Trekking in the Amazon Jungle

Sunday, March 6, 2016, Worrall Travel R Day (WTRD) 58

It is another overcast and humid day.  The starlit skies from the night before are shrouded in grey clouds.  Rain will happen today so we prepare ourselves accordingly for our hike.  Luis plans to take us trekking from 9:30-2:00, and has instructed us to wear long pants and shirts, and to bring swimsuits if we want to swim in the river near a waterfall that we will be visiting.  Reluctantly because of the heat, I dress with long socks, waterproof walking boots, longsleeve shirt, and deet.  I pull the cords at the bottom of the pants so that scorpions, spiders, and snakes will not crawl up my pant legs. When I see Alcides in his barefeet, I  feeling a bit overdressed, but confident that the little things are not going to kill me.  Luis is dressed as he has instructed us.  Apparently, he keeps working on Alcides to wear shoes, but to no avail.

Alcides scouts the trail barefoot and finds the path.

We pack our gear and head out for the morning.  Alcides, barefoot, bare chested, and taking only a machete guides our boat to a little bay that has a keep out sign.    Luis explains this is military property where he did some of his training, and he has a special permit to enter.  Luis carries a bag of cold drinks.  We disembark and Luis gives us a little instructional talk, while Alcides heads up the trail, scouting as he goes for potential learning experiences and threats.

Luis instructs us to stay close behind him, not to touch any plants (there is a burn worm often on the undersides leaves that is quite harmful), and to not try and clear the jungle debris from the trail.  The jungle mulch is so thick, that my walking stick sinks 6-10 inches on the spongy surface.  The trail is hard to spot, but fortunately Luis and Alcides know where they are going.

This is exactly what I thought the jungle would be; green, humid, viney, warm, strange sounds, and very, very, wet.  

Rubber drips from the rubber tree

Can't remember if this is the Vicks, Rubber, or Imodium Tree?  We saw all three.

Unpleasant prickly plants

Vine Twine

Luis points out fungi, high in the tree 30 feet from the water from the current low water.  Our guide says he has never seen the water this low, and that it must be El Nino.  This fungi in the wet season is under the water creating a high Ph in the water and the indigenous people use this water to cleanse wounds.

Periodically, we catch up with Alcides, who has chopped something down, dug something up, scrapped something down, or stabbed something with his machete so that we can see the vine that can be used as rope, see the poisonous spider, cutter ant used in indigenous coming of age ceremonies, see the latex from the rubber  tree or the  sap of the "Vicks" tree, or the "Immodium" tree.  There seems to be an endless number of Amazonian plants from which our pharmacology is derived.

The cutter ants are used in a ceremony when a boy becomes a man, or a stranger wants to be endeared and trusted by an indigenous tribe.  Luis has gone through a modified ceremony to gain trust and respect.  

The ceremony involves putting one's hand in a glove in which 42 cutter ants have been placed and leaving your hand in the glove for three hours while the ants cut and bite you.  You can cry, but not scream.  The pain is excruciating, and the initiate keeps his hand raised and dances about in agony for three hours.  Luis's ceremony was with 15 ants for 1 hour.  I would go for no ants myself.  

At one point in our hike, Luis stops and looks up at the tree tops.  "What do you see," I ask?  He replies, that he is looking for monkeys, not because the trees are moving or that he hears the call of the monkey, but because among the decaying jungle dampness, he detects the smell of fresh monkey pee.  Really?  Surprisingly after the three stops where he points out the odor, I can smell it too.  It blends in and it is not a bad smell, but it is distinctive.  Monkeys travel 30-50 kilometers a day in search of food.  He points out trails of small animals, that we would have missed.

I'm tasting the Vicks Tree, I think.

We traverse through the jungle catching a glimpse now and then of Alcides ahead of us.  Suddenly we see Alcides either chasing something or being chased by something.  He is circling  back towards us.  Luis guides us back from where we had been and asks us to remain calm and quiet.  








Apparently, Alcides has disrupted a meat bee colony.  These bees feed on the blood of dead worms, but are not opposed to biting living animals.  He is trying to confuse the bees by running in a circle.

We stay still and when the bees have calmed down, we proceed through the area on a different path, very quietly, making as little sound and disturbance as possible.

At last we pass through the area of the bees.  It reminds me of the tracker jackers in the Hunger Games.  After a couple of hours of hiking, we come to a huge tree, the queen of the jungle.  Luis tells us of the giant raccoon like animals with large strong tails in the forest that are the monkeys' biggest threat and predator.  They are nocturnal and drop down on sleeping animals at night when they are most vulnerable.  Many lone people have been killed by these raccoons who  drop from the trees and rip out their necks with one swipe.

