Jungle book

We just had an AMAZING Amazon trip, probably the wildest thing I have ever done. Getting there was rather difficult, we had two rides in mini-van type things where you are crammed in shoulder to shoulder; people threw up both times, once all over my foot. We were too packed in for me to clean it up. In addition to the above van rides there was a 12 hr bus ride, a 13 hr boat ride in hammocks (we were in the top section and the plastic roof blew off, thankfully later in the day when the sun was lower), and a 30 min motorcycle taxi ride to the little river where we put in.
We went in a dugout canoe with two guides; 4 people in a canoe literally dug out of a log and a few inches off the water. The river was the width of a driveway much of the time. We spent 5 days like this in the jungle, our guides paddled along, barley making any noise when their oars hit the water. They could spot animals that seemed invisible until they pointed them out, made fires to cook our breakfast and lunch, and speared fish. As in stood up in the canoe and tossed the spear... made me think of some new techniques for my Uncle Paul!
The trees were amazing, some with huge canopies, some like something in Yodas swamp. We did one walk with the older guide and he told us all about the medicinal virtues of the trees, including one that cures AIDS, one that makes love potions and several that are used by shamans here to make you ¨dream¨.. there is one where you smoke the bark and then lay down next to the tree and then the tree gives you visions that help to cure whatever ails you.

During the days we saw monkeys, sloths (one as big as me! they are like muppets), toucans and macaws, a river otter, pink river dolphins, a huge hairy anteater, an electric fish with a monster head, and one 8 foot anaconda. We went out at night spotlighting in the bogs and saw crocks; our guide caught a baby one and Steven held it. Saw a 6footer rocked the boat in a powerful way when it swam off. There are bigger ones downriver, they say up to 18 ft ,they don´t go looking for those guys in the dark!
Everything thing in the jungle looks like a snake to me, everything that is except for one tiny white snake that looked like a stick hanging off a tree. When I asked my guide what would happen if it bit you he said ¨finito¨making the sign of a finger going across his neck.

It was quite an adventure! We are a 17hr bus ride into a long journy to the mountains near the coast, more people throwng up on the bus last night didn´t fire me up so much. Eewww.We have two more bus rides and about 26 hrs left to the Huraz area where we will do some trecking, hopefully climb a peak, and do some training for Ultimate. Yep, as in frisbee. We decided to come back to play this season with our teams and to get some family time in, we will be in the states for 3 months before returning to Peru the first of Nov.

We plan on going to Machu Picchu before the rain gets too bad here and then are heading to Argentina and Chile for clearer skies, exploration of the desert and salt flats in the north, and of course to sample the wine and food in Mendoza! As always, we would love to have company!
--Tina