There are very few parts of the entire South American amazon that are protected and where the ecosystem is still in its robust and complete form, but we were lucky enough to go to such a place. Upon landing in Puerto Maldonado, we were picked up by Rainforest Expeditions (who organized our week in the jungle), drove for an hour on a dirt road until we came to the spot on the Tambopata river where we filled up two boats and took a three-hour boat ride away from civilization and deep into the heart of Mother Earth.
The lodge was very nice and comfortable. The rooms only had three walls, with the fourth open to the jungle. Hearing the sounds of the jungle day and night was amazing.
There is so much life! And that life made it into our rooms. The first night Adele found this on the outside of the mosquito net on her side of the bed.
Geoff and Ceci captured it and took it outside. All the teenage boys in the group came to witness the capture, but all were a bit freaked out. The next morning a spider in the wolf spider family was on Adele's suitcase, which was luckily closed. We kept our mosquito nets and suitcases tightly secured after that! Sometimes there were crickets or flying bugs in our beds regardless of our mosquito nets, which was a bit out of my comfort zone. Three to four-inch beetles, grasshopper-looking creatures and cockroaches scurried in the bathrooms and in our rooms.
There were no fans and we only had electricity for a portion of the day. It was HOT. We had to wear long sleeves, long pants, long socks and rubber boots when walking in the jungle to avoid bites from both bugs and plants. We all only brought two jungle outfits for the week, switching them every day trying to give the clothes worn a day to dry out, but things don't really dry out in the jungle. So we were mostly sweaty and wet with layer upon layer of sunscreen and bug spray. Cold showers (the only option) felt so good, but it was a brief respite because as soon as you got out of the shower you were sweaty again. In the afternoons in the lodge we could wear shorts and t-shirts, and in the evenings we had a long-sleeve and long pants outfit but lighter in weight. Apparently, starting at dusk there is a small, biting bug that can spread a disease, so we covered up again.
The food was pretty good. They prepared vegan options for us which usually consisted of rice or quinoa with beans or lentils and some cooked veggies. The fresh fruit was sweet and delicious, as tropical fruit just off the tree always is. We ate at random times of the day, rarely feeling hungry because of the oppressive heat, yet finding ourselves famished and eating enormous amounts of food when finally sitting down for a meal. We sat at a long table for meals, always sitting by different members of the group and engaging in interesting conversations.
Almost everyday we had "resiliency sessions" where Julia took us through exercises and led us in discussions. The teenagers joined us for these sessions and contributed great insights. