THE GROUP
When I decided to go to the jungle, it was on a whim. I met Maike's roommate last Tuesday night, found out she was going to the jungle, and decided to tag along. Three hours before our bus ride, I got an email from Melissa saying that she couldn't go, but there were three other guys going that are really nice, so I should still go. Despite my queezy stomach, I headed to the bus station. There, I met the boys.
Birger - aka Bibi - a 35 year old Dutchman (to my friends who know Daniel Walker: Bibi is the 35 year old Daniel. Obviously it was love at first sight).
Nick - an 18 year old Dutchman who spent time in China and Australia in the last year.
Kyle - a 14 year old boy from Pennsylvania spending a month in Ecuador. Brave!!
When we got off of our 8 hour bus ride, 3 hour wait, and then 2.5 hour bus ride to the reserve, we me the two other members of the group.
Nessa - a 24 year old from San Diego who had just graduated from her Master's Degree at Berkley.
Farrah - Nessa's mom who was treating her to a graduation trip. What a brave mother! My mom wouldn't have been caught dead voluntarily taking a jungle trip (love you, Mom!!).
Front L to R: Bibi, Nick
Back L to R: Juan, ME!!, Nessa, Nick, Farrah
So, we had our group, and we clicked right away. Especially because of our guide.
THE GUIDE: JUAN
Right when we got to the reserve, Juan started barking orders at us: Eat your lunch! Pay your money! Get your sunscreen! No bug spray! Get your water! Get into the boat! WHOA. WHAT were we getting ourselves into? As we journeyed down the Cuyabeno River to our lodge with Juan at the bow of the boat we quickly realized that MAN. Juan likes nature a LOT more than he likes people. Nessa and I were immediately determined to change this jungle man's attitude.
While we were cruising down the river, Juan would spot animals - mostly monkeys and anacondas on the first day.
Every time, he would signal Freddy, our driver, to stop the boat, take out his video camera and/or binoculars, and stare at the animal, all the while saying, "Oh my gosh. That is awesome." After realizing that these were his favorite phrases, Nessa and I started saying it too. By the end of the second day, EVERYONE was making fun of him. That helped loosen him up.
Juan had two personalities: his robotic-explaining-nature personality, and then his I'm-trying-to-look-like-I'm-having-fun personality. We realized that him speaking Spanish added a few more dimensions to his personality... but not much. Whenever Juan had something to say about nature, he would look at us all and say, "Super atención!", but that would just make us laugh and roll our eyes. What a guy. When we were there, he had been living at the lodge for 19 days. I couldn't even IMAGINE.
Towards the end of the trip, we started doing things because JUAN wanted to do them. Like hunt for boas. Or hunt for caimans (mini alligators). We drew the line, however, when he wanted to look at ANOTHER sloth - just about one of the most boring animals in nature. It doesn't MOVE, so it's hard to SEE, and when you DO see it, you feel like you're looking at a bird's nest. Even with the binoculars. So, on the last day, I opened my big mouth and told Juan that we don't like the sloths. I've never seen a man more hurt. Then we felt bad, but at least we didn't have to see the boring sloth?
THE LODGE:
We stayed at the Samona Lodge. I didn't step foot on the ground there; we had to walk on piers from hut to hut, and the individual huts were on posts. I know, I know, it sounds like JUST the place that you all assumed that I would stay :) Our whole group had one hut that was divided into three rooms, each with an individual bathroom. The walls didn't hit the ceiling though, so we might as well have been in one room. I bunked with Nessa and her mom, Bibi had his own room (because he wanted it), and then Kyle and Nick had their room. The first night though, Bibi found cockroaches in his room, and he decided to bunk with us.
Did I mention that there was no electricity and only cold showers? And that I didn't have a flashlight? We had to sleep under mosquito nets as well, which made sleeping HOT and HUMID, and it kind of gave me the creeps, because I was thinking about what kind of creepy crawlies could get under the net...
The doors had locks, but no one had keys, so we left all of our things out in the open for anyone to grab. Juan kept assuring us that it was safe, and it was. Except for ONE little incident, that of COURSE would happen to me.
