Day 19 - Happy Mondays

Today all the guys here at Pie arranged to take the boat down to Lucerna, which is a very small community just down the river (people here often go down on a Sunday to play football/volleyball with them – Sunday Funday, as I’ve mentioned before!). Luix, one of the coordinators is keen to engage with the community there and especially the children. It was clearly very important to him; working with local people could greatly improve not only the way that people see the Amazon, but also the way that they treat the jungle too, so he invited everyone from Fauna Forever to come and help with the kids. Last night all the crew had a meeting explaining what was going to happen, and we were asked to try and practice our Spanish so that we could interact as much as possible with the kids – I sat from a distance watching the meeting go ahead, if I’m honest, I was feeling a little emotional that I wouldn’t be able to go, so distance was my armour.

As predicted, I was still poorly with my foot this morning, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to go. I haven’t been able to do squat for days and I still couldn’t walk well on my foot, so I just let things slip now and try not to get upset about it. Just before leaving, Luix came up to me to ask if I was going, which was a clear NO, unfortunately. But he insisted that Chiki would be able to carry me to the boat and help me get around. Which again was a clear NO from me – I really, really, didn’t want someone to have to suffer because of me, the heat and humidity is enough let alone carrying a 57 kilo sack of potatoes too! I started to feel a little overwhelmed because I really did want to go, and I felt as if they thought I just wasn’t interested. For the first time, my emotions got the better of me and I could no longer hold in my frustration and sadness. Hayley and Katrin noticed, and assured me, along with Luix, that it is perfectly acceptable to be helped, and that they wanted me to come. I very soon caved in and allowed the guys to help me get there.

It felt so good to be out of the camp, the wind on my skin and blowing through my hair on the boat was just wonderful; I finally genuinely smiled to myself for the first time in days.

Unfortunately there was a bit of a mix up with the professor, and the children weren’t actually in school this morning. Vladi, the chef at Pie, managed to round up a few of the younger kids so that we could still do something with them so it wasn’t a waste of a journey. The school at Puerto Lucerna is a very simple wooden hut, it isn’t draped with maps and posters - it simply accommodates a couple of benches, tables and a white board. The school is still very young, a year old in fact, but the community itself is only young, they settled there around five years ago. The coordinators are very interested in helping develop the school and teach the children more about the animals and plants that surround them, about sustainability, conservation and how they can thrive in their environment while also caring for the Amazon.

 

           

Everyone from Fauna Forever introduced themselves to the children and said a little about what they are doing; with my pretty bad broken Spanish I said something along the lines of “My names Ffion, I’m a photographer and I love animals”. By now I can understand some Spanish, read a fair bit, and speak very little, but I’m trying. Juancarlos and Luix took charge of the class and once we told them about what we did and the work that Fauna Forever aim to achieve we played a game with the kids to fully engage with them. The game was fun, perfect for the kids, you have to be deadly serious and keep a straight face, while one player goes around pretending to be a cat, and the first one to laugh at the ‘cat’ then has to take their turn to be the cat. It was so wonderful to see the niños getting involved in the game and having fun – I think that this is really what conservation needs; teaching young children how important our forests, animals, and habitat is, they are the ones who hold the future in their hands. With a lot of hard work, and maybe even some luck, hopefully the next generation will have a better understanding of the rainforest and have the knowledge to allow it to grow and thrive alongside them without the need to destroy it for the rest of the worlds’ greed. Now, who will teach the rest of the world to not be greedy?

Once the game finished, we stopped off at the local shop for a few essential supplies like beer, cigarettes and cookies. Yes, all those things are essential, I can hear you tutting from here - you don't want to bump into an addict of cookies or cigarettes who hasn't had their daily dosage in the jungle, it's dangerous! Once our super important supplies were bought, the guys went to play volleyball. Unfortunately I couldn’t take part this time thanks to my shitty foot, but it was nice to have a cheeky cold beer in the heat watching them all getting sweaty.

