|
We woke up naturally after both having slept surprisingly well for our first night in the jungle. As we were getting ready, we kept hearing a scratching sound outside. Craig and I thought we heard the sounds of baby chicks, but they appeared really close. It was as if they were in our guesthouse somewhere with us. We got up, finished getting ready, and then met Felipe outside. He was standing next to the parrot and they seemed to be having a conversation. Apparently he had been shown to carefully scratch the sides of Lorena the parrot's head, so that she would puff up her neck feathers. It was very cute watching Lorena displaying her feathers on demand. Felipe photographed her and she became very interested in his camera, leaning over to see the screen. At one point she even grabbed on to the rubber lens cover thinking it might be something good to eat. While playing with Lorena we started looking around and noticed that there was a big woven basket hanging on the exterior wall of our bunkhouse. Looking a little closer at the basket, we realized there was a mother chicken with her brood of fluffy yellow baby chicks inside. This explained a lot of the sounds we had been hearing this morning. I guess they weren't all in the outhouse after all!
It was a beautiful sunny morning and we cheerily shared our good morning wishes with the Waira Churis. This morning Carlos was wearing a crown of brightly colored parrot feathers. A few of them showed us a huge hand-carved wooden cutting board that they had previously started. It was very impressive and clearly took a lot of time and work. We joked about trying to take one home in our carry-on luggage. Felipe really loved it, and decided to commission one for the new house that he and his wife Maria Jose would be moving into. They led us into the little hut that acted as our dining room. The women were once again cooking over a fire in the next room. We felt slightly separated while they were cooking, but soon the food was ready and was brought to where we were seated. Breakfast was a large mountain of fried green plantains with a fried egg on top. The whole pile was sitting on a large banana leaf, the most eco-friendly and natural kind of disposable plate. Carlos and Felipe sat down and ate with us but the rest of the family grabbed their food directly from the kitchen. We would be doing some hiking today, so we wanted to be ready and to avoid any surprises. At 9 a.m., a bunch of us set off from the camp on what was described as an hour long hike to the nearby waterfall. How exciting it all felt as the teenaged kids came along with us, dragging long bamboo poles behind them. Carlos quickly led us all behind the camp, through the jungle, and down a rather steep trail. The weather was nice but it was very humid in the jungle so we were immediately drenched with sweat. Fortunately for us, Carlos would stop every once in a while to point out things of interest. First he found and placed some natural copal onto a little piece of bark, and then lit it. It burned quickly and immediately produced the familar fragrant scent of copal incense. It reminded us of our time in Guatemala during Semana Santa (Holy Week) six years before. Soon after, Carlos stopped in front of a particularly majestic looking tree with lush green moss growing on its trunk. While staring into the huge tree, he took out his flute and played a little song into the branches. It was clear how connected Carlos feels with nature and suddenly we could feel it too. This really felt like some sort of magical place. As we walked some more, Carlos found an empty snail shell (similar in size to the one we had seen last night with the snail still in it). He used his machete to take off the very tip of the pointy end. He then blew into it like a conch while explaining how they can be used to signal each other. Carlos gave the shell to Craig and asked if he could blow it. Craig took the shell in his hands and took a turn blowing through it as well. The sound wasn't exactly as melodious, but he was feeling pretty good since it was his first attempt. As we began to descend on the trail, Carlos pointed out various flowers and mushrooms. Many were very bright and contrasted nicely with the lush greenery surrounding them. As we looked around, we noticed that most of the children had disappeared. It seems they were going ahead to bring the bamboo poles down to the waterfall and they would meet us there. After about an hour of hiking (and sightseeing) we arrived at the small river. Considering the hike was supposed to last only about an hour, we began looking around for signs of the waterfall. The banks didn't look tall enough to produce a real waterfall but Carlos pointed upstream. He instructed us to wade through the river with bare feet. We crossed the river and wondered if we should put our shoes on for the remaining portion of the hike. As we realized the kids were nowhere to be seen, we spent the time putting our shoes back on, and getting ready for some more hiking. Although we thought we must be close to the waterfall at that point, it turned out that we needed to do a lot more scrambling along the banks of the river. The rocks were rather