Jungle Part I

Amazon Rainforest, Peru

I guess the first time I heard about the jungle was in the fourth grade during a Save the Rainforest unit. It was there where my interest (although, hidden somewhere deep inside), was first awakened. This dream was lived. And after five days in the Amazon Jungle, I have had enough, enough sun, enough bug bites, enough Jungle adventure. So here I sit in Lima, in an air conditioned Internet cafe, recovering.

First and foremost, when a tourist heads to the jungle, she has a few options. To do it alone. Basically, having a lot of water, gasoline, a hammock, thick leather skin, and balls. Just casually drifting from one poverty-ridden community to the next, learning about the Jungle from real people, etc, etc. Bullshit/impossible if you ask me. The next option is to get a pass into this national park, the largest in Peru, I forget its name, but it is the beggining of the Amazon, it is the space in the V that the two rivers that create the Amazon form. So you pretty much take a 18 hour barge ride up the river, meet up with some Cocoma Indians, put your life in their hands, follow them around through an unihabited (by people, that is) Jungle, walk, canoe, hike, and really live there for a set number of days. And the last is to go to a Jungle Lodge. A lodge set in the Jungle that has nice mosquito-free cabins, places to shower, and activities with guides throughout the day.

We did not choose the first option. Obvi. We decided that doing it alone was insane and frankly I cannot believe that Let´s Go even reccommends it. I mean a bunch of Harvard kids doing it themselves. And the second option, with the Indians was also ruled out. Initially, because that having a trust in them with our lives in the Jungle based on the heritage/color of skin was racist and not to trust them for the same reason was also racist. Also, because the group was to be made up of Sarah Erlinder and I. You know two gringas heading into the Jungle for a few days of fun... Next thing you know, two Americans lost, etc, etc. So, we chose the Jungle Lodge option. It was a bit out of our price range, but we felt comfortable and safe, and that was what was most important. Not having a terrifying éxperience.´ One of the more mature choices I think I´ve made as a traveller.

The Jungle Lodge proved to be a good choice. It was a long five days but filled with the sort of stuff that comes from movies or you hear about. I don´t think I know one person who has been to the Amazon. The Jungle really pushed my limits as an outdoors woman. I felt very uncomfortable. Physically, bug-bitten, dirty, sunburned. And with my common sense. I realized that if there was a situation. I would not know how to help myself or Sarah or the guide. It was all just so foreign. The magnitude was incredible.