well hello there readers,
have been back from the Jungle for the past few days... didn`t spend as long there as I had originally planned. It was an interesting experience (note the subdued tone) but I definitely wouldn`t have been able to spend any more time there. First of all, it was a nightmare to get to and to get back from... a 26 hour off road bus ride where, once again I got shaken to shit, followed by what turned out to be a 10 hour putt-putt boat trip up the Rio Tampopata.
The place was theoretically a research centre, but in practice it was a family home out in the middle of nowhere run by this moody British bird and her nice (but incomprehensible) Peruvian husband... they take on paying "volunteers" (oxy-what) who they then put to work (fairly hard shit as well, none of this dancing around collecting butterflies lark...). You only had to do three hours work a day, but in the heat of the Jungle it was fairly hardcore. Work ranged from digging a pond to gardening to babysitting their admittedly cute kid. Naturally, all the girls got off with the babysitting (although I don`t think that was all peaches and cream either), and all the guys had to do everything else, which basically boiled down to digging holes all day.
After work, we would go for a swim in a little stream and then take a siesta or walk around in the rain forest. There were only ever about three or four other people there... always rotating... and the atmosphere was subdued. Everyone either read or slept and we all lived for the meals... not because they were haute cuisine but rather because it was something to do...!
Got to see quite a bit of wildlife though... the Peruvian husband took a liking to me (cos I was the only one who had any iota of what he was rabbiting on about) so he showed me all the wildlife... rats the size of dogs, cayman, more capibara, tarantulas, (lethal) bullet ants, porcupines, monkeys, snakes and a few other random jungle inhabitants.
Anyway, when the opportunity came up to go back to civilisation on a taxi boat, after eight days, I jumped at it (figuring that my time would be better spent in Cuzco, or Colombia, or Limerick, or anywhere else on the face of the planet). That was quite the experience though. The journey back took about 11 hours because they stopped everywhere to pick up everyone´s "home pwoduce" to bring back to the town... So we were inundated with an unbelievable amount of bananas, papayas, tomatoes and a million weird fruits and veg that I don`t know. Every time we stopped and filled up, I said to myself: "at least that will be the last stop", thinking one banana more would surely result in sinking... but no, they kept on going and by the time I arrived in the town I was sitting on a papaya throne with bananas on my lap. There was a German guy on the boat with me and we got into some good chats with the locals... so as uncomfortable as it was, it was a great experience... (when tourist boats passed - with 110 HP engines - they slowed down and everyone took photos of us, before ripping off again and leaving us to bob dangerously in their wake... was interesting to be on the receiving end of all those lenses for once... the locals must feel like monkeys in a zoo!)
Its funny they way they try to sell stuff to you here. If you`re not sure what something is and you want to confirm it, they will confirm it, no matter how wrong you are. This may sound stupid, but I thought I was buying tomatoes and oranges from this women off the street and I said to her: Is that a tomato and Is that an orange, and she assured me they were exactly that. It turned out to be passion fruit and a crazy assed (see fucked up) apple. I got the impression, if I were to point at a cabbage and say: "Is that a train journey to Lima", they would say yes and try to sell it to you the cabbage at the price of a train journey to Lima. (And you`d be quite disappointed when you sit on your cabbage and it doesn`t start moving in the direction of Lima... hehe...an amusing mental picture).
So when I got back to Cuzco, I went out on the piss... and now I´m waiting for the train to Macchu Picchu where tomorrow morning I will gander around these famous ruins...
Click here for photos of the Jungle... (please note that the photos whose names begin with "I" are not mine but were taken by a friend and fellow traveller - Moritz - click here for his homepage).
Part of the reason I came back from the jungle early was when I was out there (with so much free time to ponder "stuff"), I realised how little time I have left. I always thought that I had loads of time (eight months obviously being never-ending), but now I have just over two and half months left, and to do what I want to do before I´m sucked back into reality, I need to put the pedal to the metal as they say.
On a more sombre note, I am currently engaged in job applications so that I`ll have some kind of cash flow when I get back to the "Old World". Haven´t even thought about applications in a long time (I used to be a pro), but now when I sit down to write a covering letter, I get shivers down the back of spine... I stare at the screen for five minutes before checking out lonelyplanet.com and typing up imaginary itineraries for future travels... (my most recent crazed idea was a five month tour from Istanbul down the Arabian peninsula and back up through North Eastern Africa to Marrakesh).
Annnnnnnyyyyyywaaaaaayyyyyyy, this post is already far too long... I´m sure no-one`s even reading any more... I could say what I like here and no-one would know... I´m a Communist, ha, only joking... On a more serious note I think harry potter and Dan brown both suck the big one...!
Right, signing off until an update after Macchu Picchu with loads of spiritual, hippie "weren`t-they-a-fantastic-civilisation" crap... (although they couldn`t even read!)...
Smellyalater,
Conor
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