Surviving in the Amazon Jungle

 

Iquitos, Peru – Gateway to the Amazon jungle

I had heard incredible stories about the Amazon jungle, both frightening and mesmerizing.  I had read the journalistic account of Colonial Fawcett’s exploration to mark the boundaries between Brazil, Bolivia and Peru on behalf of the British Royal Geographic Society in the early 1900s and all of the horrific things that he and his team suffered, including bot flies that lay eggs under your skin so that weeks later maggots erupt from nasty sores. (EWWW!!) Many people died during excursions into the jungle from poisonous insects, infected wounds, predators and starvation.  (Read the whole unbelievable story in “The Lost City of Z”).  Colonial Fawcett disappeared during a fateful excursion in 1925 and his body was never found.

But after also hearing glowing tales of trips to the jungle, I set my apprehension aside and decided I had to explore an entirely different side of Peru.  I booked my trip through Amazonian Expeditions to stay at the Tahuayo Lodge about 4 hours downstream from Iquitos, hoping the experienced guides would steer me away from the treacherous snakes, venomous spiders, and…QUICKSAND! J

Luckily I have a very brave friend Jennifer (she was the one who recommended I read “The Lost City of Z”) flying in from NYC to join me on the trip.  It was wintertime in NYC but summertime and rainy season in Peru, meaning that she flew from a freezing cold climate straight into the hot, muggy jungle.  We stepped off the plane in Iquitos onto the tarmac wet from a tropical downpour.  The airport runway was surrounded by lush vegetation; ready to envelope anything that got close.  An old, rusty plane was parked along the side of the tarmac, reminiscent of the wreck that was encountered by Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner in Romancing the Stone. 

We were picked up by representatives from Amazonian Expeditions and driven through the chaotic streets to the boat that would take us to the lodge.  Most of Iquitos looked like a jumble of clapboard houses and rusty corrugated metal roofs surrounded by palm trees, banana plants and vines, with everything covered in mud.

We embarked the boat which carried us along the waterfront then headed northeast along the Amazon River, which was wide and brown like the Mississippi.  The cool breeze on the water was refreshing under the unbelievably hot sun.

After hours on the boat, spotting fresh-water river dolphins and water buffalo along the way, we veered off onto a tributary and the lush vegetation closed in around us.  We came around a bend in the river and saw a clearing on which stood wood buildings on stilts with straw roofs.  This was the Tahuayo Lodge, built high above the banks of the river due to regular seasonal flooding.

The Lodge had a dining room, kitchen, hammock room and about 20 cabins.  The cabins were simple structures on stilts, enclosed by mesh screens to keep out the bugs and connected by elevated walkways.  We had our own private bathroom, complete with a river-water shower.

After a delicious dinner of river fish (paixche) cooked in tomato broth, we chatted with our guide Winninger (Winnie) about our plans for the week.  He piqued our interest with ideas for day hikes to see exotic birds and monkeys, night hikes, fishing for piranha, swimming with dolphins, etc.  Without fully understanding the perils and potential pitfalls of what we were about do, we eagerly made plans to explore the jungle.

Day 1 in the Amazon Jungle

Our senses were overwhelmed on our first day hiking in the Amazon jungle.  We wore knee-high wading boots, very useful for slogging through mud and swampy areas.  The canopy was so thick that sunscreen was unnecessary and we were so hot and sweaty by 9am that our bug spray was dripping off of us, giving hungry (and possibly malaria-carrying) mosquitos full access to exposed flesh. 

We slogged through the muck at a snail’s pace while our guide Winnie hacked down vines and encroaching plants.  He used his keen powers of observation as an expert hunter/survivalist to look for animal tracks, listen for bird calls and monkey calls, smell the scent of animals recently passed by, and watch out for deadly snakes and poisonous plants that come across our path.  (That’s multi-tasking!)

