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Day 1 in The Jungle 19/04/2010
Due to the fact that I had left my trainers on the Jeep that took us to the Pampas, we were up at 7.45 to look for them because I didn't fancy walking around the jungle in flaps! We walked to the tour company and no one seemed interested to help me and told me to come back at 8.30 when the driver of the Jeep would be there. We went back to oriental hostel, checked out and went to Mashaquipe to pay for the jungle trip. We had to go somewhere else to pay so I could use my card and then give Nicholas the cash. Then we walked back to the Pampas tour company and they had found my trainers ( I felt bad for thinking they didn't care). I was so happy I gave the guy a hug. It was only 8.20 and we didn't have to be back at the jungle office until 9am so we bought some batteries for my head lamp and then had an orange juice in a cafe for a while. After orange we walked to the jungle office to collect our sleeping bags and sleep mats for our night deep in the jungle. We met our guide, Rovin and walked to the Beni river, which is a tributary of the Amazon river. We set off into the jungle. There were no other boats on the river and it was nice and peaceful apart from the motor engine. We stopped a couple of times to buy the national park ticket and then to go through national park control before stopping at a rainforest village that grew sugar cane. We had a chew on the raw sugar cane that he cut down and then set to work extracting the juice from the cane by placing it into a cog system. View pictures for a better understanding. With the liquid produced it was poured into bowls and then lime was squeezed in. It was tasty. Next we saw how they heat the liquid for four hours to make a honey like liquid that did taste like honey. It was then back on the boat for an hour until we arrived at our lodge in the rainforest. It was very basic with a bed made out of tree trunks and mosquito net walls that don't reach the roof. We hung out for a while in hammocks before lunch. It was steak and rice which was nice. We then hung out some more until 3.30pm when we set out for our first jungle walk. Rovin told us a bit about the plants and fruits that are safe or toxic. There are 34 species of mushroom and only 3 are not toxic! We saw a few golden wed silk spiders, a horned spider, some jumping spiders and a flat spider. Most exciting we tracked some wild pigs but they got spooked and ran off before we could get a picture. It they get too annoyed they will circle you and charge, luckily they didn't do that. We also was some pretty butterflies and lots of ants, including leaf cutters which were cool trekking along logs with leaves four times their size. Norbert had a bullet ant (the largest ant in the world, and if it bites, you get a fever) on his trouser leg that I spotted and kicked off. Catherine had a toxic caterpillar on her trousers that I also noticed but Rovin got that off with a stick. We then went back for dinner which was pasta with a tomato and onion sauce. After one hour of relaxing, at which point we saw a tarantula on the roof of one of the huts, we set of for our night walk! We were out for about one hour and only saw a frog and some tracks from the giant rodent but a bat did try to fly into my face because I had my head lamp on my head! I was fairly nervous the whole time, I'm not really cracking up to be jungle material. Back at camp it was time for bed and night time noises.
Day 2 in the Jungle 20/04/2010
I did not sleep well all night. We were up at 5.10am when it was still dark to go for a morning walk in the jungle. I decided not to go, the others left a 5.45 am and I got back into bed! I suddenly realised that I was now in the jungle on my own and my over-active imagination kicked in, I had jaguars climbing over the hut walls and all sorts. I tried to sleep but was only dozing when the sun came up. The noise of birds and insects was immense. While gazing out of my mosquito net I spotted a red squirrel climbing down a tree, it ran across the open space and away. I also had a visit from a cricket on top of my net and a big bee kept doing laps around the cabin. The others came back and had seen no animals. I was pleased I didn't go. We all then had breakfast and then Gareth had a sleep in a hammock and I played patience under my mosquito net. Before lunch we made rings out of seeds using sandpaper. The indigenous people used to use leaves and rocks. It was then time for lunch and after lunch we finished packing and set off to our camp deep in the jungle at about 2.30pm. It was a long, hot tiring walk up and down hills, over and under fallen tree trunks, running over ant colonies and through streams. At one point there was a rope swing over a ditch made out of a hanging vine. It was really fun. We made it to our camp at about 6pm and the cook was already there preparing dinner on the open fire. We changed into our bathers and had a wash in the small stream, it was cold but that was good after our long walk. After our wash we put up our mosquito nets and rolled out our sleep mats and sleeping bags. My sleeping bag was damp, not happy! It was then time for dinner, I couldn't eat much because I was too tired. After dinner we were visited by a leaf mantis which is a very interesting creature but it did climb up the candle and burnt its front feet. Gareth placed the mantis on a real tree and then we sat around chit chatting before bed. Gareth very kindly laid out his sleeping bag on top of the sleep mats and we didn't have a cover because it was too warm. However, it got chilly during the night but luckily the other sleeping bag had dried out so we used that. Neither of us slept very well that night because it was very uncomfortable. I wasn't that scared of night time animals although I didn't go to the bathroom until the morning!
Day 3 in the Jungle 21/04/2010
We were up with the sunrise and the sound of the fire crackling. We got dressed and had our breakfast by the fire. After breakfast we packed up our stuff and set off into the jungle. We walked for about two hours without seeming much wildlife but we did walk through part of the jungle that was just had one type of palm tree and it reminded me of "honey I've shrunk the kids!" After the two hours we said goodbye to Norbert and Catherine as they were staying another night in the jungle at a different camp. We waited in the jungle alone for 20 minutes while Rovin walked then to the camp. When he came back we carried on to the macaw lookout point. We only saw one pair of macaws sat in their little hole in the rock face that they had carved out with their beaks. After the lookout we carried on to the river, on the way we saw our third family of wild pigs. We were so close this time but still didn't manage to get a photo. At the river the raft man wasn't there so Gareth and Rovin starting making the raft out of fallen tree trunks and the bark of a vine. I help from the shore until it was nearly ready and then got into the water for the last vine fixes. The raft man eventually arrived and he got on the raft with me and Gareth bringing his big stick with him that he used to guide the raft. We set off down stream and the ride was lovely. We saw seven pairs of macaws flying overhead altogether and several other species of birds along the way. There was a bullet ant at he front of the raft that raft-man flicked off with his stick. We arrived at camp late and everyone else had eaten their lunch but there was still some left for us. We then relaxed in hammocks until 3.30pm when it was time to catch the boat back to town. We checked back into Oriental and had really good showers with lots of soap. Gareth found a tick on his stomach, arrgghh!! We went to Camilla's for dinner and both had steak and chips with peppercorn sauce for £3 each. While eating I noticed another tick on Gareth's arm that I had to pull off! It was then home to pack and bed as we were very tired after all our jungle trekking!
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