Our plan was simple, we were to camp in different campsites for three nights, hack our way through the jungle and hopefully learn a little bit along the way. In fact you learn a lot. It seems like everything in the jungle has a use, whether good for you, medicinal, or to kill you: the plants, the animals, the insects are all to be respected.
Our guide Juan Carlos, had grown up in the jungle since he was very little, killing pumas and hunting when most kids in Canada are watching cartoons. With only a machete he can hunt and survive in the jungle, however we had a cook, so there was no hunting required.
We spent the time walking and bushwaking through the jungle learning which trees smell like garlic, which can induce an abortion, which can make your love interest fall crazy in love with you, which can be added to arrows to kill people and which vines, when cut are full of water...
Hundreds of butterflies flit by, creating clouds of colourful movement; in exotic colours, and vibrant hues, some the size of your hand. Always lots of sand flies and moths at night to put a little jingle in your step.
The jungle is less of a flashy scene than the pampas and animal sightings are less common because the jungle is so dense and huge. The being said we saw wild pigs, maccaws, tucans, all sorts of birds, and we saw the tracks of many, many animals. The jungle is more the realm of the imagination, it is never, ever silent, not in the middle of the night, not in the middle of the day. At night you hear wild pigs that sound like giant animals crashing around seemingly next to you, bugs are everywhere and even the tinest ant bite can cause searing pain that feels like your skin is on fire. Birds call throughout the day, yet you have to look hard to see them; animals move around silently and not so silently. In the morning, walking along the river, you see how not alone you really are, puma tracks only 100m from your tents criss-cross the river along with wild tapiers, ocelots, pigs, deers and so on.
The more time in the jungle the more you see.. and the options are endless you can go for 1 to infinite days: building rafts, using bamboo and palm leaves to make shelters, exploring and letting your mind and body return to the wild. Respect is key, here you really feel like you are not at the top of the foodchain, where everything from jaguars to trees to insects can either kill you or cause you serious harm... Definitely a lesson in respect.
We came out with a huge amount of respect, a little bit more knowledge and a hell of a lot of ant and insect bites and a few rashes to boot.
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