On our first adventurous trek into the jungle, we were lucky to find some interesting and (mostly) innocuous animals.  It was a relief to experience the jungle as a nurturing space for fascinating flora and fauna, not the harbinger of nasty, deadly creatures.  The more we walked through different areas and become comfortable with our surroundings and discarded notions about dangers lurking around every corner, the more we developed a (false) sense of security about the jungle and what really was hiding just around the corner!

Winnie grew up nearby and is very familiar with the native plants and animals of that area.  He knows the traditional medicine of the local people and showed us how to extract the sap of various trees used to make medicinal remedies.  He told us about the history of the area, including the beliefs and customs of the locals...including the headhunters.

But his real talent was with the monkeys.  The was absurdly good at interpreting the calls of various types of monkeys and responding to them in a manner that indicated we had no wish to harm them, so they would stick around long enough to check us out.    He was truly a monkey whisperer. 

On our first day, we led us straight to a tree that a strange nook carved into it.  Inside the nook were three little Southern Redneck Night Monkeys (or, Owl Monkeys) peering down at us. 

From there, we headed over to a clearing where we hoped to find Pygmy Marmoset monkeys.   After only a few minutes, they were all around us, heading toward a particular tree where they lick sap from little holes dug into the trunk.  They were so adorable!  It was incredible to observe them from such a short distance.

We saw loads of other incredible things that first day, including Red Titi monkeys, Macaws, Parrots, butterflies, little green birds with vibrant red and yellow heads (Scarlett-Crowned Barbet), frogs, snails, bats, a tarantula, and a brightly-colored poisonous spider.  But no snakes, luckily.

Winnie advised us that if we were to get bit by a poisonous snake, we should catch the snake before it slithers away and chop it into pieces.  Apply the chunks of snake flesh to the wound to suck out the poison.  And it’s also a good idea to drink the bile from the snake’s liver because it contains anti-venom.  Good advice! ;-)

We were intrigued, and we inquired further.  What other techniques would we need to know in order to survive alone in the jungle?  Winnie showed us a tree whose sap can be used as a coagulant to stop bleeding.  (Hopefully I wouldn’t need that!).

How would we survive without food?  Winnie had the perfect answer: GRUBS!  He picked up a seed from a coconut palm tree that had fallen to the jungle floor.  It had been infected by a beetle that laid eggs in the seed.  He hacked the seed in half with his machete and inside were little grubs feeding on the coconut meat inside.  He picked them out handed them to me and Jennifer.  The grub was still alive and squirming around in the palm of my hand.  I felt some apprehension but I tossed it my mouth anyway.  Tasted like coconut!  J

And what about clean water?  Winnie showed us vines that grow in the jungle that filter water and keep a layer of it under its outer shell.  We cut us 2-foot sections and we drink about a ½ cup of water each.

Last survival technique: the jungle telephone.  When you get separated from your traveling companion, just smack the flat side of your machete on a tree trunk to get a loud, metallic sound that reverberates through the jungle.  Your companion should do the same and a good trekker will be able to accurately judge direction and distance.

Day 2 in the Amazon Jungle

We set off to higher ground outside of the flooded areas to look for poison dart frogs.  The frogs eat termites and fire ants, and elements of these two insect combine to make a film covering the frog’s skin that is toxic.  The locals use the frog’s toxic slime to make poison darts.

During the trek, we walked past some fallen trees and our guide stopped suddenly.  We slowly backed up as the guide used his walking stick to coax out a small brown-n-black deadly viper snake curled up alongside the walking path.  It was the first time that I saw our eternally calm guide show alarm.  He relayed to us a story about going to play soccer with his buddies and one of them arrived dead after being bitten on the neck by a viper snake while chopping down bushels of bananas.  Understandably, it was a traumatizing event for him. 

We had averted danger, but it left me feeling that something deadly could be lurking under any branch, leaf, root, hole in the ground – which were numerous. 

We continued on our trek to find the frogs, and along the way Winnie showed us several fascinating plants:

·         Rubber trees, which ooze white latex sap when you make cuts in the trunk

·         Walking palm trees, whose roots grow above ground and pull it slowly toward the sun (east)

·         Palo de Rosa, the French harvested the tree to make rose-scented perfume

·         Heart of Palm, which can be stripped down to the core to eat the “chonta”

At one point in the journey we were overwhelmed with a horrible smell, like ammonia.  Winnie had told us that a pack of wild boars had been through there earlier and had thoroughly marked their territory.  Glad we missed them!

I was still feeling a bit vulnerable after the encounter with the deadly snake, and just missing a pack of wild boards didn’t help make me feel safer.  And to top off my feelings of insecurity, every so often we heard low, guttural growls coming from a distance, clearly made by something big and hairy and powerful that could probably tear you into pieces.  These were the calls of the Howler Monkeys that were so different from the calls of the cute little monkeys we had seen so far that made hissing or whooping noises.  Howler Monkeys travel in packs, compounding their growls into a terrifying roar.

Next up was the bat cave – a hollowed out tree fallen tree trunk that served as home for dozens of bats.  I stuck my head in to see bats flying right at my face, so I didn’t go all the way in.  Eventually,  we made it to the place where the poison dart frogs hang out.  There were three different kinds, decked out in various vibrant colors – red, yellow and green.  They were so tiny!

In the evening, we had the pleasure of meeting with a local healer (shaman).  His name was Adolfo and he was from a local community of indigenous people.  Many shaman around Iquitos offer guided trips on a hallucinogenic plant called Ayahuasca, which is a vine that is stewed for days to make a tea to drink.  (This shaman was not offering hallucinogenic trips).

The shaman brought 16 bottles full of medicinal preparations, which he explained through a translator.  Some contained leaves or bark of medicinal plants soaked in sugar cane liquor; others contained fruit juices or the sap from trees.  All were intended to be ingested or applied to the skin to treat a variety of illnesses, from impotence to fertility to insect bites to broken bones. 

The next step was to perform a ceremony that would invite the good spirits to join us.  The shaman held a bunch of leaves that he shook in rhythm to his chanting.  He smoked tobacco and blew the smoke on each person as he brushed the leaved across our bodies and heads.  It was so mysterious but calming as we sat in the darkness awaiting the arrival of the spirits.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, he announced the names of the spirits that had come to guide each one of us.  He told me that I have the spirit of the wind, which will protect me as a travel to the four corners of the earth.  He proclaimed that Jennifer has the spirit of the Ayahuasca vine looking out for her. 

Upon hearing this, our translator’s eyebrows shot up with surprise and interest.  He said that the Ayahuasca vine represents the spirit of death, which will protect her from any misfortune that may come to her, so that nothing bad will happen.  Apparently, if the spirit of death is accompanying you, that makes you an angel!

After receiving rave reviews by the shaman, we both felt daring enough to try his concoctions.  He mixed up some crazy drink for me, which tasted like a cocktail infused with tree bark.  Next, he gave Jennifer an elixir with raw eggs in it, and I got nervous.  I asked the interpreter if it was safe to drink, thinking that there was no way that she would survive without getting salmonella.  She clearly trusted that the spirit of the Ayahuasca vine was looking out for her, and it did the job, because (luckily!) she didn’t get sick.

Day 3 in the Amazon Jungle

We did a zipline tour in the morning and a canoe excursion in the afternoon.   I honestly don’t understand ziplines.  The view from the top of the canopy is spectacular, but you don’t get to see any birds or animals because you are screaming from one end of the zipline to the other.

The best part of the morning was stopping by the small pueblo of San Pedro to visit a band of semi-tame Woolly Monkeys.  They had been kept as pets and rescued and released back into the wild, which is illegal in Peru.  The guides from the Tahuyo Lodge supplement the monkey’s food supply with bags of bananas (manzanitos) on regular visits.   As we approached the area where the monkeys live, I started to panic thinking about having the monkeys up close and personal.  I’ve only had very negative experiences with monkeys that were aggressive and threatening, or climbing all over everyone and taking things off people.  A monkey peed on me in Indonesia.  I was not looking forward to having monkeys running around in our boat.

