Welcome to the Jungle

Last week I moved to the jungle... The purpose was to monitor birds as my volunteer work... it turned out to be rather cool as that only took up about an hour of the day!

We took off Monday morning at 9 with an anticipated arrival time of 4 or 5. LIES. Without even being an hour out of Cusco we were stopped by a road crew clearing out a landslide. They told us we would leave by noon. By the time one rolled around, we finally were able to leave. We bounced along fairly quickly (though I like to think safely) around the mountains, across micro-rivers, and through Quechua farmland. Once we crossed over to the jungle side of the mountains, we expected to arrive at Atalaya at any moment... We kept going down and down and down while listening to the Rolling Stones and John Lennon. Mary was quick to point out how similar this was to a Vietnam movie...

So after a flat tire and some fancy maneuvering by the bus driver we FINALLY arrived at our destination. Or at least the little village/general store. We chilled there for a bit after I finally got to use the bathroom... I mean the gloried hole in the ground. Then we took a cab through the jungle, and crossed the river via the wooden platform they pulled across the river.

We got to our place at about 9:30pm, said hola to the other volunteers and crashed.

The next morning (Tuesday) we made our breakfast (crazy) and headed out with one of the guys working at the Atalaya Reserve - Diego - to check out a water fall. When we came back the other volunteers, a guy and girl from Spain, were around and we chatted. Lunch was the only meal prepared for us by a local girl and it was a TON of food! And all veggie, so the week was a bit long for me as I'm a big meat person. I was so full afterwards that I took a nap. Later that day Raul came by to show us where we were to observe and count the Cock-of-the-Rock, the national bird of Peru. Dinner was prepared by us, but since lunch was rather intense, we ate very little.

Now before I forget, we had a red howler monkey living in the compound area with us named Paulo. He's about a year old and a rescue from the black market. Unfortunately he's too tame to be re-introduced into the wild yet. So he's currently living at the Atalaya Reserve, attacking the volunteers and running around like, well, a monkey.

Wednesday we trekked with Raul and Yuri(?) on La Troncha de los Monos (monkey trail) for a few hours. In that time we lost liters of water in the form of sweat, climbed down a waterfall using rope and our bare hands and gotten eaten by mosquitos. But the waterfall was well worth it! Wednesday night was the night that Sampi showed up - an older Peruvian version of Robin Williams who liked to call me and Mary children.

Thursday was a bit less trek oriented as Mary, Diego, and I went to the waterfall (same as Tuesday) to go swimming! It was just like out of a movie =D Unfortunately I felt sick that night and slept for about 12 hours :( Sampi was still around, hiking around, making sure Mary and I weren't doing anything outrageous (like hiking in the jungle without a male escort). As much as I liked the guy, he was a bit old fashioned...

Friday consisted of waiting around a bit for the bus ride home. They told us that we would be leaving either at 5 or 8pm. So I finished reading The Color Purple, played with Paulo, and napped. Finally 7:30 rolled around and we left with Sampi, who all day had told me what I could and could not eat. He also gave me this pale green tea for nausea and two different pills to take on the bus. The tea was alright, just something herbal. The pills have yet to be sampled...
Our bus was late to arrive (9:30) and when Mary and I were jumping in jubilee to get on a bus homeward bound we were told to wait til morning, something was broken...

So Saturday morning around 7 rolls around and the bus still wasn't quite ready to go. By 8 we were off but not even 30 minutes into the trip, the bus drives halfway off the road. They were able to pull the bus out after everyone evacuated the bus via the driver side. The rest of the ride was uneventful except for a flat tire. However, everytime we turned a corner on the mountainside I had a minor heart attack. But we survived the JUNGLE!