When we got back from our first activity, Nessa, Farrah, and I went to our room and found that the door was locked. So we immediately all begin saying "I didn't lock it!!" and thinking how odd it is that it's locked. We tried using a credit card to get it open, but the door was being difficult. Nessa went to the kitchen to get someone to help us, and all of a sudden someone opens the door from the INSIDE. Turns out one of the staff members wanted to take a little siesta, and of COURSE he would not only choose my room, but my BED. At dinner later that night, I told Juan about it, and he was in denial, but then he went and talked to the staff, and it turns out this guy was super drunk or something. The good news is it didn't happen again.
THE HIKES
The first night that we were at the lodge, we went on a night hike in the jungle. It was scary. And it didn't help that Nessa, Farrah, and I were at the BACK of the line. It also didn't help that Nessa and I kept turning around and turning OFF her flashlight to see just how dark it was. Yeah, it was so dark we couldn't see our hands in front of our faces. Juan kept finding tarantulas and big spiders and bugs, and while his flashlight was on them, the ONLY thing that I could think about was how DARK it was AROUND the little circle of light, so what kind of creepy crawlies were hiding there?? Nessa and I really bonded on the night hike, because we were holding onto each other for dear LIFE as we walked through the jungle. And we kept laughing and talking and the boys got mad because we were scaring away the wildlife. Oopsie!
The second day, we did a three hour day hike through the jungle. Nessa and I made sure to fight our way to the front of the line for this one. Juan was walking really fast during the whole hike - he didn't have to navigate his every step like we did - and so half the time I was yelling at him to slow down. I was sweating like a maniac because it was so HUMID out in that jungle.
At one point during the hike, we came up to this huge disgusting SWAMP. I was right behind Juan, and he turned around and said, "Sarita, be sure to step right where I step." Yeah right. THAT didn't work out, and while the mud stayed on his BOOTS, for the rest of us the mud was ABOVE our boots and up to our knees. I almost lost by balance about a million times, but I never actually FELL. Although it LOOKED like I fell because Nick was behind me and his boot got stuck, so when he pulled it out, I got splattered in mud... At least I got the real jungle experience?
THE LAGOON
Every night, we went to Laguna Grande to look for wildlife and to watch the sunset. The sunset was really nice... But it was LONG. We were all getting pretty restless in the boat, but then there would be Juan, happy as a clam sitting in the front with his video camera. People also swam in the lagoon, but I didn't because (1) I didn't want to be all wet and cold when I got out, and (2) I didn't think I'd be able to get back in the boat...
On our trips to and from the lagoon, we saw plenty of wildlife. We took what we liked to call a "sunrise cruise" on the last morning, and we saw a TON of dolphins. They weren't like flipper dolphins though. They were UGLY. We could only see their backs, but we saw some pictures and they looked pre-historic. The first five times we saw them emerge for air was kind of cool. But then, I got BORED. The only thing keeping me from telling Juan to take us back (which I eventually did...) was Bibi's reaction to the dolphins. Every time he would see one, his hands would fly up to his face, and he would gasp, "ohmygooooood" in his Dutch accent. I seriously had a better time watching him than the dolphins. This is how enthused I was about them:
RANDOM ACTIVITIES
One day, we went to a local river community and to a local Shaman as well. A Shaman communicates with spiritual beings on behalf of the community, and he is a healer as well. It was REALLY interesting seeing how he dressed and the rituals he performed. This is my favorite picture my friend Bibi took of him:
After the Shaman, we went to the community, and it was so wonderfully amazing to see how they live. They have a school, but sometimes they don't have teachers, so the kids go without. It's kind of sad, but they make due just fine. While we were in the village, they had this weird shooter thing. It was REALLY long, and you put a sharp stick in the hole, and BLOW, and out shoots the stick from the other end. We were aiming at a lemon, and guess what! I hit it on the SECOND try! I didn't do it again after that...
All in all, the selva (jungle) was an amazing experience. MUCH to my surprise, I LOVED it there, but I think a big part had to do with the amazing group that I was with. We all got along so well, and I'm so happy that it turned out like that! Juan videotaped all the time, so I bought one of the DVDs he made. It's LONG, and shows a lot more nature than I would like (what can I say, I'm a people person), but I'm glad I have it. There are a couple of shots where you can see how RIDICULOUS and DISGUSTED I look, but hey, that's the real Sara shining through, not the jungle Sara that I seem to have found. I've been hanging out with my new friends all week, and I'm sad to see them leaving Quito (Nessa and Farrah left on Thursday morning, and Nick is leaving on Sunday). Here's to being brave and making new friends! And straight from the homeland, too!! :)
Until next time,
Sara de la selva
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