The guide repeatedly told me not to get startled or scream around the monkeys because they would bite me.   I managed to calm myself down enough to let the boat approach the bank where the monkeys were gathering.  The adorable, furry animals came down from the trees and circled the boat.  There were three, a darker brown female and two lighter brown younger males. 

The youngest was too shy come into the boat, and only came close enough to grab bananas and run away.  The other two acted like they owned the place.  They ran the length of the boat, back and forth, snacking on bananas provided by our guides. They thought there might be something delicious in my bag, which had flowers all over it, but they weren’t malicious at all.

The afternoon canoe trip with Winnie and Freddie was quite peaceful.  The best part was picking camu-camu berries from bushes to make juice.  The raw berries were so sour that I couldn’t eat them without making a horrible face, but the juice is delicious when mixed with a lot of water and sugar. J  The song that kept running through my mind as we picked berries was “Camu-camu-camu-camu-camu-camu-kamelion…”

We spotted a three-toed sloth sloooowwwwwly moving from one tree to hide out in another tree.

Later that evening, we saw a flurry of lights coming from the dark jungle outside our encampment.  It turned out to be zillions of fireflies.

Day 4 in the Amazon Jungle

We left the main lodge and headed deeper into the jungle to the Amazon Research Center.  It is a private reserve organized into quadrants to allow for scientific exploration on the plants and animals and bugs living there.  There was one active research project going one while we there, conducted by Rose from Illinois, who was collecting data on the environment where Huacari monkeys live.

We did a lot of hiking and boating in the area; on one hike we came across a tree that produces iodine, its sap is reddish brown.  And there was the kerosene tree, which has sap that can be lit on fire and used as lamp oil.  We spotted lizards (Golden Tegu), White Moustached Tamarin monkeys and a newly-identified Saki monkey.

The local people say that in order to be a successful hunter, you must appease the demon god Chuyaqui.  If you aren’t on his good side, we will make sure that you go hungry.  So, how do you get on his good side?  Apparently he enjoys a good smoke, as most demons do.  Leave a few hand-rolled cigarettes where he can find them and you should be good to go. 

Our trusted guides Winnie and Mario must have really sucked up to Chuyaqui before our fishing trip, because we were catching piranhas, barracudas, catfish, lisa linda and zebrafish while macaws screeched loudly overhead.  Between the four of us, we caught 17 fish in only 1.5 hours.  It must be a record.

After snarfing down our freshly-caught fish, we headed out for a nighttime boat ride to Dolphin Lake to see if we could spot Cayman that hunt at night.  It was a magical setting, with the moon reflecting on the tranquil water and backlighting the trees.  We spotted glowing worms and bats and squirrel monkeys and gigantic gladiator frogs.  We gazed at the stars, there were zillions, but seemed to be all in the wrong place.  Being in the southern hemisphere, it’s a completely different map of the stars. The only constellation we could identify was Orion.

Day 5 in the Amazon Jungle

We hiked to Yarina Lake (Ivory Palm Lake).  Along the way, we saw Saddleback Tamarin monkey, White-bellied Parrots, Blue Morph butterflies, Tapir tracks, tarantula nests, hummingbird nest with eggs inside, 20 foot high spider web, and black-n-red Huayuro seeds from the mimosa tree that bring good luck. 

We heard the ominous growl of the Howler Monkey like a fierce wind not far off.

We slogged and sweated through muddy swampland, the perfect targets for anaconda that live in the wetlands, until we reached the lake.  It looked like a marshy clearing, filled with tall grasses and lily pads at the edge of the lake.  The entire area was filled with all kinds of fascinating tropical birds, including the Hoatzin bird wearing a big crown, Acari (relative of the toucan), Wattled Jacana birds with vibrant yellow wings, Amazonian Milli Parrots, and the ever-present Macaws.

