We returned from the Jungle! We only managed to get 5 surveys done and I smell like a prison bus because there are no lavandaries open. But I managed to get all of my stuff washed today, and 10 Soles later, I have some of the cleanest clothes on the planet, what a deal (that´s like 3 bucks).
The trip was amazing. David and I left on a boat packed with people, chickens, chicks (small chickens), and a lot of foodstuffs. About 3hrs up the Amazon and onto a few other smaller rivers that entered the Amazon in almost a perpendicular fashion, we finished our trip in Manco Capac, where we stayed with an amazing woman named Maria. We ate food with her family, set up our mosquito nets, and got to sleep around 8 pm. At about 9pm my mosquito net collapsed. At about 11 pm, two cats in heat were chasing a rat....for about 3 hrs. At around 2am David had a hug Cockroach land on his head...what a butt hole, he woke me up when he got up. So needless to day, David and I didn't get much sleep. David also told me the next day that bugs were coming up between the cracks in the floor....I just opted to not turn my light on.
The next day was amazing, we visited a few house holds with Maria, and saw a couple ecological toilets that were in pretty good shape. Maria really has this town stoaked on sanitation. However, the other towns that we went to the following day (we went another 3 hrs up the river), did not have the same excitement. most of the communities up river, where CARITAS, an NGO promoting health and sanitation in rural Amazonian communities, did not feel that having a safe place to crap was as important as, say, a $100 gun. Either way the trip up the river was fantastic. The boat we took was Maria's and apparently it was only a year and half old. I swear the damn thing was about to sink, and there were quite a few boards missing. On the way home on day 4, we got in a huge rain storm...the likes I have never seen, and I am from Seattle. David and I hunkered down for about an hour, while the other student we were with, Jhon (and that's not spelled wrong) took up the middle, spitting, sputtering, and smiling. Meanwhile Maria, and her husband Robinson, were doing some epic boat navigating, and boat bailing. The picture of the dude with his shirt of is Robinson. One time I look back from my little shelter I built, and there's Robinson in his tighty bluies bucketing out water like it's his job. Oh, and this nimble badass of a man is 60 something. People in the jungle are just burly. And yes, that's a chicken in the front of the boat in the picture of the bow. Pretty funny huh. Didn't want it to go bad!
Ok I'm off to bed. This is not as well as I would have liked to make this entry, but I'm tired, I am excreting green diarrhea, and I am leaving for the jungle again for another 4 days, so I figure I shoud get going. I will try to make the next entry a bit better on the grammer and content front.
Thanks for reading, I hope this blog finds you happy, healthy, and hopeful!
The trip was amazing. David and I left on a boat packed with people, chickens, chicks (small chickens), and a lot of foodstuffs. About 3hrs up the Amazon and onto a few other smaller rivers that entered the Amazon in almost a perpendicular fashion, we finished our trip in Manco Capac, where we stayed with an amazing woman named Maria. We ate food with her family, set up our mosquito nets, and got to sleep around 8 pm. At about 9pm my mosquito net collapsed. At about 11 pm, two cats in heat were chasing a rat....for about 3 hrs. At around 2am David had a hug Cockroach land on his head...what a butt hole, he woke me up when he got up. So needless to day, David and I didn't get much sleep. David also told me the next day that bugs were coming up between the cracks in the floor....I just opted to not turn my light on.
The next day was amazing, we visited a few house holds with Maria, and saw a couple ecological toilets that were in pretty good shape. Maria really has this town stoaked on sanitation. However, the other towns that we went to the following day (we went another 3 hrs up the river), did not have the same excitement. most of the communities up river, where CARITAS, an NGO promoting health and sanitation in rural Amazonian communities, did not feel that having a safe place to crap was as important as, say, a $100 gun. Either way the trip up the river was fantastic. The boat we took was Maria's and apparently it was only a year and half old. I swear the damn thing was about to sink, and there were quite a few boards missing. On the way home on day 4, we got in a huge rain storm...the likes I have never seen, and I am from Seattle. David and I hunkered down for about an hour, while the other student we were with, Jhon (and that's not spelled wrong) took up the middle, spitting, sputtering, and smiling. Meanwhile Maria, and her husband Robinson, were doing some epic boat navigating, and boat bailing. The picture of the dude with his shirt of is Robinson. One time I look back from my little shelter I built, and there's Robinson in his tighty bluies bucketing out water like it's his job. Oh, and this nimble badass of a man is 60 something. People in the jungle are just burly. And yes, that's a chicken in the front of the boat in the picture of the bow. Pretty funny huh. Didn't want it to go bad!
Ok I'm off to bed. This is not as well as I would have liked to make this entry, but I'm tired, I am excreting green diarrhea, and I am leaving for the jungle again for another 4 days, so I figure I shoud get going. I will try to make the next entry a bit better on the grammer and content front.
Thanks for reading, I hope this blog finds you happy, healthy, and hopeful!
Great pictures, Jeff. Can't wait to see them all on the big screen in HD!
ReplyDeleteHorny cats?
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