Me Tarzan, You Jane

Back to our jungle adventure. When we checked into the hostel in Iquitos, we were told they could arrange jungle tours, I’m pretty sure everyone in this town can arrange jungle tours, and they won’t let you forget it. After our great tour with Billy, we wanted to go a bit deeper into the jungle, so we asked at the front desk about another day trip. The man at the desk made a phone call and told us that a man from the tour company would be there in 30 minutes to talk to us about what we wanted to do. I think this was our first experience with “Peruvian Standard Time”. Apparently 30 minutes could mean 30 minutes, or it could mean 4 hours. In a couple hours, David, from Wimba Lodge, arrived with a binder of photographs to explain our options. We decided to visit a nature preserve, go on a hike through the jungle, and on a canoe tour.
Promptly at 9am the next day, a mototaxi driver arrived at our hostel and took us to the Wimba office. David greeted us and introduced us to Max, who would be our tour guide for the day. We waited for a couple other people to get to the office and then about a dozen of us boarded a handful of mototaxis and were off to our boat. It was at this point we realized this was going to be a bit more rustic of a tour.

 

 
We were on our slow wooden boat for about an hour and a half, headed down the Amazon river. It’s currently the dry season, so the river is low. Low is relative as the river is still wider than most lakes in California. I can only imagine what the river is like when it’s full. While this is impressive, the scenery gets pretty boring pretty quickly. Since the river is so wide, you can’t see much
 
We eventually arrived at our destination, it didn’t look very inviting, but Max said this was where we were going to see the animals. A series of boards led the way over the muddy bank to the preserve. We were told the animals were in the wild and not caged. This turned out to be partially true. Max explained the the animals were rescued from the black market and brought to this preserve where they are free to go, but they are treated, fed, and taken care of, so they want to stay. It sound pretty well intentioned, but could just be the line the tell the gringos. There were brightly colored birds and playful monkeys, so I didn’t question Max’s story.
      
Kate had already been startled by a small harmless snake (she might tell that part of the story differently), so when Max and one of the caretakers began to pull a young anaconda out of a pond, she stayed far back. I decided this was probably a once in a lifetime chance to touch an anaconda in the “wild” so I smiled and posed for a picture. Out of the same pond, they pulled this interesting pre-historic turtle.

After the wildlife preserve, we walked about 20 minutes through the jungle and then through a small village. Max explained that the paved road was built by the government and greatly improved the local peoples abilities to get supplies and sell their goods. He also explained that during the high season, you can only get around by canoe, as everything is under water. I almost forgot to mention, as we’re walking 2 miles through the jungle, it’s about 95 degrees and 99% humidity.
 
We eventually arrived at a small river where a man picked us up with a canoe, powered by one of those hand made lawnmower engine outboards. He took us a few minutes up the river and I think this is the closest I’ve ever felt to the real life version of the Disney Land Jungle Cruise.

Once we reached the Wimba Lodge,   we were shown to their dining room and told lunch would be ready in 5 minutes (Peruvian Standard Time). A buffet lunch was brought in and it was delicious, doncella fish, salad, rice, and potatoes, as well as about a gallon of purified water.
After lunch, we apply more bug repellent, put on our rubber boots, and are off for a hike in the jungle. A couple words on the boots. First off, Kate’s were pink, she’s stoked. Secondly; David, the man who sold us the tour, wasn’t sure they’d have boots in a US size 15, euro 50, but a worker at the hostel disappeared and came back with some boots I could wedge my feet into, I had the privilege of carrying these things all day. As I returned them to the hostel, I looked at the bottom, size 13.5. The hike through the jungle was a bit more than we bargained for. Max was carrying a machete and you couldn’t see the trail most of the time, it was more like we were just walking through the rainforest. I suppose it makes sense there wasn’t a well worn trail, this area was under water 2 months ago. Max showed us all kinds of trees and other vegetation, explained which ones are used for different purposes, and pointed out the different fruits and nuts.

One nut in particular falls to the ground and after a few months a worm begins to grow in the nut, eventually it comes out and grows into a butterfly. Max explained that eating these worms was a traditional cure for many ailments, and they taste like coconut. I think Max broke open over a dozen nuts looking for worms before he found two. I thought it would be rude to not eat it, Kate wasn’t worried about being rude.
Max found some vines near the river that you can swing on, like Tarzan. He also did a great Tarzan impersonation. Next it was Kate and my turn. We skipped the Tarzan yell.

This tree is known as the killer tree because it grows around other trees and squeezes them until they die. I wasn’t too scared, I’m pretty sure I can out run a tree.

Max explained that this tree’s exposed roots were an inspiration for the movie Avitar, and invited us to climb them. Just walking around here was strenuous enough, neither of us had a desire to climb a tree.
 
The Cat’s Claw can be identified by small protrusions from the bark that look like a claw. It contains a lot of water and indigenous people used it to survive in the jungle when there was no other source of clean water. Max took his machete and cut off a branch at an angle, then showed us that if you tilt it, the water percolated out the cut end. We both had a taste, it tasted like water.

At one point we heard some rustling up in the trees, it was a group of squirrel monkeys, truly in the wild. Max explained that squirrel monkeys live in groups of 100-200. The squirrel monkeys and a type of bird have a interesting symbiotic relationship. The birds cluck when there is danger so the monkeys can get away. The monkeys help the birds by leaving behind droppings that the birds eat. I think they monkeys lucked out on this one. We felt so lucky to see the monkeys in the actual wild, but weren’t able to get a photo of them.
When we returned to the Lodge, drenched in sweat, (remember 95 degrees, 99% humidity, hiking through the jungle on barely a trail) we changed into our shoes and followed max back to the small river. Again we boarded a canoe with a lawnmower outboard, but this time there were about a dozen people on it. Most of the other passengers had been staying at the lodge and were headed back to Iquitos. I’m not sure if canoes typically plane, but this one wouldn’t. Above a certain speed I was very confident the nose of the canoe was going to dip under the water. We slowly made our way up the river to the paved walkway. We walked briskly down the mile long concrete path through the village, Kate and I quietly discussed that we’re pretty sure we’re behind schedule, and we’re not sure if that was our canoe tour, or if we ran out of time. We boarded our slow boat and embarked on the 2 hour trip back to Iquitos.

Kate and I agreed that we were glad we experienced the Amazon, both the nature, and the way of life. We also agreed we couldn’t wait to get somewhere cooler.