A tarantula peed on my face. Ive never felt so close to nature!

Sunday in the jungle:


After breakfast I was relaxing in the hammock on our back porch, naming the 11 bats that slept on the roof of the porch of our bungalow. Then I noticed a tarantula crawling on the roof right above my head. I grabbed my camera and yelled at all my roomies to come have a look. We were all standing on our porch staring up at the tarantula, watching him slowly crawling down the side. 

All of a sudden, I felt water splash my face, and we immediately all started screaming and running in the cabin. I washed my face and did a very thorough tooth-brushing, since a little of it got in my mouth. Mary told the tour guides that we had a tarantula in our cabin and they said not to worry about it, they dont hurt anything. Then she told them it peed on my face, and they asked if it was itching, because apparently tarantulas shoot their hairs at you in defense and it irritates your skin. So I guess I was lucky it was just pee. And they did end up removing it from our cabin, too, so that was nice.


They took us out on the boats to explore the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. First we did another hike through the jungle. The hike on the first day was through the terra firme, which is the part of the rainforest that doesnt flood during the rainy season. This hike, however, was through the varzea, the area that does get flooded. You could tell from white marks on the trees how high the water gets and it was pretty high. We got to see lots of cool stuff on this walk, too. Ray showed us how to weave a basket out of palm leaves. He showed us a species of tree that has a symbiotic relationship with these nasty fire ants. The ants kill all the plants surrounding the tree so that it gets everything it needs to grow, and then they eat the tree or the sap or something. I cant remember. But the rubber barons used to tie the indigenous workers to these trees during the rubber boom if they didnt bring in enough rubber for the day. Then, if the workers survived a night covered in fire ants, they had to make sure they brought in enough the next day.


After the walk, we got back in the boat and went to the Yanayacu River, which means ¨black water¨ in Quechua. There we saw a few of the pink and gray river dolphins jumping out of the water. We stopped at a lodge to check-in to the park and saw some baby turtles that they were caring for. Cute!


Then we went a little farther down the river and they told us to jump in and go for a swim. There are piranhas but they assured us that they only bother you if youre bleeding. So we jumped in. In addition to piranhas, the river is filled with sardines. Which love to swim up against you. Its a pretty creepy feeling to have a little fish swim across your leg or your stomach, let me tell you. We swam to the shore and were hanging out in the water, until Jessa said she felt something bite her leg. She got out of the water and there was a perfectly round cut on the back of her ankle. Everyone instantly assumed it was a piranha, but the guide was like ¨no, that definitely doesnt look like a bite. It looks like metal cut you.¨
Jessa told him that she wasnt moving and she felt something come up to her leg, but he said that it for sure wasnt a bite. However, he was completely lying so as not to scare the gringos, because later, when we were piranha fishing, someone commented on the fact that the piranhas teeth looked exactly like the mark on Jessa´s leg, to which the same guide replied ¨Yeah, that´s probably what it was.¨

After that most of us got out of the water, and got back on the boat and had a beer. They took us over to a different part of the river and gave us fishing poles to do some piranha fishing. We didnt have much luck, so we decided to take a lunch break. They had brought us some traditional Amazonian food. It was rice, plantains, chicken and egg cooked in some kind of leaf, which is what we ate it out of too, with a glass of passionfruit (maracuyá) juice. 

After that, we went to a new part of the river and recommenced the piranha fishing. I must have been lucky, because I caught 4 like right in a row. Grandpa Carpenter would have been so proud of me! We kept 3 of them to take back to the lodge to fry up, and pretty soon our boat had a pretty good catch going. 

Then they took us down the ¨River of Mirrors¨and we saw some monkeys in the trees and lots of birds. It was gorgeous. The water was like glass, hence the name. Once it started getting dark we turned around and headed back slowly. They had flashlights and were looking in the water for caimans (small alligator like creatures). They found a baby one and caught it and we got to hold it. 

The night time boat ride was gorgeous! You could see so many stars, which is impossible in Lima. And we sat for a while while the sun was setting and just listened to all the jungle sounds. It was pretty awesome. 
When we got back to the lodge, we had some dinner (which included the catch of the day) and then they had a some of the kids from San Jorge come put on a little show for us in the lodge. 
They had some people playing some music, and then the kids did some of the ¨traditional¨ dances of the Kokama. However, in my Amazonian Ethnography class the other day, the professor was telling us how most Amazonian ethnic groups dont actually have traditional dances. Its just not a thing. However, the tourists eat it up, and in the same way that they change the size and design of their traditional skirts so that they´ll be perfect to use as a gringo tablecloth, they also make up ¨traditional¨ dances. More power to them. 


Monday in the jungle:


Up at 5 a.m. so I could go on the optional morning boat ride to see the sun rise at 5:30. Definitely definitely worth it. The sun was just coming up as we got out to the water and it was gorgeous. 

 Then we rode out on the river and Ray spotted a couple sloths and iguanas in the trees. And lots and lots of birds. He said that since we didnt see too many dolphins yesterday, he would take us to a spot he knew that had a lot of them. 
So we stopped the boat there, and sure enough, we saw a ton. They like the noise of the boat motor, and Ray was also making dolphin noises at them (he was doing that all weekend, bird calls, and monkey calls and stuff. it was pretty cool). They kept jumping all around us. There was even a momma that would jump with its baby by its side. So cool!!
After that we went back to the lodge for breakfast, and then headed out in the boat again to San Jorge. We stopped at a craft market that the people there have and I bought a couple things. Maybe if youre lucky, youll get one of them as a present when I get back!
They also painted our faces with natural plant paint. I´ve noticed that they have a tendency to do that to us on ISA trips. They had a ¨pet¨ sloth outside, so we played with that. A couple people held it, before we realized how sharp its claws were and how many bugs were in its fur. Then Jose Luis just held it on a stick and we stared adoringly out of arms reach. 
After that, we walked to their school, where some of us played volleyball and soccer with the kids. Others of us, who decided that playing soccer in 90º heat and 95% humidity did not sound like a fun time, located the town bar. There were already a couple of ISA girls in there drinking jungle moonshine with the tour guide, Rudy, so we had ourselves a glass as well. Only afterwards did I realize that it was like 10 a.m. when this was going on (I had been up since 5 and it threw me off a little.) I guess what Im trying to say is dont judge me. Drinking moonshine before noon is not part of my daily routine. 
Rudy told us some legends about the ghosts that inhabit the area, which was pretty cool to listen to. 

Rudy with the coke bottle full of moonshine

Then we headed back to the lodge. There was a few canoes that some people were taking back, but there was only room for like half of us, so I headed back on the boat. When we got back to the lodge we had plenty of time to shower, eat lunch, and play some battleship before we head to leave. There was a nice heavy rain after we got back which cooled everything down. Very refreshing. 
We took the boat back to Nauta, then the bus to Iquitos. We only had 45 minutes in Iquitos, so we basically just hopped off, found the nearest restaurant, had some supper, and then went back to the bus. From there we headed to the airport. 
I was not ready to go home! It was definitely too short of a trip, but Im so glad I went. Best ISA excursion for sure.