Also, I think I have found the perfect place for me to live. A place where it's perfectly acceptable, common really, to eat cake for breakfast.
So, I met Fernando on the plane from Pucallpa to Iquitos. After a day of hanging out in Iquitos, at 9pm at night we found a tour, very last minute. We left at 7:30am the next day for four days in the jungle. First we went by taxi for about 1.5 hours to a town called Nauta. Had we travelled this route by boat up the Amazon, it would have taken something like 8 - 16 hours depending on the boat. From there we travelled down the Río Marañon for about an hour, past the junction of Marañon and Ucayali to Río Amazonas. (photo of us, comfortable in our boat with the river breeze)
We saw some solitary pink dolphins and groups of grey ones. Our guide, May, told me later that the locals (or river people as he calls them) are afraid of pink dolphins and keep their distance. They are thought to be able to make people they don't like sick. This to me seems really strange since I've only known dolphins to have special relationships with humans, but I guess, if they can use their sonar for good effects, then why not also for bad.
We headed down the Amazon for about 10 minutes, put on our gum boots, walked for 20 minutes, got into another boat, headed down the Río Yarapa for 30 minutes, another short work and finally we got to Lago Yarina. (photo.. but not in the boat in the photo. Ours had a motor). Another short boat ride and were were at the base camp.
(sick monkey that lives at the base)
Gum boots are essential in the jungle. So much mud. Over the next few days, in our walking, in some places the mud was so soft I sunk in nearly to the top of my boots. We arrived, had lunch, and then the difference in personalities between May and Fernando had its chance to play its little game and make our trip interesting. On this first occasion I really had no idea what was going on. Fernando wanted to go camping in the jungle for two nights, doing a loop and camping in different places each night, in hammocks because this is what they showed us photos of back in the office in Iquitos. May seem reluctant and said they only camped like this in the wet season when everything was flooded with water but Fernando wouldn't take no for an answer. 
Other than that I couldn't understand the finer details of the conversation. All I knew was that it had just rained, I didn't want to sleep on wet ground and I would prefer not to come back the same way we came. My insight into everything (like that the only reason they even camp during the wet season is because stubborn tourists, with no clue, insist on it) came later when Fernando was sleeping in his hammock, wrapped in mosquito net and May and I were lying on the tarp (after May quietly advised me against sleeping in my hammock because it would rain) each surrounded by four walls of white. It's an odd feeling, lying surrounded all all sides by white muslin, not being able to see anything other than your white box, a small haven free of flying bitey things.
So, after walking for a couple of hours we arrived and Laguna Isapo, our camp, and from the minute we stopped walking, we were engulfed by mosquitoes. Unless you have been there, you cannot believe how many there are. My 80% DEET, carcinogenic repellent seemed to do very little. The only time they disappeared was when it got dark. Because you couldn't see them. Turn on your headlamp and you can see yourself wave your arm through clouds of mozzies. In your mosquito net you were mostly safe, after 10 minutes of clapping around like a crazy person, killing those that got in, but the sound of millions of others, waiting hungrily on the other side of the white muslin cloth, never subsided. Although May told us that it's only the females that bite you, and only to fertilise their eggs. Without blood, no baby mosquitoes.
We fished for piranhas in the lake too and it was surprisingly easy. The hard part was catching anything big enough,worth keeping and eating. Piranhas make a funny grunting sound when out of the water. That night, trying to stand in the smoke of the fire, was the first time I saw all of the flying insects that glow in the dark. There are millions of them. On another night, when we went out on the lake close to base camp looking for caiman (small species of crocodilians), I saw the greatest light show ever. Everything from the floating plants on the lake with glowing bugs in them, to flashing lights on the shore, to flying lights over the lake and the Milky Way splash right across the sky was twinkling and glowing. We never saw any caiman but I think it was the best night I spent there.
Back to our night camping in the jungle, as we were chatting, May could hear and smell the rain coming. It was as he feared. It started pouring with rain, but just before it did he rescued Fernando from his hammock and got him under and onto our tarps. I think Fernando was oblivious to most of what happened because he was still half asleep.