The best time to sleep in the jungle is during the day as most of the predators are nocturnal.  Luis tells us how to survive a night in the jungle, and having a rifle is an important tool.  First you find a tree like the queen of the jungle. You cannot have eyes in the back of your head, so you must create a safe space where nothing can sneak up on you from behind..  You clear the floor area you will be sheltering in the cove of the air roots of the tree, and 6 foot perimeter around the trees.

Protective Cove in a Queen of the Jungle Tree

Where am I???

You must urinate all around the perimeter to establish your territory.  In front of your cove, you set up three small fires, one straight ahead and one on either side.  You must keep these fires going all night.  If you spend the night in the forest, you may relax, but must stay awake by drinking coffee and smoking strong cigarettes, and your rifle loaded and ready.  Sounds lovely!  I'm glad we've opted for the jungle lodge and not a night in the jungle which was also an option..  Luis says he stays awake to guard his clients.

Luis digs a square of turf to show us the richness of the soil composition created by decaying plants.  There is not a lot of natural soil in the jungle.  When a rain forest is cut down for farming, the trees and the jungle are no longer providing nutrients and creating mulch.  In less than three years, fertile rainforests converted to farm fields can become barren deserts.  He explains this to us in English, then gives Alcides the same explanation in Portuguese so that Alcides also learns about how to keep the jungle healthy.

By 12:30 we are hot, damp, and reach a waterfall, where we can relax, swim, cool off and drink water or cold beer.

Jungle SPA

From the Backside of the Waterfall

Alcides sharpens his machete.

I'm content to use my wet sarong, and waterfall spray to cool off...don't want any bug bites!

We spend an hour here doing all of those things and marveling at how fortunate we are to be experiencing  this time in the Amazon.  So dense is the jungle, we do not realize that we have come almost full circle back to the boat by the time we ]each the waterfall, and after our rest we have only a short ways to go before returning to the boat.  We return to the lodge by 2:00, take quick showers to cool down, have an excellent chicken and fish lunch.

We could now rest until 4:30 when we would go out piranha fishing.  After our afternoon rest, we boarded the fishing boat with a large fish that looked like a cross between a catfish and a sturgeon.  Alscides whacked it with pole to kill it.

He would clean it on the river and use the disposable parts for chum to attract the piranha.  We did not need to travel far from the lodge to find a suitable prospect for fishing.  All of us had empty water bottles with fishing leader wrapped around them.  Alcides attached bait to our weighted hooks and with a whirring circular motion swung the weights around his head, finally flinging the bait and hooks in specific directions where he thought the fish might be hiding.   The leder would roll off the bottles like a fishing reel.  He handed each of us our bottle and line to hold.

Looks Like Rain!

While we sat quietly waiting for the piranha to strike, Alcides continued to clean and filet the large cat fish.  If we didn't catch any piranha, we would still have some fish for dinner.  After 45 minutes, the first drops of rain started to fall.

Fishing for 

Alcides told us to quickly roll up the reels, which we did.  By the time he started the motor, the rain was coming down in buckets.  He gunned the boat and ran out from under the leading edge of the storm for the lodge.  We got to the lodge before the a drop of rain fell, but within a few moments after returning the rain caught up with us and dumped.

We spent the rest of the early evening drinking wine coolers and talking about the fish we didn't catch and enjoying the company of 4 year old Mayesa.    Cat fish and braised beef with potatoes was our dinner menu.  

Tomorrow we will be going on a boating expedition to the flooded forests, return for lunch, and then head backup river where our jungle adventure began.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel Rs in the Amazon Jungle.

In to the Amazon Jungle

Rio Preto de Eva

Saturday, March 5, 2016, Worrall Travel R Day (WTRD) 57

We are both excited, and me a little apprehensive, about our jungle adventure.  The more we know about our guide Luis, the more at ease I feel. I think we are in good hands. Luis spent 12 years in the jungle with the Brazilian Army learning how to survive in the jungle and fighting Columbian drug dealers.  His main concern is to keep us safe in what can be a potentially dangerous environment.

Russ and I pack our "jungle stuff", deet, long pants, boots, hats, mosquito nets, a few clothes into small bags.  Luis picks us up a little after 9:00 am.  We stop at a market and purchase, beer, wine, and a few snacks, then we drive north for about three hours to a small town Rio Preto de Eva.    As you can see on the photo below we are only 31 miles as the crow flies to Manaus, but we aren't crows, so it took us a little longer to get here by car.

There is a market in town where we meet up with Alcides,,(pronounced Alsidges) our river boat pilot and owner of the jungle lodge where we are headed.

Alcides and his family are descendants of indigenous people of the area.  He his tanned brown, barefoot, wears shorts, and a T-shirt that is a bass tournament souvenir.  The jungle lodge is a base camp for bass fisheman.

We pick up some fresh fruits and fish at the local market,

load the aluminum boat and head down river and small tributaries for an hour and a half.

