditional dances for us and then I went to bed and slept much better because I couldn't hear Nanki snoring at all. =]
The next morning we were supposed to get up real early again and tell our dreams and drink that tea, but, yet again, we slept in. =] We had Spaghetti and rice for breakfast and then packed up our stuff and headed home.
All in all it was a good trip and I'm glad I went. It was neat to see an indigenous community and how the live and eat. =]
Tomorrow morning Nikki, Meghan, Sasha and I are hoping to make it to Baños, and no, that's not the bathroom. ;) It's a really touristy town with lots of little fun stuff to do. We're still getting the little details finalized, but we should be going. haha. =]
Hopefully I wont wait a week to write about it. =]
Buenas Noches
World Traveler
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