through the jungle via waterfall

We awake bright and early for our true jungle adventure to begin and I can finally see my surroundings. We're staying in an L shape collection of bungalow rooms, with white washed walls and terracota tiled rooves. In the centre of this is the grassy area for our combi, and behind about 50m away is another little out-building which were the bathrooms.

Either side of our hostel, like a backdrop to an Indiana Jones movie, arose two gigantic peaks of jungle hills that made the hostel look like it was buried in the cleavage of the jungle. And I found out what the rushing water noise was: it was coming from the rapid river lacing behing the hostel and off into the distant jungle, wide and shallow, filled with rocks galore.

Still feeling a bit iffy as we set off for the jungle, I just hope I can last till this evening! We arrive at the orange suspension bridge leading across the river from safety towards the unknown of la selva. It was truly something out of an action movie: a long swinging bridge with gapes in the boards. A sign of things to come I feel.

Our guides, Jordan and Nelson, gave us a crash course in jungle wall climbing before we set off. Key is not to fall :P Warnings about snakes were given and we were also shown the plants that could save our lives: the feminine of the plant had slender leaves with x4 the potency of it's fatter male counterpart. I say save what I mean is prolong, rubbing the plants on the bite could give you enough time to get to hospital before the venom killed you. Withou the plants you'd die in minutes. But beware, the active ingredient is deriavitve of penicillin so anyone with any penicilin allergies best be ware of the female plants as they'll probablly kill you faster than the snake :P

Great. So now I'm suitably on edge with the imminent fear of death. We begin our trek into the depths of the overgrowth, stopping on the way to chew on fresh coca leaves and termites. Tasty. When we get to our first true obstacle I realise that when the other volunteers had said "you'll get wet" they weren't joking. It turned out that the way we were going to go through the jungle was through the numerous waterfalls gushing through its' interior.

And we scaled these waterfalls with only a rope for support. Gotta love peruvian health and safety :P Jordan our guide was like this nimble elf-footed creature that'd dart up and down the waterfalls, tying ropes and literally running down waterfalls back to us to help us up. It was so unique to have such freedom in an adventure activity.

Not only did we climb up them but we ducked under the waterfalls and slid down them without breaking any bones! I really felt like we were adventurers in search of a forgotten city :P I got rocks in my hairs, my bikini, in  my clothes! I was a mess afterwards but it was so worth it. Our exit route out of the jungle involved scaling a 10m jungle wall. Just don't think about the nature I had to keep telling myself. But all was well and after a knackering day hiking and swimming (!) through the jungle we made it back to base.

Sadly my illness had returned with avengence in the evening and I couldn't go to the club in the jungle (odd I know) So instead I tried to recover my energy and health for the last part jungle tour the next day.

hasta luego

xxx

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