Driving Ms. Daisy Down the Amazon (Part 6 of 7)

It was the middle of the night after my first day at the jungle lodge. I was unable to achieve sleep. I should explain that back home I require it to be 30 degrees in my room at night. Windows must be open and no less than 2 fans in my face. I was in agony. My bed was soaked with sweat. On top of that I had to go to the bathroom and there was no chance I was going out there, or leaving my bed for that matter. Apparently my earlier doping scandal with the Imodium was unsuccessful. I looked out into the night at the solitary light bulb (generator is on for 4 hours each night) and reached into my pharmacy for sleeping pills and more constipation aids. I eventually got some sleep and was up early the next day for a full assault of an Amazon rainy season storm.

Jaida had prepared a nice breakfast for me

We sat and talked for a bit about today’s plans and his life in the jungle. Jaida was planning on building a house near the lodge. He told me that the houses are all made primarily from the large Ceiba trees. Each family is allowed to cut down one each year to use for construction and boat building.

I asked Jaida how many children he planned on having, and he told me the allotted 2. I questioned further and he explained that in years past, villagers would average 10 people per family, but the fishing conditions are deteriorating and families cannot support more than 2. There has not been any government assistance for those who decide to have 10 children, so it is a self-regulating policy. The new president, Ollanta Humala, is popular with the natives as he has started to recognize them in some capacity, providing some health benefits. That being said, the natives usually stick to a shaman (jungle healer) unless in extreme illness.

After my lesson for the morning, I relaxed a bit before we were scheduled to head out piranha fishing for lunch.

Here is the stick used to beat the animals to death for meals

We boarded the dugout canoe and paddled just a few hundred feet to a good fishing spot

This is when I got an education on the fish that swims up the penis and does serious damage. Before I left for the amazon, I must have been told about 20 times not to urinate in he river or this fish would attack. Jaida confirmed that there is a fish, the Candiru, that is attracted by blood. He mentioned a friend pissed in the river and it got up into his bladder and ran amok. He had to drink lemon juice to kill it. That being said, my research has showed it to be a sort of Urban legend with few confirmed cases. I was not willing to chance it so I stayed in the boat at all times.

We were using beef to catch the piranha on your basic stick pole, but Jaida said sometimes they beat a dog with the club and use it. I am glad we had the beef.

It did not take long for the fish to bite and start pulling them in the boat. We did some experimenting with the Piranha and a catfish to see if they really did attack anything….confirmed

We got back to the lodge and I noticed that with the increased ran, my room was about 3 inches away from flooding. I learned that last season, the water got 2 feet above the floor boards….great.

Jaida cooked up the fish we caught. They were pretty small and honestly more calories were expended picking them apart then gained from eating them

We were off again in the afternoon to look for lizards and birds. Here is a shot of a tree iguana

This is called the penis tree. Those natives and their sense of humor.

Here is a wasp nest of some sort

We stopped by another villager's house for a bit

Prehistoric-looking fish

The woman of the house got all her crafts out on the floor to show me. I did not have any money, so I felt bad that she went through all the trouble. During the dry months, these families supplement their income by selling homemade crafts to tourists.

We continued on down the river with plans to go crocodile catching when it turned dark out

We entered a lagoon and Jaida made some machete marks on a tree so we knew which way to get out in the dark

You can bet that I knew exactly where that tree was at all times throughout the night. Once it got dark, the vampire bats were flying all around, almost knocking me out of the boat a couple times. I had just finished reading in a book how vampire bats like to chew through peoples toes while they are sleeping. We saw a few crocodiles, but were unable to catch any.

At one point Jaida was pointing to a crocodile about 2 feet from us. I told him I could not see it. He pointed and described his location for 5 minutes and I finally saw the animal. Then Jaida said that he just swam away. I did not have the heart to tell him that my crocodile (read plant) was still sitting there.

We eventually found our way out of the lagoon and were zipping down the river when Jaida made a Crazy Ivan (sharp turn) which usually meant he spotted an animal. As we got closer I saw the parrot snake. It was on a branch about a foot above me. My guide kept moving us closer and closer until it was right above me. All the while he was describing how once one dropped out of a tree and bit his friend, and he ended up losing his arm. After a few comments from me half joking that we were getting too close, I turned around and said, “ok, seriously we need to back this up.”

The motor died again and we had to paddle back to camp.

The next day was to be our land excursion. While waiting for Jaida, I entertained myself with a pretend modeling shoot with a local boy.

This guy was friendly as he was used to foreigners, but most children were scared of the white man. My guide explained that long ago a white man came to the jungle and started killing all the villagers and cutting off their faces. A sort of campfire story for the kids.

Jaida brought along a friend and we stepped onto land for the first time in 3 days. There was very little dry land in the near vicinity due to the rising water level. In order to see land animals it would require a couple day trek to higher ground. I was satisfied with a simple walk to see some bugs and trees.

The first thing I saw, or should say heard, was the sound of a cicada on a nearby tree.

It was as loud as a lawnmower. Here is the shell of another one on my pants. How it manages to extricate itself from that shell as it grows I have no idea.

I followed Jaida through the jungle with all my senses on full alert.

It was amazing. Each tree had a story. The vine they cut below and let me drink from was meant to cure cancer

But it was not that simple. He was like a doctor. For example, the juice of the bark shown below was used for constipation

You would drink the juice 3 times a day for 2 days, avoid spicy food, sexual intercourse and various other things and in 3 days you would be fine. Every plant ha a similar prescription. It must work in some fashion or the locals would stop using it. As we know, many of our modern cures for various ailments originated here.

Here is a picture of the Ceiba tree I mentioned earlier

Here is a termite mound. Instead of wearing OFF spray, they rub these insects on their body and it prevents you from getting attacked by bugs….of course you do have to deal with termites all over your skin. Somehow this would not fly in the US.

Near the end our journey, there was this huge mound of dirt made by leaf cutter ants. If you look closely at the picture you can see a trail of ants carrying small green leaves up the mound

It was at this time that my guides friend about jumped out of his boots as a Fer-de-Lance tried to bite him. This is one of the most venomous snakes in the area. I became completely paranoid after that with each step. Instead of looking up at the trees, my eyes were focused on each step. If I came across a snake again I would have to have my guide show me the Xanax tree.

On our way back to base, we stopped at a tree, where my guide started slapping it with his machete. Eventually a family of monkeys came out to see what was going on. They were Common Squirrel Monkeys.

I noticed that there were tons of slashes on the tree. I could only imagine how tired the monkeys were of entertaining tourists every day.

We stopped and had a meal, before heading over to a local soccer match

This was in a neighboring village to Libertad.

Here is a picture of the town jail

If people got drunk, they would be put in here for 24 hours. Besides being drunk there was very little crime. Jaida said that in his parents time they would tie someone up in the center of town and cover them with fire ants. I guess that would work just as well.

Here are some braches drying that will be interwoven and used for a roof. The roof needs to be replaced every 8 years.

The soccer match had people showing up on boats from all around. Jaida and others were playing both soccer and volleyball. They were all quite good. At first I thought I would dominate in volleyball as I was a giant among Lilliputians, but after watching them play I decided not to embarrass myself.