On the way back to Pie, we went down a small entrance off the river; this is apparently where the guys here go fishing. Chiki is apparently an excellent fisherman too, and it’s one of his favourite spots. There was a huge tree fall in the middle of the stream/river, and we stopped here for a late lunch that Vladi had prepared and packed earlier that morning. Everyone went off exploring, and eventually ended up jumping into the river from the tree trunk.

Me being helped onto the boat by Chiki and a hand made stick, just for me.

Pedro contemplating the meaning of life; trees already have meaning 

Even though I couldn’t really join in, and no matter how tempted I was, jumping off trees and swimming probably wouldn’t have been the best idea for my foot, so I was sensible and stayed on the boat. Pedro, the botanist, was kind enough to bring back some leaflets and seeds to the boat to show me, I am endlessly impressed with his knowledge, and the different smells and details that seems so subtle to me, makes the world of difference to him. I was glad to have his company while the others blissfully played.

The difference between the way I was feeling this morning, and now, are like two polar-opposite worlds. Today would have been truly depressing being totally alone in the lodge all day while the others were out. Luix, Chiki and everyone’s kindness, yet again, has brought happiness and light through this cloud of darkness that had overcome me. 

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Day 4 - Sunday Funday

5am alarm. That was painful. The only reason I’ll awake early (before noon) on a Sunday is at the potential chance to see some wild mammals in the jungle. I went along the PC loop trail with Juancarlos and Corrie again (not so sure what’s so politically correct about it, but I went along with it). It was a pretty chilled walk as we wanted to be pretty slow and quiet so that we could look out for animals. Juan pretty quickly spotted some movement up in the canapés, it was a couple of squirrels. Further down the trail we saw some monkeys howler monkeys, it was pretty awesome to see them out in the wild, but of course they had to be in a tree that was rooted in a swamp, and of course I had to have the wellies with a gaping hole in them - squelch, that's my word of the day. It was really difficult to get a picture of the monkeys, they were so high in the canapé and with the morning sunrise brightening the sky and being in the darkness of the jungle it felt almost impossible to get a decent picture. However, I did get a picture of the monkeys tail. SCORE! We then spotted a deer and I got a kick ass picture of its butt - Second word of the day is 'rear'.

The highlight of the trip has to be the fact that Corrie spotted a puma track. It was so fresh, it was amazing to think that just a few hours ago there was a puma walking in the exact spot that I was walking. We took som measurements and pictures of the paw print and noted were it was sighted so that we could determine weather it was worth putting a camera trap in that area. A little further down he trail I spotted another puma track, this time, a very small one. The puma had a baby puma with her! Excitement filled me at the thought of the two of them roaming around the jungle. It would make my year if I was to spot a wild puma, but it was great enough to know that they are here, within walking distance of me, and there’s some cub pumas trotting about too. Fucking awesome!

Adult Puma

Juvenile Puma 

We got back in time for a late breakfast (9am - still can’t believe I was up that early) and chilled for a couple of hours. Sundays here are usually a day where the volunteers/workers can chill and have a bit of a rest. They also often go down to the local community – which is a 30-45 min boat ride down the river – to play football/volleyball with the locals. Me, Zoe a few of the other guys and the staff here made our way down the river towards to Lucerna.

We watched the guys who were crazy enough to play football in the immense heat, and cheered them on. It was amazing though, between the first and last game the weather had completely changed, blazing sun to cloudy and raining, to mild and sticky. The weather here is so intense, but I still can’t get over how quick changing it is. Once they finished football we decided that buying a beer from the local ‘shop’ was a good idea – it was indeed a great idea. Pedro, Tom Zoe and I were roped into playing volleyball. We had a blast playing (and losing miserably) and rewarded ourselves with the now warm, beer! 

