Because I’m no longer in Prague! I’m recently embarked to a different continent, this time South America. I’m on my third day studying abroad on the Amazon river in Peru, just down river from Iquitos. We’re actually, to be specific, staying at a camp along the river Napo which is a branch off the Amazon. But the rainforest is the same – hot, humid, and loud.
The first couple days here were a little bit of a blur of traveling by foot, boat, and airplane. It was incredibly nice to step off a plane into 80 degree weather after the blizzard that is the east coast right now. I originally flew into Lima, and spent the night there without having time to wander around the city. Early the next morning, we boarded a small plane to Iquitos, which is considered the gateway to the Amazon. The poverty there makes the poverty in the US look like nothing, but the people are very friendly and happy.
We stopped at a market there and walked around for a while. There was anything you could think of there, from bushmaster heads in jars to parts of a leopard that I never thought would be useful. Turtles split open, and random kidneys from unnamed animals. I can definitely say I smelled some smells I’ve never experienced before.
After the market, we boarded a boat and rode half an hour up the Amazon to the first lodge where we will be staying at the end of the week. It’s a much more plush lodge (it has a pool!), so that’ll be nice after a week of living outside. We ate a great lunch there and lounged around on hammocks for a while before we left for the two-hour boat ride up the Amazon to the camp where we have been staying. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and getting our things together.
Yesterday was another relaxing day. The highlight of the day was the night boat ride on some of the surrounding tributaries. The stars were incredible, I felt like I could see every star. The Milky Way was beautiful stretching across the sky. We were hoping to see some interesting animals that only come out at night, but we didn’t see anything crazy. A little pinkish snake that “yawned” at us, a sleeping beauty hummingbird, a lot of bats, and a huge spider. After we came back, we all sat around the common area and told stories.
Today was my kind of day..full of hiking and being up in the trees. We left at 8 AM after a breakfast of eggs, potatoes, and fruit (we eat lots of fruit here). We hiked for about 45 minutes to the canopy walkway, where we walked for a long time through the trees. The highest point was 135 feet, and you could see very far along the tops of the trees. We saw lizards, iguanas, monkeys, and lots of mosquitoes. So glad I brought 100% DEET.
Afterwards, we hiked to a different lodge where we had a lunch of roasted chicken, rice, beans, and fresh watermelon. We then hiked back to our lodge and took a short break for showers. There’s no hot water here (there’s no electricity either..only when they turn on the generators at night) and the water is filtered right from the river, but after a long day of hiking in rainforest humidity, I’d probably be fine with ignoring the parasites and jumping in the river.
We are having lectures, though, believe it or not..today we dyed tshirts using plants from the medicinal garden here. Our professor, Dr. Jim Duke, spoke for a bit about how the dyes were used in western culture. For example, the plant that we used for our red dye is what is used to color Cheetos.
We’re all sitting around right now waiting for dinner and fighting for electrical outlets. I think we’re going for another night boat ride tomorrow, and piranha fishing is tomorrow. They say one person can only fish for piranhas ten times..then you run out of fingers.
If you loose any fingers, do I get the insurance money for my college fund??