Downstream we travel

When we return, the trip will be slower as we head back up river, but our trip to the lodge is speedy.  It is amazing how Alcides reads the river and navigates us through the trees and sandbars.  We see a few birds, but it is hot, steamy, and most of the wild life is sleeping or hiding.  Luis says if we think Alcides is great reading the river with twists, curves, snags, currents, and low water sandbars during the day, we would really be impressed with his midnight piloting.

Around 1:30, we come into a large clearing on the river, more like a lake and the lodge sits up on a hill, the Tucuna Rio Preto.  Alcides' four year old daughter Maysa (Myeesza), bounces down the hill to welcome home her daddy.

We are introduced to Alcides wife Marta and then shown to our cabana, which is a large room with six single beds and two bathrooms with showers.  There are screens on the windows.  Alcides, closes the wooden shutters and turns on the air conditioning for us.  Archie is a few cabanas down the board walk.

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I am vey much relieved when I see our beautiful accommodations and not a mosquito or spider present in our room.  The lodge is only about six years old and in excellent condition with paintings, jungle motif reliefs, and carvings.  We are the only ones here.

Immediately, we take cold showers and wander down to the outdoor dining area.  We are served fresh fish, beans, rice, salad, and tropical fruits.

Marta is an excellent cook.  As we finish our lunch, wild boar is set up to smoke for six hours on the bar-be-que.  Russ and I return to our air conditioned room.  I lay down on the bed and fell fast asleep.

It was quite warm and humid when we awoke.  Initially, we were going hiking, but the weather conditions indicated that perhaps we do something different.  Large black clouds were on the horizon and it looked like rain would soon be upon us.  Luis and Alcides decided to take us to a floating barge/bar where we could cool off and relax.  

We boarded our little boat about 4:30 and headed this way and that up different tributaries for about 20 minutes.  No sooner had we got on our ride, when the clouds opened up.  I had just enough time to put on my poncho and protect the camera.  The cooling rain felt wonderful, and we were thoroughly drenched within 2 minutes.  We were in the rainforest after all.  It rained hard for 10-15 minutes and let up just as we arrived at the barge.  We were reminded of the soaking rains in Samoa where on a daily basis we could shower on deck with a bar of soap, clean the decks, and completely fill our water tanks within a few minutes!

The (indigenous descendants) family-owned barge is a bit of eveything, bakery, gas station, general store, and bar.  Grandfather is a fisheman and chats with Alcides, along with the son-in-law, and another friend who has come for gas.  Grandma is baking bread, their daughter, and mother of three is busy nursing the nine month old then washing and hanging laundry.  

The eldest son is disabled with one blind eye and a body that is very quiet, perhaps partially paralyzed.  There are three dogs, one of which is a fluffy puppy.  Cute now, but he is certainly going to suffer in the heat and humidity with his thick coat of hair.

 We sit down in the open air area and drink beer as the sun sinks into the jungle. The daughter has three children.  The middle child stays in his room. The older son is the caretaker for the baby and his little brother adores him.  Another child, a blond boy is perhaps a cousin.

The barge and its inhabitants reminds us of Polynesia and a simple happy livelihood of family community.  We enjoy spending time with them and watching the sunset.

By the time dusk was falling, we were back in the boat heading to the lodge.  Alcides was navigating by starlight.  A meteor streaked across the sky.

Luis was shining a flashlight along the shoreline looking for alligator eyes.  We spy something red shining along shore and glide toward the reflective eye.  Alcides runs the boat on shore, and Luis quietly gets out with his flashlight.  We wonder what he is doing as he looks into a fallen tree trunk.  He returns to the boat with a five year old alligator in his hands.

One hand grips the alligator around the neck and the other supports the body.  He climbs back in the boat, gator in hand.  I'm tense having a gator in the boat with us.

He explains to us that alligators, unlike crocodiles, do not have tongues.  They must come up for air and must keep their mouths closed while under water.  When the gator attacks its prey, it can close its mouth and dive slapping the victim back and forth before drowning it.  The gator that Luis has in hand is less than a meter long.  When fully grown, the gator could be up to 3 meters in length. She (Luis shows us how to identify males and females) is a beautiful specimen, very feisty, and he says very angry,  Her mouth is wide open and she is ready to bite.  Female gators do not lay eggs until they are 16 years old, and can live to 100 years.

After our gator lesson, Luis very, very carefully, lays the gator on a boat paddle and releases her into the water off the boat paddle.  See ya later, alligator.

We continue along the river back to the lodge where smoked, and crispy crunchy wild boar awaits us for dinner.  We enjoy the evening, listening to frogs, crickets, and night birds.  It's been a full and fascinating day.  Tomorrow we are trekking through the jungle.

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All is well with the Worrall Travel Rs in the Amazon Jungle.