I Ate a Larva. In the Juggle. Booyah.

Monday, October 13, 2008

I have returned from the jungle. It was really an adventure. There were piranhas and alligators involved. Seriously. Now that I’ve drawn you in…I suppose I’ll start at the beginning.

We left Thursday afternoon from the big bus stop in Quito. It was about a 6 hour bus ride to Tena, our first destination. Tena is kind of on the edge of the jungle. It’s definitely hot and steamy and bug filled, but not really in the wild. No monkeys, what kind of jungle is that? Stayed in a nice hostal run by some guy from Germany. There were definitely cockroaches, I’m hoping that I didn’t bring back any friends in my bag. Rode in the back of a big yellow taxi truck to get across town to the hostal. By the time we got there it was time for bed. On Friday we were picked up by our tour company and changed into swimsuits and big rubber boots (barn boots!) for our waterfall trek. Let me tell you, the combination of a swimsuit and big rubber boots is pretty darn cool. And so comfortable for hiking… Before heading out, one of our guides, a shaman, painted all of our faces with some kind of fruit that warded off mosquitos. The hike was beautiful, everything was so green! We were quite literally hiking through the waterfalls, and had to climb up some pretty intense wet slippery slopes. There were ropes at some points, otherwise it would have been impossible. Oh, and the best part! At one waterefall climb, we had to climb into a waist high pool to get to a rope. Our guide goes in, then tells us all to be careful, cause there’s an anaconda in the pool. A freakin anaconda! But it was okay; apparently it was a little one. We all QUICKLY made it through, no incidents. The walk back down the mountain we had climbed up was a little bit rough, not because it was a hard walk, but because we were all really wet and wearing floppy barn boots. Ate some fish at a house along the road, then went to a natural pool to swim in. It was amazing. The pool was underneath a waterfall, and really deep. We jumped off rocks into the water and slid down a cascade-ish part. We had to be careful, cause a little further down river were some rapids and then a BIG river, which wouldn’t have been fun. But it was really nice to just swim and relax on big rocks after our 5 hour hike. Later that night we showered, went to a local bar for cokes/beers, and got on an overnight bus for Limoncocha. It was a 8 hour ride, but we all slept.

Got to Limoncocha to start our real jungle adventure around 7 am. We took a 30 minute canoe ride across a big lake to get to our camp. There are a few families that live outside of the main town, preferring the savage beauty of the jungle, and our cabins were at one of those family’s clearings. There were five buildings; 2 houses for the family (I think about 10 people all together, though some of the kids were in the town going to school), a big cabin for the tourists, a bathroom (with real toilets and a shower, quite a surprise), and a smokehouse. We had breakfast (eggs and white bread with jam) to gain strength for our jungle trek, then headed out. We had to do the barn boot things again, because there really are bugs that can kill you (or at least hurt a lot). Big ants, tarantulas, and apparently many others. The hike was interesting; the shaman showed us lots of medicinal plants. The best one was “Pene del Diablo”, literally “The Devil’s Penis”. It is a tree that moves every season by putting out new roots. The part that shows above the ground really does look like lots of red penises. Apparently the juice from the roots is good for cuts. There were lots of pretty flowers. And one HUGE tree that is sacred. I could definitely see why it was sacred, it was so amazing. What else...well, after the hike we had a little bit of a break, then went piranha fishing. We split up into two groups, cause the canoes weren’t big enough for all of us to be in one, and paddled out into the lake. It was a little scary- the guide warned us to be careful not to fall in, cause the piranhas were quick. Not to mention the alligators and anacondas. (I asked when we first got in the canoe whether there were anacondas in the water, and he looked at me like I was an idiot. Yes, yes there are, apparently.) The canoes when full only sat about 4 inches above the water, and my job while the others rowed was to scoop water out of the bottom with a plastic cup. The fishing strategy was pretty cool: put a piece of raw meat on a hook, then beat the water for a few seconds with your pole (to simulate some thrashing animal), then jerk your pole back out of the water. Apparently the piranhas are really quick and just take little bites, so you have to be fast. I caught two. It was a proud moment for me. The guide caught 7. Showoff. He was sitting behind me though, and every time he caught one he jerked his pole forward and I got hit in the head by a slimy pissed off flesh eating fish. Good times. Monica got bitten by one flashing around in the bottom of the canoe, so she has a good story. On the canoe ride back we saw monkeys! Real monkeys! I have no idea what kind they were, weren’t close enough to really see them well. Small and black. I think it was the same kind that the little boy at the camp had for a pet. For supper we ate our catch, it was actually pretty good.

Our last outdoorsy activity of the day was an alligator hunt. Got into a big canoe (thank goodness, we would have refused to go in the dinky things we used to piranha hunt in) and headed into the dark. We were very, very successful. The guides were pretty fearless, reckless might be a better word, and got way too close to the first alligator. He was very upset. We were informed that they’re a little testy this time of year because they have babies. When we finally started to move away, the back of the boat swung closer to the gator and he charged. It was so fast, I didn’t even realize that he’d jumped. He didn’t get onto the boat or anything, but it gave all of us in the back a scare. The guys in the front didn’t notice though, and so they repeated it with the second gator. We were very vocal that it was so not okay to be that close to the gators (we could have reached out and touched him), but we still got close the second time, and again he charged. This time he did get onto the very back of the boat, and the guide hit him with a paddle to get him off. It damaged the motor a little, we kind of limped around the lake for the rest of the ride back. Soooo….it was quite an adventure! We had a camp fire, and the guides started telling stories, but we were all so exhausted that we didn’t last long before just falling asleep around the fire. I felt really bad, cause I wanted to hear the stories, but I literally couldn’t keep my eyes open. They gave us some of that cinnamon alcohol drink, which didn’t help the sleepy thing either! We had mosquito nets around our beds, which was a wonderful thing.

