I woke up to
Ashuku tapping my foot and saying we were ready to go. I assumed this
meant to go on the bird watching morning sunrise hike and I woke Mark
as well, went to the main room and got my mud boots on and met some
of the other group by the river. Ashuku was getting the frog out of
the bag and “massaging” him until he secreted venom and it
collected on his fingers, then he would wipe it on his knife. Ray
Gonz and Molly Mulhern volunteered to try the experience. I was
pretty close, but once I watched Ray do it, I was good. Ashuku took a
stick, got it smoldering hot, and made 6 small burn dots on their
biceps, then took the collected venom and rubbed it on the burns.
They immediately turned red all over and sat down and then laid down
after a 5 foot walk, they laid there and sweated. They both said they
felt sick, like they had to purge, which is why Ashuku waited until
morning, for an empty stomach. He said natives do it to “recharge”,
get the blood moving, to clean the system. I was happy with my role
as voyeur.
It only lasted
about ten minutes, then we began our hike. It was thick and muddy and
we stopped along the way to Ashuku point out some birds, iguanas and
a termite nest. He took some termites in his hand, squished them and
rubbed his hands together and it smelled like wood chips. He said it
was a natural mosquito repellent. I let some crawl on me to get a
look. We kept moving, seeing some of the jungle property on the way.
The houses were basically a large platform that was a floor, open on
all sides, with a sloped, thatched roof. Some had walls. When the
water rose, the family still lived there, moving up into the rafters
and the roof. The water rose 10-15 feet this last year. Crazy. We saw
a man planting manioca, similar to tapioca or poi, and evidently you
make a tea with human saliva mixed with it. We picked up a couple dog
hitchhikers and made it to a swampy area to see more birds, before
heading back to camp.
We had breakfast
with bread and eggs and took a small rest break. Around 9 am we got
in the boat and headed off to Monkey Island(La Isla del Monos), a
place (not an island, by the way) where they have saved some monkeys
who were injured, sick, etc. and the monkeys end up staying there
afterwards. I immediately was the first one to pick one up and let
them hang out in my arms and on my shoulders. They had spider
monkeys, marmosets, and a few other varieties of monkey. It was
awesome! And they all loved me. A few of them bit at some people.
Molly got attacked a few times, nothing too horrible, but the monkeys
seemed to have a dislike for women. Also one went after an African
American who was scared to death of them. They were very interested
in our things. They loved my water bottle, sunglasses, etc.
We went further
into the “island” and two of the men working there went and found
the 6 foot anaconda that was hiding in the bush, dragged it out and
put it around a few of our necks for pictures. He was huge! And wild.
He was not happy, he had a bulge near his tail end, where you could
tell his last meal wasn't fully digested yet. Another man found a 3-4
foot python and grabbed it for us. He was hissing and snapping. We
enjoyed the monkeys for a bit longer, gathered for a locally made
alcohol drink. “7 roots” made of 7 roots, you guessed it, and
fermented bee's honey. You could taste the honey, it was thick and
had a spicy, cinnamon, nutmeggy taste to it. One of the monkeys had
just peed on our boat, so the driver was washing it with water when
we got back to the boat, and we sailed to a pennisula on the river to
get in and swim in the Amazon.
The current was
not super strong, but continuous, and when you got past where you
could touch, it became quite a little workout. On my way back I felt
a nibble on my leg, and the ground was thick, cold, soft mud. Both
girls got bitten as well, with evident teeth marks that broke skin.
Piranhas. We went back on the boat and tried to find the pink
dolphins again to try and swim with them, but none got too close. We
saw a few off in the distance, but nothing like the day before. Some
of the guys took turns doing dives and flips off of the boat, and
eventually we went back for lunch with meat and rice. Mark and I
packed up, I collected the email addresses of my new friends and we
said goodbye.
We left with
Kaitlin, the girl who came by herself to attend the Huayawaska
clinic, and we picked up a young indigenous woman on the hour long
boat ride to give her a ride to the market where she was going to
sell some bbq meat. She took photos of me and said she doesn't see
many tourists. I think she was just keen on me. I talked with Jorge
while Mark and Kaitlin slept in the hammocks. We talked about the
economy and his dreams and goals of maybe owning his own tour company
one day.
We got off back
at the market on the riverfront and got back in the taxi. We decided
after listening to some pricing and “amenities” to stay in the
same place we had before. Solimos Hotel, I think it was called. We
dropped our stuff, said hello to Jared again and took showers and
then headed out to walk around. I found a rent-to-own type place with
a cash window to change my dollars for soles. I realized I had left
my ATM card in the machine the day before we left for the jungle, so
I'm using my credit card to withdraw money and it only lets me get
dollars. The city was happy tonight. It was Saturday night, and
supposedly Friend's Day. Manana is Father's Day. The place was
packed. We went down to the riverfront area, had a couple beers. I
watched some guys do kappawea (sp?), the martial art invented to look
like a dance to conceal it from the slave's masters back in the day.
There were games and vendors, violinists, plays and a giant slide
show with fine art. I bought a t-shirt, a homemade version of the
main popular Peru shirt from a mouthy, witty, funny young Peruvian.
We walked around the main circle for awhile before stopping at the
Yellow Rose of Texas again. I also picked up a mask and a pen to take
home at a little booth on a side street. We had some beers and I
talked with my favorite Peruana bartender, Esther. Some friends we
recognized from camp were there as well and we hung out with them all
night. Joel from Australia, and Fran from Chile, a couple here for
vacation as well.
We realized there
are four main groups of travelers here: missionaries, druggies who
want the huayawasca, hikers and older tourists. We stayed until 1,
but I switched to water a bunch earlier and talked to Esther and we
played American music. We said goodbye and all went back to the same
hotel, they were staying at the same place, on Maniti's
recommendation. I thought about staying up all night, but decided it
wouldn't probably be the best decision.
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