Last night was SO HOT! We fell asleep with the fan on, but as I described earlier the electricity is only on for a few hours a day. It was so hot, I can tell you exactly when the fan came back on around 3:30am. This was also about the time I fell back asleep. We were awoken around 6am for breakfast 6:30, with enough time to leave for our first outing today at 7am. Our first excursion for the day is on a river boat ride to a local farm followed by a canoe trip down the river. I am excited to see how the locals live, so I dressed for the walk and covered myself from head to toe in sunscreen and bug spray. The Australian ladies were not with us this morning, because they are heading to Cusco for the next part of their trip towards the Mayan pyramids. Today we are joined with a lady who must be in her late 30’s and her companion who appeared to be a teenager. Brad and I had our bets that it was a mother/son situation but were surprised to learn they are brother and sister. She works for a travel agency in Lima and was asked to come visit the area for work since she hadn’t been here in almost five years. She agreed, but only if she could take her brother with her. She told Javier that her brother is learning English, so English only is okay for the tour. Javier agreed, and we were on our way.
The boat ride took us down river about 20 minutes or so. When we arrived, Javier had to clean off the steps up towards the farm to help us out of the boat. It had appeared that the water had increased greatly overnight and then receded. This was evident on all of the plants because there was dirt on everything five feet or so above the water line. The stark green from the shrubbery above the former water line clashed with the muddy leaves directly below them. When we arrived at the farm, we were greeted with heat and mosquitos. The mosquitos were becoming bothersome so we all re-applied our bug screen as Javier explained the various types of fruits and trees in the farm. Everything on the farm is done by hand, and they’re producing only for their family so there is a wide variety of fruits for them to choose from. Javier did mention, that they occasionally sell bananas for trade as well to help out the family. So upon entry we saw a hut with a banana symbol and lots of bananas inside. He also mentioned that they had Direct TV, so I kind of wondered about the service here. There is of course, no wifi but he joked that we might have cell service. According to the lady from Lima, we did not.
As the tour continued, the mosquitos accumulated to the amount of a swarm in front of us. Javier walked us through the Amazon trails for a half hour, and with each step we had to swat off and spray off too many mosquitos to mention. At one point, the lady from Lima head of me was invisible to the mosquitos ahead. Brad helped me out by spraying the back of my neck, and hat with Off- brand mosquito repellent as we continued our walk. By the time we arrived at the river, everyone was thrilled to be away from the moisture of the Amazon and the swarms of mosquitos. Javier cleaned off the steps down to the canoe and Brad had a minor flash back towards South Africa when he saw the canoe again. This canoe was much smaller than yesterday’s, and he appeared skeptical about getting in. However, since the only other option was to walk back through the swarms of mosquitos, we chose the canoe.
Javier guided us gently down the river, as we took pictures of birds, flowers, and fruits along the way. We arrived back a the motorized canoe a few minutes later and were then told to disembark the small canoe into the larger motorized canoe from which we arrived. This appeared to make Brad very uneasy. He stood up ever so slightly, stepped onto the larger canoe, and was in. Next was my turn and we lined the opening of the large canoe up with the smaller canoe and I climbed on in. Brad and I fist bumped that we had successfully done two canoe trips without incident on this trip so far, so we’re doing well! The ride back to the camp was uneventful. I spent my time looking at the change of water line and enjoying the cool air before heading back to our hot camp. When we arrived at camp we ran into the Australian ladies on their way to the canoe so they could catch their flights. We hugged and wished them well on their journey before heading back to the cabin to clean up a bit.
At lunch time, I was extremely hungry. I can’t even begin to tell you. At 12 we went over to the main lodge where we were informed that lunch was at 12:30, which wound up working out well because I forgot to grab my malaria pills anyways. By the time I returned, they were ready for us. I ate happily on the chicken, cheese, red pepper, and ciabatta sandwich for lunch. It was accompanied by some French Fries which tasted incredible compared to the other versions we had had to date. The ketchup on the other hand tasted like vinegar with a metallic sweet tomato after taste to it. I couldn’t eat the ketchup and decided it was definitely an acquired taste.
After lunch, Brad and I hung around the cabin for a little bit before heading on our next adventure at 2pm towards Hacienda Conception (The other camp). We met with our guide, whose name I didn’t catch, and he took just the two of us over to the other camp. Javier had explained at lunch that he’s going into town, so we likely wouldn’t see him. Before leaving our camp, our guide mentioned that the rain is coming and we should be prepared with ponchos. Neither Brad nor myself had waterproof clothing or shells on us, but we stated that we’re okay for the trip and we accept that we could get wet. My first thought was, if worst came to worst I could leave my wet pants and shirt here because they’re too big for me anyways rather than risk the luggage weight over-runs at the airport.
As we walked down the steps to get to the motorized canoe, I looked on the horizon and could see the rain clouds in the distance. We would be canoeing right into the rain. We loaded up inside the canoe and we were off! A few minutes later we could see the sprinkling begin on the water and the waves become choppier. As we boated towards the rain storm the rain picked up, and so did the wind. At one point our guide had Brad help him lower a big plastic tarp on Brad’s side of the boat to help keep some of the water out. The boat we’re in is pretty large. It’s probably about 30 feet long and 8 feet wide so there’s a good amount of wiggle room for us to move about. It’s also very sturdy from what I could tell. I actually really enjoyed the ride and watching the water as we drove straight into the rain clouds. When we arrived, we re-applied bug spray that may have been washed off on the ride over.
