ADVENTURING IN THE AMAZON

Exploring the Amazon Rainforest was something I had always dreamed about. From TV specials to Nat Geo photography, you can’t help but be intrigued by what this wonder of the world contains. When I started planning my first trip to South America, my first thought was to visit Colombia - as I had heard such amazing things from everyone who went. To be honest, the Amazon didn’t even come to mind at first; I always associated it with Brazil. But once I put two and two together, there was no turning back! When I look back at the coolest things I have been lucky enough to do in my life, trekking through the Amazon easily finds itself in the top three - arguably number 1!

DAY 1: BOGOTÁ - GAMBOA

My flight left Bogotá at 10:45am and two hours later I found myself in Leticia without a plan. I had tried to book excursions in advance but I kept getting the runaround. I wasn’t too worried though as I figured there would be plenty of options when I arrived - either through my hostel or in town. I just hoped everything wasn’t booked up!

From the airport, a gentleman asked if I wanted to hop on his motorbike to get a lift into town for half the price of a cab. Naturally, I said sure and we got to talking. Turns out he was part-owner of an Amazonian tour company: George of the Jungle. I told him that I would look at the tour options at my hostel and then head to his location if I didn’t have good options. As fate would have it, the earliest tour my hostel could coordinate was leaving in two days. Since I already had my return flight to Bogotá booked, I knew this wouldn’t work. Off I went to George of the Jungle in hopes of leaving immediately, or the following day at the latest.

With great luck, I arrived and booked my excursion right away. The boat was set to leave in one hour! The trip was 4 days and 3 nights. Before leaving, Miguel instructed me to buy bug spray, sun screen, water, and a flashlight. I didn’t putz around and returned within 45 minutes ready to go. Before I knew it, I was on a speedboat zooming through the Amazon River with a banana in one hand and a beer in the other! I hadn’t even had time to settle down and connect to WiFi to tell my family I was off for the rainforest. Sorry, Mom!

Cruising through the Amazon was surreal! You hear and learn all about the Amazon at a very young age and to be there in person was absolutely incredible! An hour later, I arrived at my home-stay in Gamboa, Peru. I wouldn’t even call it a town as much as I would call it a community. Thankfully, the family I was staying with knew some Spanish but their native tongue was Quechua. The “house” I was staying in was about 100 feet from the river. My sleeping quarters consisted of a mosquito-netted hammock under a tin roof. My “room” was quartered off with a translucent sheet to ensure both I and the family of four had privacy.

Once I put my things down, Dilan (one of the sons) and I went for an hour-long jungle trek. Within two minutes of leaving their “house”, we were in the jungle. On this walk, we saw macaws, toucans, tarantulas, ceiba trees, and more. At 6:00pm, we returned for dinner - which was made for me (they even accommodated for my vegan diet)! By the time it was 7:30pm, it was pitch back and the stars were shining bright in the Amazonian sky. The darkness signaled bedtime for me; I figured nothing good would come from wandering into the rainforest unaccompanied plus I knew there was plenty of exploring to be done in the coming days.

After being asleep for a few hours, I awoke to the sound of a torrential downpour. Wow; they truly don’t call it the rainforest for nothing! Listening to the rain melodically dance on the roof as I dozed back off into slumber was such a cool experience.

DAY 2: GAMBOA

I woke up with the sun at 5:30am on my first full day in the rainforest. After breakfast, at what I would guess was 7:30am, I went on a “boat” ride with Ivan, the second son. I say “boat” because it was more like a small canoe that needed my continuous tossing of water overboard given the hole in the bottom. Had I felt safer before? Yes. Was I about to insult Ivan’s intelligence by asking him if he thought this was safe? Nope.

After floating along the river for a few minutes, we docked in some brush that Ivan deemed dock-able. As we walked around in large rain boots (in nearly 8 inches of water), we came across some amazing wildlife - eagles, sloths, storks, caiman, arrendajos, and plenty more! In the middle of our walk, Ivan suddenly stopped and told me to look up. We saw a family of titi monkeys jumping from tree to tree - so cool! As we floated back down the river, he pointed out a dead piranha floating on the surface (cue Darla, “I’m a PIRANHA! They’re in the AMAZON” - name that movie!). After seeing the piranha and the caiman (not to mention everything in the water that I COULDN'T see), I found myself shoveling the water out of the “boat” at a slightly faster clip. The sounds of the jungle were amazing! We heard birds chirping, monkeys whooping, and insects fiddling - so cool! When we got back, I inquired about a shower since it was so humid. Once I was directed toward the river, I found my desire to take a shower plummet into the ground.

