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South American Tales – jungle stories

to shave the couple of days it would have taken us to get to the reserve part of the jungle (by bus and canoe), we decided to get a plane. at the airport and i was looking to see what plane it was. saw a small plane with two propellers that looked about right from the departure lounge and started getting excited about the thought of the ride. then we were led out onto the tarmac towards this plane and we walked past it, to another smaller plane that was hidden behind it. a tiny one propeller charter plane – for 8 of us. they weighed us on these ancient scales and we duly clambered aboard. i will never forget the ride – first between the snow capped peaks of the andes and then across miles and miles of lush green jungle. 45 minutes later we touched down on an airstrip in the heart of virgin rainforest (incidently, the airstrip was under the control of drug barons until the early 90s – the wreck of an overloaded smuggling plane still lays at the end of the runway). hard to comprehend where we were exactly – this is still quite unchartered territory – in ’96 they contacted a previously unknown indian tribe just a few miles from here. the entire reserve area (about half the size of switzerland) is strictly controlled and, in the last 10 years, as the drug barons have been pushed out by the government, the area has become a sanctuary from exploration and exploitation for both wildlife and indigenous people alike.

the thick and hot air hit us as soon as we stepped off the plane. so did the insects. three hours later by canoe, we arrived at the jungle lodge. this place was comparative luxury to the places we’d be staying in for the next week. showers, floorboards, mosquito nets, generator, etc. after this it was tents on wooden platforms.
the only way to get about is by river and we travelled for hours by canoe each day. little hideouts dotted around some of the paths that have been hacked out from the river provided us with excellent cover to see all the wildlife (and sitting ducks for the insects too). i could give you a blow by blow account but i think that’s better saved for when we see you. though we did spot several endangered species over the next few days – beautiful macaws (parrots), giant otters, loads of diferent monkeys, black and white caiman (crocs), several tarantulas on our night walks, and a million ants and other creepy-crawlies.

suprisingly, the insects weren’t enough to put claire or me off and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. waking and sleeping with the sun, surrounded by the hum of the jungle, in the middle of nowhere and everything at the same time. neither of us were relishing the though of sleeping in tents in the thick of it but we both loved it.

Cusco, Peru

after nearly two weeks in quito, which was far too long but spanish lessons were invaluable, we visited otovalo in the north. a chilled little town set high in the andes, with a colourful market and friendly little people to boot (sounds like a tourist brochure this, doesn’t it). all in their various indo garb of felt hats and ponchos and other weirdness. to be honest the stuff they were selling was tourist tat but claire liked it all the same. went back to quito to store said acquired tat. from quito we bused to banos – a little town nicely nestled under an active volcano. we arrived in the evening to see a sky of rather heavy cloud. and it wasn’t rain. that night we watched the red ash gushing out – the whole town was out by the road side watching. like bonfire night, with guys selling stuff and so on. weird though – everyone waiting for the big one but not really wanting it to happen, seeing as they’re sat directly under it. all the windows were taped up and it looked like people were expecting it to blow. the place is on orange alert and was evacuated last year but everyone got fed up waiting around and went back. needless to say the night was spent wondering if every car horn or church bell was the final fateful evacuation signal.

so all the dust from this night of bubbling started to drift onto the surrounding fields and wildlife. the papers the next day were full of photos of rather miffed looking sheep. another effect of all this dust was it literally popped the sky and we spent the next couple of days getting pissed on by the heavens above. our plans to bike down to the rainforest were thus twarted by this sprinkling and we got a bus instead. the bus followed a now gushing and swelling river, along a very deep ravine, going under waterfalls and past some stupidly high vertical drops. the muddy path looking like it might follow along with the rest of the torrents around us. incredible mountain/ rainforest stuff though. our destination – puyo – touted in “the book” as the most important centre in the oriente (ecuador’s rainforest/amazon place) turned out to be little more than an elaborate crossroads. we turned around and got straight on the bus back to banos – along the very same muddy track, clingling onto our seats, looking and then wishing we hadn’t, once again.

