Lara Croft eat your heart out

So after a week of hard graft (actually only amounted to about 3 days work as Mon AM I was recovering from the bus journey and Thurs AM I was getting my life together for the jungle, then on Fri we left for the jungle :P)  we left 8.30am for our jungle adventure.

We were a small group, 6 volunteers plus the boyfriend of one of the girls, and we had our own private combi and were accompanied by Neto to the Peruvian jungle in La Merced.

And how's the best way to start a jungle tour I hear you ask? With the world's best hangover I tell you! :D The night before we'd gone to an infamous bar in town, Antojitoes, to say ciao amigas to two of our beloved volunteers (wipes tear). And in honour of their departauer we played my new hated game, TODITO, with sangria as the drink of choice. Each letter correlates with a dice number and each letter with an action (T-tomar (drink), O-order, D-derecha (right), I-izquierda (left)) Let's just say sangria has been added to the list of things  I cannot drink anymore because the association of what happened when it was last drunk is terrible.

So back to the jungle! We started by visiting one of South America's largest caves, which apparantly has no known end, going at least 42km into the earth. Cave explorations are hilarious amounts of fun hungover. Especially when all you have for safety is a rope and the darkness all around hides treacherous holes which you will fall down with one foul step.

After our first tomb raid we headed off to La Merced and the jungle, but first we stopped off at coffee factory and possibly animal sanctuary (but my days are getting confused) where we saw aligators, turtles, monkeys and more.

It was so surreal to see the transformation from waterwashed dusty mountains to buxom bosomed deep green jungle flora-ed hills! And it was now warm, hot even! Amazing how the ecosystem changed so drastically in about 3 hrs.

We arrived at our jungle retreat in the evening, so all I could hear was the sound of crashing water nearby, I had absolutely no idea where in the jungle we were. Our room was modest but comfortable, and most importantly without any nature residing inside as well! I doused on the insect repellent and we went to off into the dark abyss to have a welcome bonfire.

Unfortuneatly by this time my hangover was no longer a hangover and I was pretty sure I was genuninely ill as felt feverish and achey. The worst way to be for a jungle exploration. But I just kept saying my jungle mantra over to myself to keep me going: what would Lara do?!

hast luego

xxxxx