I would like to say that I went into the jungle a girl and emerged as a woman. But that would be overdramatic. Cammie and I spent 5 days in the National Reserve of Pacaya Samiria, traveling by day in dugout canoes and camping near the river yuriyaca (which is Quechua for black water) by night. They did not have very high expectations for tourists... they were not even going to give us paddles, they expected to lie in the canoes and rest all day. Luckily we figured this out before departing and demanded paddles. We had two capable guides, Jose and Democrito, and two canoes with a guide in the front of each canoe and girl in the back.

The second day my guide asked if I knew how to steer and I showed him by competently manuevering through some tight snags in the river and then told him not to paddle for the rest of the way to camp, which was only about an hour. I think he was impressed, but he still was convinced that Cammie and I were unable to get in and out of the canoes by ourselves or carry our bags. We spent the night at a ranger station and even had a bed and a porch to eat on.

The third day we went for a jungle walk instead of canoeing. During our walk, Jose told us all about the medicinal properties of the trees. Most of which I believed. I was a little sceptical about the tree with the bad spirit which you could use to kill someone. Here is how it would work: If Joe killed your baby girl, you would take her clothes, cut a patch out of the stomach of the tree (the tree had a huge bulge about head height), tie the patch back on, then Joe dies with a huge stomach like the tree. But then we reached another stream, had a snack of crackers and oranges, and got to fish.

Jose had a string with a hook and a small dead fish in his pocket and he cut a stick to make a fishing pole. Cammie and I each caught one fish of the same species. Jose and Democrito caught a bunch, and much faster. Cammie and I also killed the fish by bludgeoning them over the head with the blunt side of a machette. We were not very good at it, but I got it down to two strokes by the next day. Then we strung the fish on a piece of vine and I carried them back to camp.

We swam and washed clothes back at camp. Cammie and I had a little tripidation of swimming because there were a myriad of small fish that were used to getting fed fish guts off the dock and they would come nibble at you. And since the water was a dark brown, we could not see anything underwater. We also had seen crocodiles, anacondas, electric fish, and other scary things in the same river. But we swam anyway.

Then it was time to clean the fish. The two Cammie and I caught were still alive (after about three hours out of water and a lot of head clubbing). We vowed to be swifter killers next time. First we descaled the fish, then we gutted them and fed the guts to the little fish that had been trying to eat us earlier. Then we made slits down the sides to rub salt into. We ate them for breakfast the next morning after they had been seasoned and smoked in a banana leaf. So we ate a lot of fish on the trip. Almost every meal was fish, rice, potatoes or yuca and plantains. I decided that boiled plantains are delicious and I should start making them when I return to the States.

We spent two days paddling back up the river, with our canoes a little bit lighter. The last day we left camp at nine and in a canoe (4 hours). Back at our starting point we had one last lunch together (spaghetti, white rice, potatoes and plaintains; this was not a low carb trip) and took a Mototaxi back to Lagunas (20 minutes). Then an overnight barge to Yurimaguas (12 hours). Then inside a truck cab to Tarapoto (5 hours). Then a bus to Pedro Ruiz (7 hours). Then a car to Chachapyas (3 hours). Then we were worn out, had to pee, and it was raining.

Now we are in Chachapoyas, staying in a really nice hostel right on the Plaza de Armas which we got for almost half price, because it was too expensive for us but they wanted our money.

Tomorrow we leave for a three day trek, so again, it may be awhile before I blog again.