At 11:00am, a group of travelers arrived from Leticia and I was happy to see Miguel with them as well. We ate lunch as a group and then went into the jungle to walk around in search of sloths. We came back unsuccessful but just in time to avoid another loud rainstorm! After a quick nap, the rain had passed and it was time to go out searching the night for caiman! As we floated down the river in pitch darkness, I found something I preferred less than sinking into the Amazon in the daylight - sinking into the Amazon in the darkness. Thankfully, Ivan and Miguel knew what they were doing and although they didn’t catch a caiman, they caught a tuki-tuki (how fitting was it to see a tuki-tuki whilst on a tour with a company named “George of the Jungle”?!).

Upon getting back from the boat ride, Lee (New Zealand), Laura (Germany), and I hung out while we waited for dinner. Before long, our stomachs were full and we headed out on a night hike. On this hike, we came across lizards, tarantulas, scorpions, scorpion spiders (because normal spiders don’t cut it in the Amazon), and many different types of frogs. So awesome! In preparation for our 5-hour trek the following day, we went to sleep shortly after returning.

DAY 3: GAMBOA - ZACAMBU

The following morning, Lee, Laura, and I woke up early and decided to paddle in the Amazon by ourselves for a bit before breakfast. We couldn’t have gone more than a mile or two when we decided to take refuge under a tree to take some pictures. Before long, we paddled back, drank starfruit juice, ate fruit, and took off for Zacambu! By the time we left, it was around 9am. The trek was epic; there were so many exotic animals, trees, insects, plants, sounds, and fruits! To my surprise, the heat wasn’t too bad given all of the shade we walked under (although it was quite humid as you might imagine).

Four hours into the hike, the path that Miguel normally took was extremely flooded due to the massive rain storms over the last few days. There was no way around it and we certainly weren’t turning back, so we built a makeshift bridge out of wood lying around! I wish I could find the words to describe how we went about doing this but it was a super fun team-building exercise! Not only that, but it was like a scene straight from a movie!

After crossing our bridge (and nearly falling into the river a few times), we hiked for two more hours and eventually made it to the boat launch location where Miguel’s friend was waiting for us. Given the fact that we had to build a bridge, the hike was closer to 6 hours. After a short boat ride, we arrived at Zacambu around 4:00pm and ate a delicious meal of rice, beans, vegetables, and yucca! We relaxed a bit after eating and then Miguel asked us if we wanted to head out on a boat ride to see pink dolphins. He didn’t need to ask us twice!

The river that we went out on was separate from the Amazon, therefore the wildlife was very different (hence the pink dolphins). After floating down the Javary River for twenty minutes, we ended up seeing some dolphins poke their heads out of the water! Later on, we found ourselves in a small lake in which we were told we could swim in. We all jumped in and then watched the sun set over the horizon - it was such a pretty site to see! The reflection of the sun on top of the water made for some amazing pictures!

Upon getting back to Zacambu, we ate dinner and went on another evening boat ride. We floated down the river and saw the stars twinkling over the rainforest. Seeing this one last time before leaving the rainforest was awesome. We then had a choice to make: we could either sleep at “camp” or take our hammocks out into the rainforest to sleep there. Making this choice was so difficult! There was a catch, a boat would have to take us to the location in which we would put up our hammocks so if we decided to sleep in the rainforest, there was no turning back - no matter how hard it rained. We were extremely tempted but the sky was starting to get cloudy and we didn’t like our chances of staying dry. We were most concerned about getting sick and feeling under the weather over the coming days so we slept in our hammocks back at camp (under the safety of a roof). Next time I’m in the Amazon, I’ll sleep roofless!

DAY 4: ZACAMBU - BOGOTÁ

At 5:45am, we all woke up to catch the sunrise over the lake - the reflection was out of this world! Afterwards, the group ate breakfast and drank coffee together one last time before I headed back to Leticia. It was great getting to know Laura, Miguel and Lee; I’m thankful for getting to spend such quality time with them!

At 8:00am, Miguel took me up the Javary River to Benjamin Constant, Brazil. From there, I took a speedboat by myself to Tabatinga, Brazil and then hopped on a motorbike back across the border to Leticia, Colombia.

My time in the Amazon was truthfully something I will never forget! I am so happy I got to see such natural beauty up close in person! To those of you who are on the fence: do it! I promise you, you will not regret it! The money you spend will be nothing compared to the memories you make, the photos you take, and the life you breath in!

The photos taken of me are compliments of either Miguel, Lee, or Laura - thanks, friends!