Into the Amazon - Part 1

Technological difficulties continue to plague me, but I managed to upload a few pictures to start with. Our path to the jungle started in Iquitos, the largest city in the world unreachable by road. We took a bus to a town directly south of Iquitos, called Nauta, where we caught a banana boat with a basic outboard motor to take us down the Rio Marañon. There´s a picture of me teasing a half-smirk out of our jungle guide, Jorge, or more fully, Jorge of the Jungle. On the hour long ride, we spotted several river dolphins, their gray and pink fins glimmering momentarily in the sun. Trying to get a picture was like playing an impossible game of smash the weasel on the head, as they popped up whenever and wherever they pleased. Gather the family ´round and see who can find the dolphin in my attempt of a picture. At that time in the year, the river was near its lowest, and I took a photo of a bank to show the approx. 5 feet that the entire river will rise in the wetter months. Now I´m no mathmetician, but I would put my estimate for the change in aqueous volume somewhere in the range of a crapload and a half. Shyaa. Anyways, when the Marañon met up with the Yarapa, we got off in a small village and transferred to canoes. It was another hour-long paddle upriver and into the branching Cumaceba before our base camp turned into view. I had to snap a photo of little Romy, Jorge´s nephew, hitching a ride in the back of the cooks´ canoe behind the plaintains. It was impenetrable jungle on either side, occasionally broken by a winding tributary or an inlet completely covered in a field of pastel orange and green butterflies. The sounds of the jungle surround you, punctuated by the most bizzare birdcalls you could imagine. Predictably, my camera temporarily stopped working when we arrived, so I have no pictures of the camp. It was basically two largish huts on stilts, connected by a raised wooden walkway. Our hut consisted of a table and our ¨mosquiteros¨, or netted beds to sleep and take refuge in. We unloaded, smacking away at mosquitoes, and took a deep breath of jungle air before our adventures ahead.

Damn techonolgy

Just an update for those wondering where in carnation are the photos and recap of our fantastic jungle voyage...my camera broke for good on the last day, so I got pictures but now they are locked in this little metal box and it seems like i´ll need secret talismans or something to get it working again. But seriously, once we´re in Arequipa tomorrow, it will be an easy fix at an electronics store (godwilling) and everyone will be happy. Right now we´re in Lima, flew in this morning from Iquitos and traversed what would have taken 5 days via boat/bus in an hour and a half by plane. Amen to that. Other than that, nuuuthin new. Over and out

My apologies for the lull in entries, I guess you could say things have been a bit slow lately. We had a malaria scare with Cameron, my travel mate, but luckily they only diagnosed kidney infection. Phew! He´s doing good now though, so we plan to giddyup into the jungle at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Here´s a little summary of the pictures and generally what we´ve been doing. After Mancora and the beach, we bussed to Tarapoto where we caught a beaten down toyota truck to take to yurimaguas. The first picture was taken after I dropped my camera, that might be why it´s all off center, but we´re waiting in the bed for departure, which came an hour later and with about ten more people. Three of those people turned out to be thieves, and unlucky Cameron got 170 soles stolen, but that´s a long story. And the bad guys get away, so you probably don´t want to hear it. Once in Yurimaguas, it was all aboard the Eduardo III, sleeping in hammocks for two days on the Rio Marañon until we arrived in Iquitos, where we are now. The last three pictures are from today, we were planning on renting some mopeds to cruise around in, but we both missed the essential education of how to drive a manual moped, so we rented a canoe in the Belen market. Belen is a huge slum basically, and during the high tide season (which we missed by a few weeks), all the houses and stores are floating, like a poor man´s venice. So today, most of it was on stilts, but there were houses that float year round that we passed by on our way home. we decided to just paddle all the way home, so there´s me paddling upstream at the junction with the amazon. it started to rain, but the sunset still had a eerie coolness hidden behind clouds and trees. So as I said, I dropped my camera, and most pictures turn out a little blurry now, but Cameron broke his too, so we might just buy a new one to share, in which case you´ll be able to enjoy the wonders of the jungle in full enchanting clarity. Until then..

gosh dernit - everything´s out of order, but together we can sort them out. First is the one of Cameron standing on the cracked mud ground during our hike up a giant slippery dirt hill. we got to the top and watched the beach birds float by at eye level. Next we jump to the sunset, which was impossible to contain in one frame. we started the fire and that´s the red light on cameron in the other picture. darkness fell and we layed by the fire talking and star-gazing. after a buggy night in the sand, we woke up to the sunrise and ran around catching a few crabs about the size of beer coasters with legs and all. we found a split bamboo, rinsed it in the ocean and cooked our breakfast in the fire embers. it was delicious? lastly, saying goodbye to our beach home in the morning. stay tuned for jungle pictures in a week...

Well well well...what do we have here? Why, if i didn´t know better, I´d say that looks like a 300-foot geoglyph in the side of a hill that nobody knows the true purpose or origin of! Then there´s a snaphot of Islas Ballestas, with all four of it´s elements: birds, seals, rock and poop. I figured out how to flip images, but forgot to on this next one, which if you can´t tell is me hanging my face out of a speeding bus. Finally we arrive at the Temple of the Moon, with these mosaics excavated from about 15oo years ago. In the same neighborhood is Chan Chan, the ancient adobe city, which is pretty cool, but you´re not missing a whole lot more than what´s in this picture. we decided we didn´t have money for a guide, so without the history, it´s basically just an oversized crumbling sandcastle. The city we stayed in, Trujillo, was quite modern and busy, with little San Francisco-like market streets and tasty restaurants. I don´t think i have any pictures THOUGH. hahaha oh apa. alright, i´ve got another batch ready from my little mini picture oven.

A couple more shots from the tundra: I found a scorpion shell in the sand and later we built a fire in a big bowl to lie and watch the stars next to. That God-like figure next to the fire is actually just Cameron.

A couple of feeble attempts to capture the majesty of the desert yesterday during our ancient nomadic adventure. We packed up a little food, lots of water, some sticks, blankets, and cameras, had some cactus drink for breakfast, and wandered right out into the desert. Nearly turning back after two hours, with pink burning feet and sand covering our sweaty bodies, we stuck it out all day and into the evening, exploring the giant dunes, standing atop ridges in the cool desert wind and building a fire in own dune bowl home. We watched the stars for a while and not having enough water to stay the night (we splashed it all over ourselves earlier when we thought we were headed back), eventually got back into town around 9 or 10 at night. The most unique, calm and flowing day of my life.

Especially compared to yesterday which was also spent in the desert, dunebuggying and sand boarding all over the expansive landscape. We raced up the steep faces of fifty foot dunes and flew over ridges, bombing across the flatlands between like some alien terrain video game. I think Huacachina is my favorite place in the world.

Next stop is Pisco, where we will see the nearby Paracas National Park and the Ballestas Islands then maybe to Arequipa then the Bolivian jungle...?