You're probably going to get sick of me saying this, but I legitimately had the best time of my life this past week in the Amazon jungle! I can't even describe how much fun I had and what an eye opening experience it was! :] This trip to Iquitos was filled with everything...amazing food, being on a boat all day, sunburn, eating fried alligator, playing with monkeys, getting robbed, meeting new people, seeing tons of wild animals, swimming in the Amazon river, napping on the beach, watching an Amazon rainstorm, meeting jungle children, finding my new favorite food, YES THIS TRIP WAS AMAZING!
Let me just start from the beginning! Well, I took the trek up North to the jungle town of Iquitos with 2 other volunteers, Leah and Amber. We arrived early Monday morning and the minute we stepped out of the airport, at least 15 moto-taxi drivers were harassing us to get in their moto. Stop trying to imagine what this was like because you will never be able to...it was the craziest thing ever!! We went straight to our hostel (which was supposed to be floating and beautiful, but the amazon river was really low) and had our first jungle drink! Cuma Cuma is the name of the fruit and the drink looks just like pink lemonade...but obviously tastes 1,000 times better. I would move to the jungle just for the amazing, exotic fruit you can find there!
We then headed to this place called Iquista Cocha, which is a white sand beach among the jungle and botanical gardens. We ate great food and took a long nap on the beach. Honestly, couldn't ask for a more perfect day! We saw many animals...parrots, monkeys, jaguars, crocodiles, turtles and anacondas! Of course, Christine Columbia fashion, I lied to all the locals and said my name was Sarah from Dallas Texas. That made for fun conversation.
My favorite part of the entire trip had to have been sitting on the edge of the boat, feet in the water, eating my new favorite fruit, listening to good music and just lovin' life! No joke, I sat on the front of the boat for at least 6 hours one day! I know that I am extremely cheesy, so hopefully saying this isn't a surprise to any of you. Sitting on the edge of the boat gliding down the Amazon River made me feel so alive. It was like the entire world was at peace and that I could overcome anything. And yes, just like high school graduation...I cried as we drifted down the river. Such an amazing moment!
We saw thousands of interesting items at the Belen Market (see pictures below for what I mean by interesting), saw more wild animals, went tubing on the Amazon River, saw pink dolphins and I got to play with monkeys! The monkeys were so fun...I don't even know how to describe the experience! One monkey who was laying in my lap just wouldn't leave no matter how many times I picked him up and put him back on the ground. But I definitely didn't expect having missing chucks of hair after saying goodbye to those wild monkeys :]
Hiring a sketchy man to take you down the river is a lot easier than you would think. There is something here called "Peruvian time" where Peruvians have no concept of time and live their life by what ever feels right. Crazy. We hired a man named Jonathon for the whole day to take us down the Amazon river and he gave us a lot of wonderful information. We stumbled upon a small town hidden among the palm trees that looked like it was out of a book. 50 steep white steps, led to a "pueblo" that was deep within the jungle. Monkeys ran wild, exotic fruit was abundant and we were the white people the children have only ever seen in books. This was definitely one of the best parts of my entire trip because we encountered the poverty stricken, simple living and indigenous peoples you dream about. It really made me think how I live my life compared to these children who swim all day, eat fruit as complete meals and live life to the fullest everyday.
Along with having a spiritual revelation, best experience ever and loving life...I want to just let everyone know that I found my new favorite food. It's a fruit called Mamei and it is literally the best thing I have ever tasted in my entire life. Bright red skin with juicy white center makes this delicacy sound like an apple, but the inside is nothing like an ordinary red delicious. Shut the front door kiddo...my life is complete after eating 14 Mamei's in less than 2 hours. But, the Mamei is actually what led me to getting robbed...
Our last day in Iquitos was supposed to be relaxing and filled with 2 last events, getting more Mamei at the Belen Market and feeding rehabilitated manatees (although we never did make it to the manatees because of the market "incident"). I obviously would never carry my bank card, phone and money in my purse in poverty stricken, South American, jungle territory...but it happened. The whole situation was just bad luck to put it nicely. The three of us thought that we were checking out of the hostel in the morning before our last 2 events and then heading straight to the airport. I had my purse gripped tightly across my body at the market the whole entire time with Leah about 20 feet ahead and Amber 10 feet ahead. A man came up behind me, put his hand across my mouth and touched my private parts to make me let go of my bag. The man scared me half to death because this wasn't just "I want to steal your bag" but "I want to kidnap you" so I used my leg to kick him with the sole of my shoe right in his shins. He removed his hand from my mouth and I screamed bloody murder for a good 30 seconds. He ripped my hand-woven bag from my body and ran away as fast as he could. Thank goodness for Amber and Leah being able to get me out of the situation as fast as they did, because I may have had a panic attack without them. My mom canceled my phone and bank card right away and I was laughing a terrifying moment off 45 minutes later. The girls wanted to kill me when I said on the way to the airport, "Well, hopefully he uses my money to buy food for his family. He probably really needed that money anyways." It always helps being an optimist and trying to find the best in people...even if that slimy man attempted to violate my chastity belt. WHAT A WEASEL. Hahahahahaha :]
All in all, the trip was the best trip of my entire life! I experienced so many new things with 2 new friends that put up with a great amount of inspirational sayings and life lessons. I did miss the kids so much though and probably thought about them every hour reminding myself how much they would love being here with us. Coming home from a vacation to volunteering with 57 of the greatest children I have ever met in my life was amazing. The nurses probably wanted to kill me because the night we returned I
ran in to the girls room (waking all of them up) to say hi and tell them about my trip! Once again, I think about how I am ever going to be able to leave in May....
IQUITOS 2011. AMAZING. CRAZY. NEW. FUN. ADVENTURE. COOL.
"Just livin' life."
-Teaner :]
an amazon rainstorm?? that would've been awesomee to seeee! sarah from dallas texas........smh, typical teaner. um, and i knew you had gotten robbed, but not like that! that is sooo scary and i'm glad you were able to put your lungs to use and get away! i probably would have had a heart attack if i were you. andddd your reaction to the whole thing is kind of insane. hahahah but i would expect nothing less. the pictures are soooo cool though and i'm glad you loved it! it seems like such an awesome place to experience (robbing aside). bring that little monkey home! :)
ReplyDeleteAgreeing with ellen BRING THE MONKEY HOME ha he is so cute! And I seriously can't believe your reaction to getting robbed. only you would think that. Your amazing :) Your pictures are beautiful I'm so glad your loving your camera and sharing all your amazing stories with me! Love you!
ReplyDelete