Amazon

Letters found in the Lost Peruan Civilisation.. from Indiana Chi to The Great Adventurer Chia..
(Year 2008.)

"I can finally update you about my trip in the amazon!

well before we departed i felt anxious about doing it in a improvised fashion; so i searched for an agency recommended by Lonely planet and called to reserve a tour.

On the airplane i deliberately chose a window seat so that i can view the forest from above. being the biggest river in the world, amazon is clearly visible from above, and when the plane is about to land you could see yourself flying over dense vegetation and then poooooof you landed magically in the middle of the jungle - well not exactly in the jungle but in some shabby airport with all trees around- the airport of IQUITOS, largest city inaccessible by car.

When we arrived we had a pick-up service by the tour agency to our hotel then we spent the rest of the day slacking in IQUITOS city. there were nothing to see actually, the city was very shabby, the vehicles were mototaxis, the air quality was bad and the tap water was perpetually yellow. hey guess what there is a piece of work by GUSTAVE EIFFEL in the city, named the Iron House. they ferried it all the way from france to this jungle city unassembled. now the people had turned it to a shop so as not to waste this piece of land.

The next morning we met our guide, Alex, who speaks good english, and then we rode on a powerboat to reach our lodge in the jungle. the lodge is a more comfortable option than camping; but still you wouldnt expect much. it is a semi-open air wooden house, the roof laid with some kind of leaves. there is no electricity and water is directly pumped from the river, other than that the rooms are adequately furnished and there is even a bar in the lodge. they hang bunches of bananas outside to attract monkeys, and some monkeys did come and discover this paradise where there is free flow of bananas and they claimed themselves permanent residents here. other than the pet monkeys there are 2 giant parrots in the lodge as well. we had lunch in the lodge, salad is palm tree heart and vege is banana, desert is banana too.

Afterwards we visited a tribe called Yagua (or so i remembered), now most tribes are civilised, speaking a little spanish and having received lots of visitors. this tribe uses blowgun for hunting, the same type you ve seen in Indiana Jones. i tried it too, it is utterly simple and powerful. then we visited a Shaman, a shaman is a herbalist and a doctor. he introduced us to a lot of medicinal plants and that magical healing properties but i failed to remember the names of the plants. then , we visited a sanctuary for animals and saw a couple of parrots, sloth, turtles etc.

It rains almost everyday; when we are in the sanctuary suddenly came a thunderstorm, so we hurried back to the lodge. it is already late afternoon and in a place without electricity, it was alr getting very dark, and the lodge is dimly lit by kerosene lamps. lynn and me asked for ´typical drinks´ in the bar, and i got a cocktail of Uña de Gato (cat´s claw) and lynn had CHUCHUHUASA Sour, both are made from medicinal plants and are supposed to have magical healing properties. It tasted really good. when i was sipping my cocktail Alex brought out his guitar and started singing, everybody listend and clapped with the rythme. it felt totoally magical, admist dense jungle in a shabby wooden house with little liquor and people singing. whats more. staff at the lodge are very friendly and approachable, although their english is limited we managed to talk and had a good time. i felt much more comfortable with them than with the french.

Next morning we got up early and took a boat ride to the amazon river to observe freshwater pink dolphin, but we were not particularly lucky that morning, i think observing animals in the wild require luck and patience. then we trekked through some jungle and crossed a village to a tributary of amazon where we took another boat ride to go deeper in the jungle. after we had installed ourselves in another lodge we rode a canoe to bird-watch ( watching the birds). there are a bunch of hawks, fly-catchers, king fishers, etc, it tooked me great efforts to remember their names.they are cute and colorful creatures but filming them are very hard and requires substantial zoom lenses.in the afternoon we went fishing for piranhas. you can even swim in the river with the piranhas, semms that they are not so dangerous as i previous thought, when preys are scarce they will also be vegetarians for a while. well we used tree branch for fishing, chicken meat as bait. I caught the first piranha of the day, although a small one. then our group caught several piranhas,which then became our dinner. this fish has a superior taste!then came the magical night - we canoed in the river, with the moon and a couple of fireflies as the only source of lighting. i really hav chosen a good time to come, cos we had a FULL moon that night, and the constellation is clearly visible. we stoppped and listened to the various sound of the night, birds, crickets, etc some are really good singers. i m particularly fond of a bird whose voice sound like pearls dropping into milk, so sweet and smooth.

The third morning we went trekking in primary forest, saw various plants, giant trees, nest of termites, played tarzan... we saw more flora than fauna, with the only fauna we saw being birds and butterflies (including some really huge and shiny butterflies), observing mammals are extremely hard.in the afternoon we went to a lagoon and saw giant water lilies. Alex said there is a white Caiman in the lagoon who only show up at night. then we passed by some villages, i m like a walking chicken magnet , dunno why the little chicks all follow me and cluster around my feet. the villagers kept some baby parrots and an ant-eater. the baby parrot is also among the flock that clustered around my feet. maybe i had an aura liked by birds.we took a boat ride again and this time we were lucky, cos there was several baby pink dophins playing with grey dolphins, and apparently they were having fun cos they jumped out of water from time to time, splashed water and giggled. i think dolphins have this unique capability that, when they are happy they are able to spread their happiness around and make you share their ecstasy. we followed them for a while till night fall, and saw a beautiful sunset on amazon river.that night Alex told some stories about mythical animals in amazon: Mother of waters, mother of jungle, bush-master, all giant anachondas or boas.

The 4th morning we went to visit some fish hatchery to feed some caimans and giant golden catfish. they eat caiman as a delicacy. in the afternoon we are back from the jungle , and we went to a local market to search for BUG KEBAB. they roast seasonal bugs, lavae, sometimes ant queen on a stick. we found some Lavae kebab, i dunno which kind of lavae that was, but it was very FAT AND jUICY. The kebab doesnt look very inviting... but i still decided to be more adventuous. well lynn ate a lot and he said it is really nice. there are boiled turtle eggs , roasted Caiman etc... i ve no intention to try the roast caiman cos the shape of the animal is still there, the claw clenched... OMG

We bought some souvenirs too, the locals are very good craftsman and they used natural materials like catfish scale, piranha jaw, snake skin, beans, wood and roots to make jewels , bags, decorations etc.

Amazon is cool, me gusta mucho! "

life is for the adventurous.