Half time

Team Fauna Forever

Us playing Volleyball with the locals

It was a bit of a rush to get back to boat as the sun was starting to set. The trip back was epic. I usually hate that word, but I am using it in its most sincere meaning. The sunset was magical, it was so bright and powerful that we were all in awe. The clouds started to gather on the way and I could see mist in the far distance of the river. This mist was rain, and I mean, rain!  It was getting darker and darker and the rain was hitting us hard. We were using life jackets to cover ourselves but I was far too excited, I pushed my camera to the limit and when I thought that was too much, I had my GOPRO. I love weather. No, I really fucking LOVE weather.

Once we got back to our port, it was dark, wet and the steep hill to get to the top was slippery and unforgiving. I didn’t have my torch on my (well actually I did, but I put it in a silly pocket and didn’t realise, so I fully believed I didn’t, Zoe did the same thing - we’re such twats!) Pedro also didn’t have one, so we just went for it and paced through the jungle with no light, and with the rain beating down on us. It was so exhilarating. We got back to camp safely, we were all hot, sweaty and soaking wet so we all went for our freezing cold shower to cool off.

I love the evenings here, as it’s so peaceful and tranquil. The sound of the jungle is constant and comforting, while the candles at the table make a perfect evening ambience. Me and Pedro did some stretching/yoga in the communal area after a long day to unwind before we sat for dinner. We all have eat together, with the just the two candles to light us up. We all get along together so well that conversation is always flowing we’re always laughing. There is something really special about being here.

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Day 2 - Jungle Mania

Day 2 – 2^nd May

Tired eyes and sleepy mind awoke early today for the early morning trip to the jungle where Pie camp is. We all packed what we needed for the trip and got ourselves prepared with a big breakfast and water on hand. Our ride came at half 9 to load our stuff, the car journey took us around 3 hours, the roads were great and then the final road to the port was slow, bumpy, wet, and then very bumpy, and then very wet. We had to get out of the car in preparation to push the car out of the water, luckily we didn’t have to, but we did get pretty muddy in the process.

Lucerna

Once we arrived at the port at Lucerna, we got on the boat for the final let of the journey to the Pie. The boat trip lasted about 45 minutes, and we pulled up just after a waterfall, Zoe told us, “Oh, that’s where we’re getting dropped off!” My immediate reply was, “fuck off, really?!”. She was pointing towards a steep, muddy cliff (at this time it was also raining), this was going to be fun with all our heavy bags, I though. We managed to clumber up, we got super soaked (and I’m not talking about the rain this time!) the humidity here is pretty brutal, it seems that just breathing makes you sweat, but hey, I was embracing the hot, red, wet look. Sexy. The site was another 500m ish away, up hill. This wouldn’t be a problem but after 5 hours of travelling, no food since 8am and with the intense weather, it felt like I was climbing a mountain. When we arrived at camp it was like something out of a fairy tale, the huts here are super cool, and there is no electricity other than a small generator that goes on for a couple of hours a day for laptop chargers etc, and there are hammocks to chill out on and a great open space for all us interns/volunteers/coordinators to relax and socialise. I was even happier to be greeted by food. I almost shed a tear with happiness.

The sun sets here at about 6pm, we got out a few candles to eat dinner with and then played some cards, Ass Hole, to be more specific. I was pretty tired at 7pm, I’d like to say that the 23 hours of travelling got to me but I’m not sure I can blame the lack of sleep. I was ready for bed when I saw thunder across the canapés of the jungle, holy shit I was excited! The storm was moving really fast and before I knew it, it was behind me, I looked out and I suddenly saw the night sky – why did it take me so long to look up – I was amazed to see the amazing, cloudless, southern sky, and what a sight it was. For the first time EVER in real life I saw the Milky Way galaxy, suddenly the exhaustion left me and I was running to get my camera. I didn’t bring my beastly tripod but Zoe luckily had one, so we, along with Corrie, stood out watching the sky while I zoned into my photographer mode... 

A few distant lightning sparks filled the night sky, along with a couple of comets and of course, that beautiful milky way. My heart felt full. Happiness overwhelmed me. I like the jungle.

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