We ate a lovely picnic lunch by the lake, which consisted of what I’ll call jungle sandwiches (random leftovers stuffed between two pieces of bread) and oranges peeled with the machete.  While we munched, we sweated off our bug spray.

Quietly our guide walked away from our jungle picnic along a trail that encircled the lake.  His departure was without warning; we picked up our things and followed him to the edge of the lake.  Winnie climbed out onto a branch of a tree overhanging the lake.  Jennifer and I waited on the shore, curious about what he was looking for.

He began to make a strange noise in his throat that sounded like someone was punching him in the stomach, kind of a throaty grunt.  Each time he made this sound, we noticed little ripples in the water beneath the lily pads.  We got closer to the water to try to see what could be making the ripples.  Winnie continued grunting, and the rippling turned to splashing.  It felt a little creepy that we couldn’t see what was moving in the water.  We wondered if we were in that scene from the movie “Crocodile Dundee” when the big croc jumps out of the water.

Winnie motioned us to get back away from the water.  We quickly obeyed, not sure what he was trying to protect us from.  Suddenly the tall grass about 20 feet away from us started swaying dramatically back and forth.  It occurred to me that we had been looking for the “monster” in the wrong place.  We stood perfectly still waiting for the thing to show itself -- and preparing to run if it came after us!

Finally we heard the creature let out a roar that sent chills down my spine.  The sound was something like an irritable snort from a massive dragon that had been roused from a nap.  It was so frightening that I wasn’t sure whether to:

1.       Run away

       2.       Pee my pants

3.       Bust into a fit of giggles

I chose number 3.  We discovered that Winnie had been beckoning a 12 foot deadly Black Cayman.  These creatures explain the disappearance of many explorers, rubber plantation workers and fisherman throughout history.  I would have liked to have seen the monster, but I was a bit relieved that it decided not to show itself.

I did a mental calculation of the risk of encountering a Cayman, anaconda, electric eel, piranha, barracuda or insect that enjoys burrowing itself into your urethra if I were to jump in the water.  I decided it’s not worth the risk – despite the oppressive heat, there would be no swimming for me!

When we finally spotted the pink dolphins, I was delighted to see them, but had no desire to swim with them.  The pink dolphins (bufeos) were heading away from us, so we only got a quick look at the flesh toned hump on its back, reminiscent of a hunk of ham.

While we floated around in Dolphin Lake later that afternoon, Winnie shared with us the secret to making a shrunken head, as the locals used to do to freak out their enemies.  Apparently, you can remove the facial skin off of a cadaver and place it on the skull of a monkey and then when it is smoked it will shrink down to fit snugly on the monkey skull.  (Take THAT, Martha Stewart!)

We saw Red Titi Monkeys.  Frequently.  Lots of them. 

Day 6 in the Amazon Jungle 

We visited the waterside pueblo of “El Chino” were there is a small crafts market.  Apparently there was once a Chinese man who owned a plantation nearby, hence the name.  That day the town was celebrating Christmas with a holiday party Chocolatada; everyone was drinking hot chocolate and toys were being distributed to the kids.

We bought a few necklaces and decorated gourds, and headed back to Iquitos.  Our adventure in a remote part of the jungle was over; we were headed into the chaotic jungle city.

Day 7 in Iquitos

That night we made a grand food-n-drink tour of Iquitos, first stopping at the Yellow Rose of Texas.  It was an American-style sports bar/tiki lounge with kitschy decorations and sports memorabilia covering every inch of the walls.  We met the owner, an ex-pat Texan who made big claims and possessed many grudges.  We sipped on tropical fruit camu-camu margaritas, and snacked on fried yucca and tostones.

After leaving the Yellow Rose of Texas, we headed to the classy restaurant Frio y Fuego (Fire and Ice), a restaurant with a pool on a floating barge in the middle of the Amazon River.  Great atmosphere and good drinks, but un-spectacular food.