slippery and sometimes quite dangerous. Our legs began to get a little tired as we continually wound our way up, and then back down the rocky river's edge. Suddenly this "one hour hike" was feeling like it would be much longer than we originally expected. Various thoughts fill our brains while we are trying to avoid twisting an ankle or falling. Where are the others? Where is that waterfall? How far away are we going? Will we even get there before dinner? Will we even get back to camp before dark? Now that we were on the other side of the small river, we were scrambling up and down various mud trails and rock formations trying to keep along the natural path the river carved through the jungle. Doing this for quite some time became overly strenuous. From childhood activities, Craig is far more used to this sort of "river-hopping" and he didn't seem to mind too much, but I was getting exhausted quickly. Balancing on various rocks took a lot from my ankles and eventually my legs became more and more wobbly with every step. At one point Carlos (who was staying with Craig and I to make sure we were safe and didn't get lost) pointed out some otter tracks in the mud. We joked about how pathetic we would look to an otter that could effortlessly glide in and out of rocks, moving through the river and jungle with ease. As we reached a nice shady part of the trail, Carlos pointed at one of the "walking palm trees". He pointed to one of the rather provocative "branches" and said they are known as the "devil's penis". A rather fitting title for a long phallic looking spiky plant part. Apparently this is the critical part of a walking palm tree...the shaft that grows downward toward the ground. Very slowly, the palm "walks" by shooting out a new root in the direction it wishes to go. It then affixes itself to that new location and lets go of the previous location. In this way the palm tree can slowly move towards light, water, or whatever resource it requires. We couldn't help but think of the Ents (walking trees) from JRR Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings. At the base of this tree, small colorful mushrooms flourished in the dampness of the jungle. It was a very beautiful hike but we were still wondering how far away the waterfall was. At this point we had no signs of the the other kids, or the waterfall itself. Because we had no idea where we were actually going, our destination seemed a million miles away. We continued on upriver feeling like we weren't traveling much faster than the walking palms. After criss-crossing the river multiple times, we finally arrived at a small area where there were lots of large rocks and beautiful pools of water. As we looked around we finally got our first glimpse of the gorgeous three tiered waterfall. Some of the young Waira Churis had dragged two large bamboo poles all this way through the forest. Things were finally becoming clear as they quickly assembled a make-shift ladder on the spot. After cutting and affixing small cross pieces the ladder looked official. They quickly put the ladder in place next to the lowest waterfall and used it to climb precariously up to the second level. We were very impressed with how quickly they all navigated, built a ladder, and ascended the waterfall. Craig and I were very hot, sweaty, and needed to cool down. Craig and I had our bathing suits on and we swam in the natural pools. It was immediately cool and refreshing, feeling like a gift from the heavens. Sure, we know freshwater swimming carries the danger of schistosomiasis (and other water-borne illnesses), but it was a risk we were willing to take to cool down. While we climbed back onto the rocks we noticed that our sweat-drenched clothes had attracted innumerable insects and moths, who appeared to be using them as a salt lick. Gross. While we waded around in the frosty cool water, the kids got some natural fishing poles together and fished in the pool. They were extremely adept at keeping their balance while hopping from rock to rock. The whole scene was rather dreamlike but we were wary. Craig was very tempted to climb up the waterfall with all the others, but he thought better of it. Who knew if the ladder could even hold his weight? If he fell it was still pretty high and he could easily be hurt badly if he landed on rocks. Even a minor injury, like a twisted ankle, could turn brutal rather quickly. There was no way that I was going to attempt it and fortunately Craig agreed and decided to simply watch the others. After having some small pieces of fruit, we felt well-rested, but really could have used more energy. We didn't realize the extent of our hiking when we left camp. We really should have brought additional water and energy-rich foods with us today. After a very refreshing and relaxing swimming interlude, we hiked back down the rocks forming a run-off from the swimming pools. Immediately I became aware that my ankles and legs were still rather sore. It was a long walk along the river with each step seeming to take forever. Up and down the now-familiar rock ledges, muddy trails and sweaty humidity-filled jungle took a lot out of me quickly. We were doing ok but my legs were