Weekend in the Amazon!

Thursday night Jessa and I decided to get into bed as early as possible as we were to leave to our final ISA excursion at 4 am sharp Friday morning! Much to my surprise, I did not sleep a wink that night. I seemed to have developed some sort of insomnia the past week or so. What was good is I did a lot of thinking about what things I want to do in my time left here. So, when Jessa’s alarm went off at 3:30 and she slept right through it, I hopped out of bed and was ready for the trip.

It was an hour and a half flight to land in the City of Iquitos, which is located in the department of Loreto. Iquitos is the biggest city in the world that can only be accessed by air or boat. When we landed and got off the plane, all of us were waked in the face with heat and humidity, like I have never felt before. It reminded me of a hot hot day in Hawaii, except way way more uncomfortable. After we gathered in the airport, we met our guides for the weekend: Rey, Rudy and Daniel. We got in a bus and traveled to Nauta which took about an hour, but was a very interesting ride because we got to see some scenery that was so different than Lima and all the other places we visited. It did remind me of Kauai in a lot of ways. Very lush and green. Although, still different in a lot of ways. After riding on the boat for a while, and getting the feel for the Amazon river, we headed to the lodge which our guides work for, the Pacaya Samiria Lodge. We had a tasty buffet lunch and got ready for our first Amazon jungle hike through the Restinga forest which was the area directly surrounding our lodge. After covering up with layers of buq spray, I put on high socks, pants, a long sleeve shirt and a hat. Remember the thing I said earlier about it being extremely hot? Still true. It was definitely uncomfortable but I was NOT going to get eaten alive by the bugs. Needless to say I did my fair share of sweating this weekend. After the hike we showered, relaxed, swung on the hammocks on our porches and enjoyed the sudden downpour and thunder and lightining. The rain helped cool us down significantly and it was pretty fun to be in the rain, considering I probably haven’t been in the rain since April or so. Sleeping the first night was a little challenging. I think I had the creeps from the amount of bugs I could hear and see, but I woke up the next morning excited to keep seeing more of the Jungle.

We woke up and enjoyed a nice breakfast, then got on the boats to do a hike in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve in the Nauta Caño zone. It was about 9:30 when we started the hike and this was more of a walk than a hike, so it was not as hot. After that, we got back on the boats and spent the rest of the day on the water. For lunch we ate Juane, which is a rice ball with chicken, olive and egg wrapped in a large banana leave. We drank fresh juice, we fished for piranhas and cooked a few for dinner back at the lodge later. We swam in the river, which was probably my favorite activity of the day because it was so fun and refreshing, and we saw some wildlife, such as monkeys, dolphins, sloths, and lots of pretty birds. ALSO, Jessa got bit by a piranha, which is definitely an experience and a good story, although I really would not use the word “exciting”. She is a okay, they really are just little animals with scary teeth. Check out my pictures for a better idea. As night fell, we went down a smaller river to try and find some spotted caymans by shining flashlights and looking for their red eyes. One of our guides caught one and passed it around so that people could see and hold it. It was a baby one so it was smaller and apparently a little easier to catch because they are more innocent. After that, we slowly made our way back down the narrower river to the big river, using out little flashlights to help guide the driver of the boat. Needless to say, it was a slow journey and we still ran into a handful of logs. It was definitely one of those “this would never be legal in the US” kind of things, and of course, I loved it. After we got back to the main river, I sat and enjoyed the beautiful sky we could see out there with no natural light. It’s been 3 months since I have seen the stars and I do not know if I have ever seen them that bright. It was so calming just to be out on the boat, going fast with the cool air rushing by. That was my favorite experience of the day.

The next morning we went to a nearby village and got to shop at a little arts and crafts market and play soccer with a bunch of the boys from the village. I had so much fun! I was slightly concerned I was going to pass out from heat exhaustion or get schooled by a 9 year old on the court, but in the end, I was extremely glad I did it and had a blast. We played for about 40 minutes till I needed a break and ended up playing volleyball with some of the young girls. I also chatted with some of the young girls, a young mom and a teenage boy. It was so interesting to think about how these people live. The lifestyle is just incomparable to anything I could ever imagine. After sweating enough for an entire lifetime, we returned to the lodge and me and 3 of my friends decided to utilize this outside shower spout thingy to rinse off in our swimsuits. It was quite refreshing and if I could have, I would have stayed under that water all day. But eventually, we had to pack up, eat lunch and head back into the city of Iquitos to do a few minutes of sightseeing, grab some dinner, ice cream, and head to the airport.

Overall, it was a very nice weekend. It was relaxing and warm and different and fun. I am really glad I went and really glad for the experience.