In the morning we went for a walk, came to a dead end when the ground got to wet and muddy to walk through, and headed back to camp. Fernando fished again and finally caught a fish worth eating. YEY! It was actually very tasty. We walked back to the base
and that was the end of our adventure in the jungle. Even Fernando had experienced enough and was willing to fore go another night being mosquito food.
Other than that I couldn't understand the finer details of the conversation. All I knew was that it had just rained, I didn't want to sleep on wet ground and I would prefer not to come back the same way we came. My insight into everything (like that the only reason they even camp during the wet season is because stubborn tourists, with no clue, insist on it) came later when Fernando was sleeping in his hammock, wrapped in mosquito net and May and I were lying on the tarp (after May quietly advised me against sleeping in my hammock because it would rain) each surrounded by four walls of white. It's an odd feeling, lying surrounded all all sides by white muslin, not being able to see anything other than your white box, a small haven free of flying bitey things.
So, after walking for a couple of hours we arrived and Laguna Isapo, our camp, and from the minute we stopped walking, we were engulfed by mosquitoes. Unless you have been there, you cannot believe how many there are. My 80% DEET, carcinogenic repellent seemed to do very little. The only time they disappeared was when it got dark. Because you couldn't see them. Turn on your headlamp and you can see yourself wave your arm through clouds of mozzies. In your mosquito net you were mostly safe, after 10 minutes of clapping around like a crazy person, killing those that got in, but the sound of millions of others, waiting hungrily on the other side of the white muslin cloth, never subsided. Although May told us that it's only the females that bite you, and only to fertilise their eggs. Without blood, no baby mosquitoes.
We fished for piranhas in the lake too and it was surprisingly easy. The hard part was catching anything big enough,worth keeping and eating. Piranhas make a funny grunting sound when out of the water. That night, trying to stand in the smoke of the fire, was the first time I saw all of the flying insects that glow in the dark. There are millions of them. On another night, when we went out on the lake close to base camp looking for caiman (small species of crocodilians), I saw the greatest light show ever. Everything from the floating plants on the lake with glowing bugs in them, to flashing lights on the shore, to flying lights over the lake and the Milky Way splash right across the sky was twinkling and glowing. We never saw any caiman but I think it was the best night I spent there.
Back to our night camping in the jungle, as we were chatting, May could hear and smell the rain coming. It was as he feared. It started pouring with rain, but just before it did he rescued Fernando from his hammock and got him under and onto our tarps. I think Fernando was oblivious to most of what happened because he was still half asleep.In the morning we went for a walk, came to a dead end when the ground got to wet and muddy to walk through, and headed back to camp. Fernando fished again and finally caught a fish worth eating. YEY! It was actually very tasty. We walked back to the base
and that was the end of our adventure in the jungle. Even Fernando had experienced enough and was willing to fore go another night being mosquito food. Our other activities in the jungle included going back out onto the Río Yarapa looking for perisosos (sloths) but we only saw two, and they were way up in the trees. So far away that we spent about 5 minutes going back and forwards pointing into the sky trying to help Fernando find it. We went fishing for more piranhas, or any other fish that felt like being caught. I tried two more times but got bored very quickly. I still feel sorry for the fish that get caught and don't get eaten.
They have to go through the pain of getting a hock through the mouth all for nothing. After fishing we got to go swimming in the very same lake that we had just been catching piranhas out of and looking for caiman. All good though. The only things that came close to me were sardines that I tried to catch by hand. There is a tapir living close to the base as well that comes for breakfast and lunch. He happened to be close to shore when we were swimming, May called him, and he actually came. It was incredible. So what you see in the photos is Poncho the tapir, swimming to our raft. 
We went for another walk to see medicinal plants, one of which was a repellent, that smelt like garlic, and surprisingly enough was called wild garlic, but was actually bark off a tree. May said it was better at repelling people you don't like, more than insects. I also got to swing on a vine and hug a tree. It was a big huge tree with triangular roots that came out of the ground, taller than me. Only after I hugged the tree did May tell us that it was also known as 'Bienvenidos' because of it's big welcoming arms/roots.