really starting to become a problem and I couldn't even think ahead to when we cross the river and then ascend to our camp. I'm sure the kids could easily all be back at camp by now, but many of them stayed with us to make sure we got back safely. As we passed by all the familiar sights of our journey we eventually passed the walking palm, the colorful mushrooms, the various ledges and rock formations that hindered our progress. We finally made it back to the river crossing and we navigated it successfully. By this point I was feeling very tired and just wishing we were already back at camp. I could recall the first hour of our hike this morning and was not excited about repeating it. On the way here we meandered through the forest, but we were always heading downhill. This time we would need to go up quite a distance beginning with the muddy slope that bordered along the river. As I took a deep breath and started my way uphill I found that my energy reserves were far too depleted. I just was unable to make any real progress heading home. It seemed for every uphill step I took, I needed to rest afterwards. At this rate I was thinking I'd just never make it and die right here and now. It was time for something a bit more drastic and I was already feeling humiliated enough for a single day. The two young boys soon produced a length of rope and offered to have me tie it around my waist and they would trade off short-roping me up the steep part of the trail. It was rather embarrassing; this wasn't Mount Everest, but I was totally beat and overheated and accepted the help. I was totally out of energy and it seemed like I'd never make it back to camp. I needed to rest far too often. We finally made it up the tall slope and the land was starting to level out. We started seeing the familiar sights from what seemed a life-time ago. As we gathered near the large tree that Carlos serenaded on the way out, I could hear the roosters calling back at camp. It was the best sound I'd ever heard. I was starting to have visions of darkness setting in and me never making it home at all. It might seem crazy but the supposed hour-long hike had taken us from 9 a.m.-5:15 p.m.! It was starting to feel like darkness would soon be setting in across the jungle. We were particularly relieved to finally be back at camp. It was really not the best day for my ego, that's for sure. We weren't even in the highlands, so altitude was no excuse this time. I had no choice but to take it as a lesson and learn from it. In this moment a big smile crossed my face. We were finally back "home" and I was ecstatic! When we got back to camp, the women fed us our "lunch" of potato soup, tilapia, and yucca. As always happens after a day of over-exertion, despite being simplistic, it was a fantastic meal. Cutting up the potatoes and adding chunks of yucca provided plenty of carbohydrates to give us that feeling of a restored energy tank. We couldn't believe how much better we felt after eating. After finishing all they gave us, we told them not to bother with dinner later this evening. We were feeling really good and only needed a shower to feel fully refreshed. We were informed that they have a bathing area, and that we were welcome to use it. We were very interested, so they brought us to see it. A very short walk down the hill-top was the the "shower," a small stream which cascaded over a private rocky area where the Waira Churis bathed and did their laundry. The water flowed over a large rock spreading out the water like a natural shower head. We both got ourselves ready to shower, cleaned up under the flow of cool water, and felt very refreshed afterwards. It's funny how much running a little bit of soap and shampoo over your body really seems to have restorative properties at times like this. Our bodies were tired, our bellies were full, our bodies were clean, our minds were at ease and ready to go. Despite all that, the darkness enveloped the camp around us and signalled the end of our day. Before we knew it we were sitting on a bench in front of the kitchen/dining hut in almost total darkness. As we admired the various huts and the family gathering their things, we heard a lot of commotion and giggling among the children. We could see that there were some kind of insects flying around with what looked like bright glowing green eyes. Carlos said they were fireflies and brought two over for us to inspect. They had 2 green "tail" lights which looked like glowing eyes, and an orange "head" light that came on when they are flying. They seemed innocent enough but did suddenly seem to be all over the camp. We sat for a while just watching them as they danced and flitted all around us. It turned out to be a long day of hiking, so everybody was exhausted, even though the hike was much easier for all of them than it had been for us. By 8pm we were the only ones still awake, sitting on a bench in the dark, taking in our surroundings. We finally retired to our bunkhouse at about 8:30 although it felt much later than that. After climbing under our mosquito nets and into our beds for the night, I wrote in the journal as Craig fell fast asleep. View Larger Map |
          
|
|
 |
|
 |