getting a little pissed with the rain, we decided to head for the beach. several death defying buses later, we reached hippy happa (spelt jippijappa but we had hours of fun with that one). festival there – hmm. more like a night market and fun fair (with a token procession behind a plastic christ holding a fly swat – honestly).
next – puerto lopez. relaxed town in a national park and by a spot in the pacific where whales come to get it on. pretty cool – huge whales strutting their funky thing in this pacific pick up joint. also went to “the poor man’s galapagos” – saw lots of blue footed boobies basically.

then a massive bus journey on to a town called cuenca. some sort of festival going on. that night we watched paper hot air balloons being sent up into the stars – really rather nice. propelled by their own little fires in mini baskets they glow away – disappearing into the sky. next day i somehow got called from the crowd to take part in this game that involved bashing clay pots with a stick, blindfolded. being the only gringo in the crowd (asides from claire) they must have seen me as an obvious target for taking the piss. there i am with a blindfold on trying to hit this clay pot strung up above me – except they kept moving it didn�t they. so that i kept stumbling around with this stick in the air, poking around the darkness like a fool. of course, they all thought it was hilarious. moving swiftly on – the churches here were particularly fantastic. red neon crosses and plastic flowers, decorated with mirrors and tinsel. nice.
next – on to vilcabamba, which means sacred valley apparently. this place achieved its fame when national geographic did a report on the people who lived here. loads of them are over 100 – something in the water, according to the scientists. so people came flocking here to taste this magical acua vida. very pleasant place to be honest. the climate is permanently around 24 degrees c. loads of wildlife and lush plantage. we stayed in this eco-health-lodge-spa-drinkthewater type place. had the obligatory full body massage and spa and so on. well worth it. chilled for two days before catching a bus across the peruvian border. unfortunately, the health place didn’t make claire to healthy and two hours into our 13 hour bus ride she pukes out the window. the first thing claire does as we touch peruvian soil, having walked across the river bridge that spans the border, is to bless the land with her bile. so another 8 hours passed like this, with claire wretching her guts out, while the rest of the bus try and sleep – watching the patterns of vomit streaking down their windows. she got better once we got off the bus and the whole little episode only lasted 24 hours. anyway – by this point we had been starting to realise how much ground we had to cover in so few days. a plane was our only option. the airport was classic – not much chance of us getting the terminals confused here. plane to lima. night in a hole. plane to cusco and viola – a weeks worth of buses done in less than a day. so we are now in cusco. its old and cold (3500m high). altitude got us yesterday but back on track today (coca leaves supposed to help – not too sure myself). sunset last night was amazing. booked ourselves into a 7 day jungle trip for thursday. manu biosphere reserve – tents and stuff. look up manu on the net – most bio-diverse place on earth. roughly translated as “watch where you tread”.

Quito, Ecuador; Tue, 24 Jul 2001 19:09:55

what a difference to cuba…
adverts, internet, american food. i’m sitting in an internet cafe, head spinning from the height, thinking there’s little point in moving from this spot. i’m in ecuador for god’s sake and all i feel like doing in playing on the computer and munching on all this glorious food. oh – the food! no more bloody creole chicken and papas fritas for me for a while i think.

turned up last night on the plane from panama and what a welcome party. we pushed our way through these funny little people wearing hats and general weirdness to a taxi, got a bed and tried to get warm under the covers. it’s freezing compared to cuba. missing it already. the people are great – next time i go, i shall be fluent in spanish. we’re signing up for one-on-one spanish lessons for the next week. so, although i won’t be at all fluent, there’ll be something to build on.

our last night in havana was spent in somebody’s bedroom (i’ve got a feeling it was actually the owner’s bed most of the time) with no running water. the difference to here is incredible. we’ve got cable tv in our hostel!! backpacker central.

i’m surrounded by bars with signs in english. no peeling paint or crumbling masonry – just adverts and slogans galore. i think i’ll bathe in pure consumer pap for the next week or so.

Havana, Cuba; Sun, 22 Jul 2001 23:11:17

so our three weeks in fidel’s beautiful country are coming to a close and what better time can there be to send out a brief account of events so far?
we{ve dived in coral reefs, danced plenty of salsa, drunk our fair share of rum, acquired a taste for cigars, and generally done all the usual cuban shinanigens. though the people are the best thing about cuba. 3 weeks just ain’t long enough.

i wish i spoke better spanish and i wish i’d brought a load of t-shirts to give to the kids here.