I knew there was a reason I had to hug it. On our last night in the jungle we did an ayahuasca ceremony. I didn't really know what to expect. All I had heard was that it was a hallucinogenic plant and it generally made you throw up and rush to the toilet with diarrhoea. Sounds enticing, doesn't it. What they believe is that it's a process of detoxification, cleansing and purification. Better out than in, right? It's also meant to be a spiritual experience. Before you drink the ayahuasca you bid 'Doctor Ayahuasca' to help you. To better your life, to see the future or whatever the reason is that you are drinking the ayahuasca.
Throughout the ceremony the shaman is whistling, humming or singing and it's very soothing. He is also smoking, constantly. Pure jungle tobacco cigarettes. I think he uses the smoke for cleansing and protection. I hate the smell of cigarettes so I already felt nauseous before the ayahuasca even touched my lips.
For me, I experienced pictures. Flashes of people that I didn't know. Pictures of water, the ocean, blue oceans with white sandy bottoms, rivers. I think a number of people experience this. Also, when the shaman was singing, I could swear I heard the sound of waves on the beach, just the last moment when there is only shallow white foaming water washing up on shore and it's already receding back into the ocean, and streams, water running over smooth rocks. I threw up about 3 times but never had to go to the toilet. Fernando on the other hand was asked if he wanted a little more. Right after he drunk it, it was like everything needed to exit his body at once.The other thing I felt was my body rocking up and down, in time to the cicadas outside and the shaman's singing. Always to the same parts of the song my arms would cradle/rock from side to side (or at least, it felt like they were). However, nothing I experienced seemed to be related to what I had asked for help with.
One last thing that surprised me about the whole ceremony was that it included God. Prayers to God, the Virgin Mary... I suppose the mayority of Peruvians are catholics and christianity has been incorporated into many indigenous ceremonies, beliefs and so forth. So in a way it makes sense. I was just surprised.
The next morning I felt like crap. Everyone kept talking to me, asking how it was and all I wanted was to be antisocial and the last thing I wanted was to talk about my experience. It wasn't a bad one, I just didn't feel like talking. Everyone said the next day you feel fine but it took me until lunch time and another swim in the lake to feel like (nearly) my normal self. So on the last day we didn't do much either. May told me later that if he hadn't gone camping the first night we would probably have seen caiman and if we hadn't gone fishing from the base we could have gone looking for monkeys and probably found some. And the same for the morning I was sick. But, sometimes things do go along the best of plans. I would never have known how many mosquitoes there really are in the jungle, 
caught glowing bugs or slept on a tarp serenaded by female mozzies wanting my blood with a huge tarantula living in the tree right next to me. We saw some monkeys anyway, so it wasn't a complete loss.
The final part of the itinerary promised to us in the office in Iquitos, which May didn't know anything about, and another thing Fernando wasn't going to give up, was swing the sunset from the Amazon.
I'm glad Fernando insisted on seeing the sunset. It meant we had a much more leisurely and longer cruise (5 hours)down el Río Amazonas and I got to talk with May more and convince him to be my guide for the next couple of days.
The next morning I felt like crap. Everyone kept talking to me, asking how it was and all I wanted was to be antisocial and the last thing I wanted was to talk about my experience. It wasn't a bad one, I just didn't feel like talking. Everyone said the next day you feel fine but it took me until lunch time and another swim in the lake to feel like (nearly) my normal self. So on the last day we didn't do much either. May told me later that if he hadn't gone camping the first night we would probably have seen caiman and if we hadn't gone fishing from the base we could have gone looking for monkeys and probably found some. And the same for the morning I was sick. But, sometimes things do go along the best of plans. I would never have known how many mosquitoes there really are in the jungle, 
caught glowing bugs or slept on a tarp serenaded by female mozzies wanting my blood with a huge tarantula living in the tree right next to me. We saw some monkeys anyway, so it wasn't a complete loss.The final part of the itinerary promised to us in the office in Iquitos, which May didn't know anything about, and another thing Fernando wasn't going to give up, was swing the sunset from the Amazon.
I'm glad Fernando insisted on seeing the sunset. It meant we had a much more leisurely and longer cruise (5 hours)down el Río Amazonas and I got to talk with May more and convince him to be my guide for the next couple of days. 
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