Blame it on the Hooch

On the last of our days in the Amazon, we set out into the jungle in search of the long lost indigenous tribe of Santa Monica. Actually, we drove an hour and a half down a small dirt road to a village inhabited by about forty people. All related to and/or sired by--the larger percentage of them of the latter group--the Shaman of the village, aptly nicknamed Huevos Locos.



Our to do list for the day:
-Meet the shaman, who was drunk from his homemade grain alcohol (185 proof)
-Drink some of Huevos Locos's hooch (hey, we didn't want to offend him)
-Drink locally made and recently fermented yuka wine
-Eat the big, fat larva of an elephant beettle (not good; not good at all)
-Buy a locally made neclace to "help" the community
-See, for the first time, a cocoa tree
-Pick and peel cocoa fruit
-Analyze and eat a cocoa bean
-Appreciate chocolate made in Switzerland
-Appreciate never having to eat beetle larvae again (hopefully)














































Yeah, go ahead and put a check mark by every item on that list.

Day3--Jungle Walk Part 2

I was not prepared for the canyoning turn in our jungle tour. Neither mentally, I've always been a little claustrophobic, nor physically, I'm fat and claustrophobic. But I fit through, if not barely--anxiously scraping my appendages were they bend the whole way--and we were not turned into vampires (there were hundreds of bats in the caves that would fly right at us and sometimes fly right into us). There also ended up being some free-climbing sans gear, which again, had us a little freaked out as to what the hell we or anyone else would do if we were to fall. Again, survived. Yay!!

Day 3--Jungle Walk Part 1

The third day we took a guided jungle walk that consisted of two parts: nature hike and canyoning. During the hike we saw some cool flora and some freaky fauna, and learned a little about how the two get along and how humans utilize that harmony for medicine and ritual. Most notable, were the ants. These things were huge, and could kill you with their venomous pinchers. Luckily, however, we now know that if you were to get bitten by one of these things, you could counter their venom by squishing the same type of ant and rubbing it's bodily juices into the bite.

This is definitely good to know, especially if you were to participate in the local male coming of age ritual in which you are covered head to toe by the ants, getting bitten until you pass out. (What the hell??!!)

Shangri-La

On the third jungle day, we were so thankful that we headed to the second lodge in the morning instead of the afternoon. This lodge--named Shangrila, with free potable water, toilet seats, hot showers, and plenty of manners--was perched atop a two hundred foot cliff, which looked over the Napo river as it winded it's way through the Amazon.























Just sitting and enjoying the spectacular view from this place was a highlight of the tour--although getting that long hot shower, after walking through the very hot very wet jungle for two and half days in the same clothes, wasn't all that horrible either.

Jungle--Day 2--Lagoon

More Jungle walking. This time to a lagoon made by a decent sized rushing stream that carved a natural swimming hole out of the huge rocks before it spilled over into one of the major rivers. The stream created a cool little slide in the rock at the top of the lagoon. But, again as with the falls, we had to be super carefull. There was a hard current in part of the peacefull lagoon that could take you over the leathal waterfall at the bottom of the lagoon, and the fun little slide poured right into the current. But you probably guessed it; we survived...again!!

No pictures of the lagoon, but snapped a keeper on the way.

Jungle--Day 2--Waterfalls

On the second jungle day, we strapped on those big black boots once more and set out from the lodge, deeper into the muck and mist, to find a stream of freshly flowing jungle aqua. We followed the stream up and up, and as we went, the up got upper and upper--as in every twenty minutes or so, we ran into a rushing waterfall. The falls were fun to see and cool to stand under; but the crazy thing was, we were actually climbing up the rocks that the falls were shooting over. There were ropes set up, and guides to assist, but the reality of it was: don't slip, or else!! It was more death defying than any picture I could show, because I didn't have the camera out when I thought we were climbing for our lives. But some fun pics made it through nonetheless.

Jungle--First Night

So, after the rafting on the first jungle day, we strapped on our newly issued black rubber boots and trudged through the jungle mud and mist to the first of the two lodges we stayed in. The lodge--nameless and without potable water, toilet seats, functional mosquito nets, or manners--was the perfect contrast to the second lodge, which allowed us to more properly appreciate that super sweet second lodge.