#i wanted to be a brown capuchin monkey but I realized they’re really small | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

johnnypovolny · 5 years ago

Text

Iquitos

-Day 1

Abby came down to Lima to join me for the jungle!! We flew into into Iquitos and got picked up by our tour company. Our guide is Kevin, a somewhat quiet guy who told us a ton about his experience doing ayahuasca and other hallucinogens. We went in a car to a smaller town (looking at the map, maybe Nauta?) where we got a tuk tuk to this riverside market to meet our boat. Iquitos and the smaller town both remind me a lot of asia: tuk tuks everywhere, lots of bright colors and a vibe of sweaty chaos (in particular the riverside market reminded me of India- lots of little wood tiendas selling fruit and a guy announcing specials for a restaurant over a loudspeaker for literally hours). Turns out we had the boat and the weekend’s tour to ourselves, just us, Kevin, the boat driver Miguel (and later Jhon Marcos, the local guide we picked up).

The beginning of the boat ride was down a brown muddy river past the suburbs of the town- the tin roofed colorful huts and the brown water made me feel a lot like i was in a pirate town in the caribbean or something. For lunch we ate juane, which is a bijao leaf wrapped around a yellowish chicken and rice stew and steamed. Pretty cool jungly way to cook a meal.

I was resting with my head in Abby’s lap when suddenly we got a huge shock- the boat ran aground on a sandbar! We slowly worked back and forth in reverse to get unstuck and then promptly ran into it again in another spot which made me laugh, but eventually we got it right.

WE GOT OUR FIRST VIEW OF RIVER DOLPHINS! These were the grey variety (the smaller of the two freshwater types). But so beautiful to see that animal and so weird in the context of a river- they were all around the boat and we followed one particular group of them along the edge of the river (Miguel got us super close) and watched them in the golden evening light. There was one individual in particular that seemed to almost be showing off- jumping high out of the water as they swam away from us. We came to a bend in the river and left the dolphins just as we changed to the black water that Pacaya Samiria is famous for!

Got to the TINY town of Buenos Aires where we’re staying the night in a lodge (which is wood and mosquito screens so its basically open to the air). The town is basically a cluster of houses next to the river around a soccer field- the people there climb trees to harvest aguaye fruit and sell it to be taken upriver, act as jungle guides, make crafts, etc. They also told us that a lot of times its normal that girls there have babies as early as 12 which was a crazy “we’re not in Kansas moment”. This is where we picked up Jhon Marcos (I like his vibe, friendly and with the air total confidence that comes with being extremely competent in whatever situation) I went canoeing in a hollowed out canoe and watch the sunset light on the trees. I found a little side river and went a few meters into it- not too much because I didn’t want to accidentally get lost but it was so cool to imagine it just snaking away into the jungle and the middle of nowhere. A sudden warm jungle rainstorm started as I was sitting there in the mouth of the river. It was a super tranquil, solo, wild moment- I really like the no-frills no-rules approach of this tour where they just let me take a canoe out to wherever I felt like.

We got up to our room around sunset and had a pink toed tarantula IN THE ROOM. It’s a huge jet-black spider close about the size of my palm (and the old man who runs the hotel told me that there are much bigger ones). Did some david attenborough impression videos watched it walk around our room and eventually under the edge of the wall and away.

We went on a night jungle walk through the muddy trails- not a ton of wildlife, but we saw one big brown tarantula and a scorpion spider and had fun walking under huge-leafed plants feeling like Alice in wonderland. Kevin also showed me a way to keep mosquitos away that the local hunters us- poke a hole in a termite nest, let them crawl up on your arms (because they’re too small to bite) and then wipe your arms, crushing the termites which leaves a sticky residue on your arms that actually smells amazing to me (kind of sweet and herbal like pine) but apparently mosquitos hate.

Day 2

Kevin, Jhon and I did an early canoe ride through the flooded forest. Saw 4 sloths, including one up close at the edge of a little jungle-bound lake. The fur and face looks fake like a star wars ewok - rubbery pink lips, dark eyes, patches of greenish grey and brown fur which exactly matches the two colors of the tree it was staying in. Saw a rare jungle bird called juatsin (“shangsho” by locals). It has a big crest on its head and two stomachs where it ferments and then digests food, learns to swim when young and eats fish then grows up and changes to leaves. Also saw “mama vieja” which is a hawk with a white head that makes a scratchy cry. Wended our way through the little gaps between trees growing out of/reflected in the black water- cool to watch Jhon expertly turn and move the canoe effortlessly through small spaces. He told me about local medicines (gave some leaf-infused alcohol and water mixture to Abby that actually really helped her stomach an impressive amount- cool to see it really work!) and local alcohols made from roots (called 7 raíces), maracuya, and other fruits.