Then we had drinks at Musmuqui, which has the motto “Only for Nocturnal Animals” and carries a long list of drinks with sexually-explicit names that claimed to have medicinal properties.  Needless to say, the drinks were awful.

Day 8 in Iquitos

Every hot, chaotic jungle city has a crazy market, and the Belen Market did not disappoint! 

After a late night of eating and drinking the night before, we rallied in the morning, and picked up the best fruit smoothie along the way to the market for only 1 sol.

At 9am it was already hot and humid; the sun was baking down on us as we approached the market, which were just make-shift rows of tables lining the street with overhanging tarps blocking the sun.   As we made our way through the first section of tables, we ooed and ahhed at the exotic fruits, veggies, spices, flowers, etc.

We spotted a building that housed vendors selling all kinds of meat and seafood, from sausage to black scallops to whole pig carcasses hanging from hooks.  It was just the beginning.

 

We headed deeper into the market, where it got more crowded, and the aisles between the rows of tables became narrower.  Wandering into the chicken section, we were overwhelmed with the smell of hot, raw chicken flesh and innards.  We tried to escape the rows and rows of tables of chickens, but it seemed never-ending.  The smell permeated our nostrils and stuck to our clothes.  It was enough to make us gag.

In an effort to ditch the foul-smelling chickens (ha ha), we ended up at the back side of the market that faces the river and a shantytown. 

Right away we could tell that this was a very different part of the market.  I spotted a pet monkey hanging out on the windowsill of a nearby clapboard house, likely meant to attract those interested in buying a monkey to take home as a pet.

As we explored the back section of the market, we came upon more disturbing items for sale.  There were decapitated turtle heads, and severed claws from giant black Cayman. 

Next we witness a woman selling both live and stewed grubs.  She had a bowl filled with the larvae, about the size of my thumb, squirming around as she was pulling out handfuls to sell to a customer who was raving about how delicious they are.  I pulled out my jungle cred and told her that we had tasted grubs in the jungle.

After leaving the grubs vendor, we headed down a side street and were stopped by a group of men in a drinking circle.  They spotted us an immediately invited us to have a drink with them (before 10am).  While they mixed a special concoction just for me, I realized that even with all of the insanity and chaos happening around us in the market, this was a regular Sunday for them and that WE (the only two gringas in the market) were the spectacle. 

Our host tried out some English phrases while I choked down the very strong drink and tried to figure out how to extract ourselves from the drinking circle before he offered another.

We kept walking and stepped into a souvenir shop, where I started to feel woozy from the intense heat and the drink and the inescapable smells.  I managed to hold myself together and I left the shop without vomiting or passing out.

We were looking to buy liquor made from sugar cane (called “cañaso” in Peru but better known by its Portuguese name “caçasa”from Brazil) and a smiling woman coaxed into a shop that sells all kinds of infused liquors made from sugar cane.  Most of the bottled infusions had claims to have medicinal properties, and the owner of the shop explained each one and gave us plenty of samples of drinks called “Rompe Calzon” (Panty-breaker) and “Siete Veces Sin Sacar” (Seven Times without Pulling Out).  It occurred to me that people all over the world have particular interests and issues in common. J

We ate a fabulous lunch of "juanes" (rice and chicken steamed in a banana leaf) covered in fresh veggies, lime juice and hot sauce made from cocona fruit juice and special hot peppers found only in the tropical jungle.  It was a delicious reward after the crazy market adventure.

Our last outing was to visit the Butterfly Farm and animal rescue sanctuary, where animals that have been confiscated are brought to live.   We saw monkeys, macaws, toucans, an ocelot, a jaguar, a sloth and a tapir in the sanctuary.  It was incredible to see the animals up close that we had only caught far-away glimpses of in the jungle.  The tapir licked my hand and the ocelot tried to play with us through the fence.  It was adorable!

 

Finally our jungle adventure came to an end… and we hopped on a plane to Lima…where another adventure was waiting for us!