Next morning we got up early to search for monkeys. Didn’t find any. But it was a really pretty ride, lots of cool birds. After breakfast (more eggs and white bread), I got the shaman to tell us some stories. I learned the creation legend of the Quichua living there along the lake: a long time ago all the elements of nature combined to form a man that was half fish and half man. Eventually that creature came out of the lake onto shore and became the first man. Cool! He also told me about a tribe that lives deep in the jungle, 5-6 hours away, that is cannibalistic. Apparently they killed some missionaries not too long ago. What else…oh, there are apparently some racial issues between the mestizos (the majority of the population in Ecuador, part Spanish part Indigenous) and the indigenous people. The mestizo run travel agencies won’t hire the natives because they “aren’t educated and don’t have experience”, and so the indigenous people won’t let those agencies onto their land. We chose our agency because it is run by the indigenous people, and the money goes to their community. Interesting side note. The family where we were staying was getting ready for a wedding in the community, apparently every cooks huge amounts off food weeks ahead of time to take to the party, which lasts for days. The only meats served are fish, alligator, and anaconda. The bride doesn’t sleep for days before the wedding because she is working to prepare all the food. That’s definitely a custom that I will not be bringing home with me! We got to sample a drink they were preparing from yucca. The women chew up the plant and spit it into a big bucket, to get it to ferment faster. Yummy.

I ate a larva. Several actually. There was a gigantic larva called “chundakuro” which is apparently good for whatever ails you. They fried some up, and then steamed some others in a leaf. I liked the fried ones, crispy and juicy like a piece of fat from a steak. The steamed one was a little too chewy for my liking.

Well, that was basically my trip. Spent all afternoon and night on Sunday traveling back to Quito. Sorry that this entry was so long, there was a lot of activity crammed into those 3 days! It was an amazing experience, totally worth the bugs and the humidity! I don’t have time right now, but check back soon for some pictures!

New Word of the Day: chicha (the alcoholic yucca drink)

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

I stood on a corner for an hour this morning. Just chillin. The doctor from Cochapamba was going to pick up me and another student, Monica, at this street corner close to our homes. But she never showed. It was pretty cute, Monica’s host mom, this cute little old lady, walked with her to the corner and waited with us for almost the whole time. We ended up calling the medical director of the program, and she just told us to come to her clinic for the morning instead. It turned out to be a pretty productive morning; we saw lots of patients at Centro de Medicina Familiar Vozandes La Y. (Super long name!) There was a woman with some tumors in her uterus. She and the doctor discussed where to go for the operation that would be the least expensive but still close. Apparently uterine and cervical cancer are very common here. Then a little girl with a cold. Super cute. And the last two patients were a mother and daughter, 90 and 52 years old. The older lady was there for a general checkup, and the doctor gave her some pills to improve her memory. The younger woman was also there for a checkup, and the doctor ordered a lot of tests for her because of a family history of medical problems. It was sad, the younger woman was having a really hard time caring for her mother on her own. The doctor told her she needed to hire a nurse for one day a week, because she needed a break. I wonder if people have more problems caring for their parents here, since there aren’t nursing home type places or social security payments or medicare (or is it Medicaid for the elderly, I can’t remember), or anything to help out the elderly. The clinic itself was pretty posh. The doc said it was the premiere family care clinic in Quito. There were computers in every office, nice looking equipment, everything was very clean…quite the difference from the public clinics I’ve been in thus far. If I were sick, I would definitely go there. The doc told us that in Ecuador they have to practice very “human” medicine, because a lot of time people can’t afford to have laboratory tests done. So a diagnosis has to be made solely from what the patients tells the doctor about their life, symptoms, history, etc., meaning that doctors and patients have to have a more personal, open relationship. Interesting. And I finally found out what the word they use for the yellow antispectic I’ve been pouring is; it’s not sabon as I thought, but savlon. That’s been bugging me for weeks.

So my day at clinic was a lot shorter than I expected. I’m a little worried, because now I only get one day at the Cochapamba clinic. I need to do my interviews! Hopefully I can work it out with that doc to come back another day if tomorrow isn’t enough time. I have Spanish class in a few hours, only a few days left of my pre-paid lessons. Oh, and the exciting news of the day is that I found a travel buddy! Monica is also staying in South America for almost a month after the program and was looking for someone to bum around with. Yay! I feel so much better knowing that I don’t have to travel by myself. We’re going to make our plans tomorrow on the 8 hour bus ride to the jungle. There is talk of hitting up Peru and maybe Argentina. How cool is that?

P.S. I was in the DN (the Daily Nebraskan, our school newsletter) on Oct. 8th! There was a whole little paragraph about me being here. I’m waiting for the fan mail to start.

New Word of the Day: pomas (butt cheeks)