Went 2 hours further down the river to set up our tents!

In the afternoon we went to look for monkeys in the jungle around this lake that’s inaccessible because its grown over by plant life (normally managed by turtles and manatees but their populations are too low right now). We didn’t see any monkeys but in the trees while we searched we saw the head of a large snake sitting in a hole in a tree (Jhon said it’s probably about 6ft long). Tried some jungle berries that we cut right off a tree with the machete- you strip them off the spiney branches with your fingers or teeth and then crack them, suck the juice, and spit them out- sweet and tasty. But the really cool thing was on the way there: PINK DOLPHINS! They’re much bigger than the grey ones (more like 6-7 feet instead of 3-4) and vary between greyish pink and really bright pink depending on gender and age. I managed to catch one as it jumped all the way out of the water! Such a neat bucket list animal to spot in the wild, I was excited.

In the nighttime we went out looking for caiman (a crocodile-like animal). Jhon was calling to them with a deep throaty grunt and sometimes a squeaking noise that the young ones do. He taught me how to do it and sometimes they would answer us from miles away which was cool. They used the flashlight to search for reflecting eyes from the boat and then we took the canoe to go catch them! I sort of envisioned them being bigger (the larger ones apparently live deeper in the jungle so its easier to see them if its dry season and you can hike- they get up to like 15 feet). The ones we saw were only a few feet long, BUT we got to hold them! Jhon literally paddled the canoe silently up next to them and would wait poised and then suddenly pounce and grab one out of the water with his bare hands! Crazy to watch that.

Camped in the jungle under a tree with lots of fruit falling on our tent in the night.

Day 3

Monkeys were in the trees around us in the morning- some of them were far away so it was tough to see them, but there were a few small black ones in a tree right near the boat. We also saw spider monkeys and black capuchins in the trees later in the day from the boat as we were traveling.

Went to go get “hubo” for Abby, which is a tree medicine that’s good for stomach issues. This was a hike, but parts of it were in the flooded jungle trails where the water was chest deep and apparently there are extremely dangerous electric eels! Kind of a wild adventure to be walking through the murky water of a dark flooded jungle stepping over submerged roots and wending our way through the dappled shadows and sunlight and among the trees. At the end of the walk/wade/swim was the mother of all trees- normally this stands but it fell recently because a storm eroded its roots. This thing was INSANELY massive. One section we were standing on was a sort of spur (because the trunk isn’t round) was like 10 feet long- a top section where we were standing, and then a sweeping curve of trunk downward (because the tree was fallen) to another spur like 8 feet long. It’s hard to describe in writing but it was just massive. We stood on this big tree and scraped bark from the hubo tree with the machete, then I used my hands to squeeze the blood-red moisture out of the bark and into a cup so Abby could drink it. She said it didn’t work as well as the leaf infusion but it was still cool to learn about and the water hiking journey there and back was certainly a new experience.

We went piranha fishing (Abby caught more than anyone, more quickly, so see her if you need fishing tips) and on our way there for a second we saw two giant river otters! One of them popped his head out of the water and stared right at us from like 20 feet away, showing us his big doglike teeth. This is kind of a rare animal to spot so it was fun to see (I have really good wildlife juju for some reason, knock on wood).

Day 4

Jhon taught me how to use the two rope system the locals use for climbing aguaje trees- super physically difficult and technical. I couldn’t go all the way up the tree like I’d envisioned because it was kinda dangerous and difficult, which was disappointing but still cool to learn. Our boat ride back was some of the best weather we’ve had- just spectacular sun and a warm breeze. We basked

We got back to Iquitos and the guides dropped us at the airport. We realized it was too long to wait till our flight, so we took a super smoggy tuk tuk ride to the city center. Sat in the plaza de armas with our backs against a statue and ate cake we bought from a lady on the corner. Then we walked around a bit and saw a restaurant on a balcony- sat up there watching the sun set and the traffic whizz around the plaza as the fluorescent street lights came on and had drinks. I got a cocktail made from rum, “7 raices” (the root liquor), and coconut cream- it turned out to be frozen, pink, extremely girly, and the best thing I think I’ve ever had in my life, I had two. I’m going to dream about that drink forever. Relaxing on a terrace was such a chill, nice way to finish off the weekend together.

Overall the weekend was a little more challenging than we expected based on both our health issues, but still really fun memories!

0 notes