Hacienda Conception is a newer version of the camp we’re staying at, with more amenities. Upon seeing the camp, I knew that our camp was more along the lines of what I was looking for when we booked the trip. I mean, how often in today’s modern day do you go without wifi, cell service, and electricity. That’s not to say that Brad and I are roughing it… we have food every day, cabin cleaning, and an incredible chef to prepare way too much food for us.
We walked down towards the “lake” where the canoe are tied up and ready for us. We could tell that the camp had been hit with a good amount of water because our guide had to drain out some water from the canoe and everything seemed to be floating which would normally have been secured on ground. The canoes this time were the smallest we had seen on this trip yet. It holds at most 4 people and gave me the surprising reminder of South Africa without Brad having to say a word. The difference though, is that this is a flat bottom boat whereas the one over there was more of a pointed bottom boat. We were offered life vests to which I happily accepted, until I realized it smelled strongly of mold. I left the life vest loose so I didn’t have to smell it but the smell was becoming overwhelming. Our guide had me get into the canoe first, then Brad. After loading ourselves up, our guide jumped in the back and began to pull back if only slightly. I couldn’t help but notice that the edges of the boat were perhaps 2.5 inches above water line, so every time the guide would change sides to push us along, the water would inch closer to the inside of the boat. Brad appeared to be uncomfortable for the entirety of the canoe trip and I could actually see why. With piranhas, and anacondas lurking in the waters… there was no way either of us wanted to end up this the water.
As we canoed along the embankments our guide was very insistent on showing us all kinds of birds, flowers, and fruits along the way. He was so insistent, in fact, that at one point he had canoed us right under a tree and refused to leave under the tree until we tried one of the fruits hanging off the branches. The pods of this fruit looked like the tree we affectionately called the “stink bomb” tree which grows next to the playground of my elementary school. I took one of the fruits, opened the pod and sucked on the seed inside. The seed is covered with a sticky fruit which tastes like sweet soy bean. Our guide explained that the monkeys enjoy this fruit because of the sweetness of the fruit. As we turned back around and started heading back, we were quizzed on some of the birds we had seen and he would often row back if we didn’t get the answer correctly. At this point, both Brad and I were getting annoyed. To be quizzed once on this we could understand, but an hour and a half of rowing back and forth so he could make a point was getting to be a bit much. When we finally arrived back at the harbor, Brad jumped out and I was thrilled to take the stinky life vest off.
After the canoe ride we were directed towards the medical plant area where he toured us around the medical plants the camp is growing. No sooner had we stepped off trail were we beginning to see the swarms of mosquitos again. I was pretty surprised actually because our bug spray, which had been working well to date, didn’t seem to be as effective. Along the route he opened up a coco pod and offered me raw coca.. It’s surprisingly sweet! A few minutes into his speech about one of the plants used for an antidiarrheal I had to ask him to finish the tour. The mosquitos were dive bombing me and I needed some fresh air. I had thought he understood my request because he walked us quickly over to where the brazil nuts were, but then asked us to take a seat. I sat down, but was still being attacked by mosquitos. He then started going through all the plants we saw. I was annoyed. To my surprise, after a few minutes the mosquitos started dying down and I was able to sit decently comfortable. He mentioned that there was something about the hut area where we were sitting that was not comfortable to the mosquitos so we should be okay now. By this point, to be honest, I was just kind of done with the experience. I listened to what he was saying but was not actively engaging in the description. I finally had my “done” moment when a gigantic bee began flying around me and landing on my pants leg. I got up and he followed suit so we started heading back to the canoes.
When we got back on the boat, the rain clouds had largely dispersed over the boat and we would only hit the tail end. The ride back was silent except for some small conversations. Mid-way on the boat ride we saw a double rainbow over the tree line and enjoyed the beauty of the light refracting on the water in the air. When we arrived back at camp, it was sprinkling slightly and we could tell that it had been raining because the logs path we walk along had water backed up to one side of the walkway and the logs were slippery. I damn near pranced back to the cabin, stripped off my shoes, and inspected for mosquito bites. Yep, another one to add to the list. This time on my arm above the elbow. I will say though, that given the number of swarms of mosquitos around us, to only get the few that I had was actually quite impressive. I would definitely recommend Off brand mosquito spray with Deet in it.
I spent the remainder of the afternoon hanging out on the hammock and enjoying the down time, knowing that I had seen and done everything available at this camp site. When dinner came, Brad and I enjoyed our last night of Passion Fruit Pisco Sours followed by an incredible meal of chicken for myself and Brad had the meat. After finishing dinner, I noticed that my stomach hurt bad, just as it did in South Africa when I had the reaction to the malaria medications. I went back to the cabin to discover I was right! After throwing up one time, I felt much better and decided to sleep of any remaining after effects.
