El Fin De Semana en La Selva La Merced - (The weekend in the Jungle La Merced)

Sorry I haven't posted a blog in awhile.  I was in the jungle the whole weekend and yesterday was busy busy.

We were supposed to leave the house at 6 in the morning on Saturday, so I woke up a bit after 5.  Mabel didn't start breakfast until after 5:30, so we ended up leaving after 6.  We all packed into two cars.  Leslie, the two girls from Wellesley, Charlene and Cassie, and I were in one car.  I picked that car because it had stickers on it saying, "Drago Dorado," or the "Golden Dragon."  I really wanted to ride in the golden dragon.  :)  Leslie's Aunt Haydee, Doane, and the couple from Sweden, Simon and Nora, were in the other car.

I fell asleep for most of the car ride down to Tarma, a city outside of La Merced.  We ate lunch there.  I got lomo saltado al jugo.  It was almost like a soup of lomo saltado, with beef, onions, and tomatoes.  It was a little bit chilly, so it was exactly what I needed!

Lomo saltado al jugo.

After Tarma, we were supposed to go to a waterfall that you get to by hiking through water.  It started pouring rain though, so we planned to go on Sunday instead.  I remember waking up after being stopped by officials guarding the border to the jungle.  They were asking for identification, but Leslie said all they really wanted was money.  She said they were trying to prevent people from going in to kidnap children.  After that we were back on our way.

We made our way to a botanical garden named "El Jardin Perezoso" or "The Lazy Garden."  This old man with a machete was our guide.  He spoke in Spanish and then Leslie would translate.  There were so many interesting plants there.  Some of them were familiar since they grow in the US, like the pink and red ginger plants.  There was a type of plant with large leaves that they use to make roll up jungle food called juanes.  They had some plants that were named for what their leaves looked like, like the deer hoof, frog feet, mother-in-law's tongue, and Adam's ribs.  We got to climb up into a small bungalow about midway through and you could see over a good portion of the garden.  There were two trees that the old man cut with his machete.  One of them looked like milk was seeping out of it and the other looked like it was bleeding.  The one that looked as if were bleeding was called sangre de grado.  I bought a bottle of the liquid that comes from the tree later because it has antiseptic properties.

The tree that looks like it's bleeding when you cut it.

We also got to see swarms of ants and termites as well as pools filled with huge snails.

A huge snail.

They had a bunch of stones laid out that looked like different parts of the body and other shapes.  One of them looked like a brain, another a skull, and many other shapes.  There were also lots of fruits and edible things around.  We got to try the fruit from the cacao plant and also were able to pick some star fruit.

Our guide giving us a taste of cacao.  You can see his machete stuck in the ground in the background down from his left hand.

We also got to see beans and coffee beans growing.  We kept laughing at Haydee because she kept getting things in her hair.  First it was a small yellow spider and then various leaves.  Doane kept teasing her and looking at her hair like there was something in it even if there wasn't.  It was a really fun visit.

After the botanical garden we went to the Bayos waterfall.  We had to hike a bit to get to the waterfall.  It was pretty impressive once we got to it.

Me at the Bayos waterfall.  My hair was super crazy because of the humidity.  Haha!

Doane was the only one brave enough to go into the water and go under the the waterfall.  He said it looked even better underneath it, seeing the water coming at you.  He said the water was coming down pretty strong, but it didn't hurt.

The Bayos waterfall.

He tried to climb up on the rock a bit, but it was too slippery.  Leslie said that during summer months when there isn't as much water, you are able to climb up the rock.  There was a stand that sold various drinks and snacks that looked very tropical.  There was also a grill there where they were frying up bananas and sausages to sell.

The tropical snack bar.

When we walked back to our car, we weren't sure if we were going to be able to leave because a huge bus promoting one of the political candidates had gotten stuck in the mud, blocking the road.  There were men trying to get the front wheel out of the mud.

The political bus stuck in the mud.

Our taxi drivers ended up going around the bus on the other side.  It was sort of terrifying to watch because if they had driven too far to the left, they would have gone off a giant cliff.  We managed to get by the bus though and were back on our journey.

Doane and two men from the bus pushing the car through the mud around the bus.

Next we went to dinner at El Shamuray.  I got la parillada de zamaño, which was grilled jungle guinea pig.  It came with yuca (cassava) and fried bananas.  I also got starfruit juice.  I thought I was just getting a glass of it, but I got a whole pitcher.  Leslie and Haydee got guanabana juice and I liked it better than the one I got.  It was frothy and sweet.

Zamaño, zuca, and bananas.  Yuuuum!!!  If you look closely you can see that the zamaño still has hair on it!!!  :)

We went to the native community of Pampamichi to sleep in bungalows.

One of the bungalows at Pampamichi and the Golden Dragon in the foreground.  :)

They prepared our beds with mosquito nets above each bed.

Our beds in Pampamichi.  The green one with stars and moons on it was mine!!!  We had to tuck the netting under our matresses to keep the bugs out!!!

The only bathroom they had was a good walk through the grass away from our bungalows.  It felt like a step above camping.  Doane, Simon, and Nora bought some of the native liquor called 7 raices or 7 roots and there was also another bottle, but no one can remember what it was called.  I'll have to ask Leslie.  Some of the people who were helping us at the bungalows, made a big fire with dried palm fronds.

Our big bonfire!!!  They made a second one next to it after completing this one.

 Leslie told Doane to jump over the fire, so he did.  After he did it once everyone wanted to take pictures so he had to do it four or five times.  I was really tired, so I ended up going to sleep instead of staying up to drink around the fire with the others.  At 4 AM our bungalow woke up because Charlene got sick and was throwing up over the railing on the bungalow.  She was saying she was numb, but after awhile she calmed down.  They got me up to help translate between Leslie and Charlene.  Leslie knows English pretty well, but they still were having language barriers.  Charlene wanted to go back to Huancayo, but she ended up staying.

It had been raining hard all night and when we got up in the morning, Leslie said she didn't think we'd be able to go to the waterfall still because it wasn't safe when there was too much water since we would have to hike through water to get there.  We had been planning to do some native dancing at 8 in the morning, but the rain and Charlene's sickness held us up a bit.  While we were waiting, Haydee and I were watching the roosters, chickens, and chicks hopping around the bungalow.  One of the roosters had woken us up again at about 6 in the morning.  We watched as the chicks followed their mother across the lawn and the father watched them go.

The chicken, chicks. and rooster family.

We finally all piled into the cars minus Charlene, to drive down the road to where we were going to dance.  We drove because it was still pouring rain.  It was already almost 10 by the time we got there and I was really hungry.  I didn't have the energy to participate much in the dancing.  They put us in native dress and painted our faces with a bit of red paint.  They only put a red line on each cheek.  This man came out and spoke to us about the community and then he and some of the other natives danced.

The native dancers at Pampamichi.

After they danced, they invited us to dance.  When the dancing stopped, they brought out some parrots for people to hold and take pictures with.  Next we went to look at the artesenia they had for sale.

After dancing, we packed up the cars and drove to go eat what was by that time lunch.  I had chicharrones and fried camotes.  It was meat with fried sweet potatoes.  I also had guanabana juice since I had liked it so much the night before.

Chicharrones y camote frito.

Next we went to Chanchamayo Highland Coffee.  A man there told us about their products before he let us go around the tables where they had all the products set up.  He said that Chanchamayo is at the perfect altitude for growing coffee.  We got to taste all of the different jellies that they make from fruits from the jungle.  We also tasted fruit juices, liquor, and coffee.  We all picked out several things to buy after we had tasted everything.  They were also selling soft coffee candies that were absolutely delicious.  This was the place that I bought the sangre de grado that looked like blood coming from the tree at the botanic garden.  I ended up putting it on some of the bug bites I got on my legs while we were in the jungle and it helped me out some.  When we were done with our purchases we went outside to see the views and look at the plants they had growing around the building.

The view from the Chanchamayo Highland Coffee building.

One of the workers there was telling us what some of the fruit on the trees were.  He gave me a tangerine and said it was good even though it was still green.  After that the others were picking fruit from the trees.

Haydee in front of some of the plants outside of the coffee place.

Next we went to Zhaveta Yard in Chanchamayo to see butterflies, other animals, and jungle plants.  Our guide was the cutest.  He must have been about ten, but he seemed much more mature.  He knew all about everything in the place and was telling jokes about them left and right.  He put the leaves of a plant called elephant ears around his face and you could tell he knew he was adorable.

Our guide at the Zhaveta Yard in Chanchamayo.  This is him with his elephant ears.

He asked anyone else if they wanted to do it so I did and some of the other girls did as well.  He showed us butterflies that were in their chrysalis and some of them look like they are made of silver or gold.  He showed us a lot of the same plants we had seen in the botanic garden.  One of them he picked up and asked someone to tough it.  Leslie touched it and said that it was prickly.  After that he said it was the most poisonous plant there.  Apparently it's only poisonous if it more mature and firmly attached to the roots.  He said the ones he had picked up were new and that he had easily kicked them off of the root.  There were a bunch of animals in cages, too.  We saw tortoises and alligators, zamaños, cuptes, and a lot of other jungle animals.  One of the tortoises had flipped over, so he went in the enclosure to turn it over and it started to bite his boot.  He was telling the tortoise that he was ungrateful because he had helped him and now he was biting him.  :)  When we were finished, we lay down in hammocks for a bit and then went to look in their store.

We went to eat dinner after that.  I had chicharron de zungaro with maracuya sauce and fried yuca.  I just looked up what zungaro is and I think it is a type of catfish.  There was some spicy aji there and everyone was impressed that I didn't think it was that hot.  I was eating it with the yuca.  I had wanted ketchup, but apparently they didn't have any and had tried to get it from a nearby store but couldn't find it anywhere.  I thought it was funny that they had gone looking for it.

Zungaro in maracuya sauce, yuca, and cocoma fruit juice.  You can see the aji in the metal dish in the back right.

It was getting really late by the time we set off again.  We were headed for Huagapo where the biggest cave in South America is located.  I was singing eighties songs that the driver had on for awhile.  Leslie and I were having fun laughing at all the bumps we were going over in the road.  Some of them the taxi driver wasn't prepared for and we would fly up from our seats.  I hit my head a couple of times on the roof of the car.  I was trying not to worry too much about our driver passing other cars or going around fallen rocks.  I fell asleep after awhile and we arrived at the cave around 9.

The sign for the cave in Huagapo.

We could go to the cave at night because you need flashlights even in the daytime.  There were three people who guided us through the cave.  I had thought we were just going to be walking straight back into a cave, but we had to climb up steps, ladders, and then ropes to get to the furthest spot we could get to before it got really dangerous. After the point we went to, there was a lot of water and they said only professionals could go there.  At one point someone dropped a flashlight and it went down a hole.  The guide said he would get it on the way back, but Doane ended up going to get it.  Once he got down there, he saw that a few feet away from him was a massive drop.  We threw him the rope we were using to climb up to the next place in the cave so that he could get up more easily.  The guides showed us many rock formations that have formed over many years.  There were lions, alpacas, people, the Virgin Mary, the Pope, and a lot more.

The lion rock formation in the cave in Huagapo.

There was also a rock formation that echoed and sounded like a drum when you pounded on it.  Once we got to the furthest point possible, the guide asked for everyone to turn off their flashlights.  It was really scary to be in pitch black in the cave with steep drops nearby.  They said if you were quiet and listened really well, you could hear the footsteps of the Incas who used to use the cave.  I was really happy when they turned the flashlights back on.  It was quite an adrenaline rush to be walking around in the near darkness, scaling walls and repelling down them.

Simon climbing up part of the cave in Huagapo.

It was enjoyable, but I was thankful to be back out in the open afterwards.

We didn't finish the cave until about 10:30 and we were all exhausted.  I woke up a few times on the ride home.  Once the way we were going was blocked by a barricade, so the driver had to back up out of the narrow street and go another way.  I woke up again and they had gone the wrong way, so we were on our way back to Tarma.  He had to turn around again.  The next time I woke up our driver was changing the right front tire.  He changed it really quickly, but I couldn't help thinking that I hoped he didn't blow another tire because then what would we do?  The last time I woke up, I recognized where we were because it was the way Lauren and I had ridden every day on the way back from Concepcion.  I tried to rest, but I was so ready to get home and jump in the shower.  I'd been in the same clothes for two days without a shower, hiking through mud and rain and dirt.  I felt really stinky and gross.  I was so happy to get the first shower and wash away all of the dirt.  It was already 2 in the morning by the time we got back home.  I was completely exhausted and wasn't sure if I'd be able to wake up in time for school on Monday.  It was a LONG weekend.  Long but rewarding.  :)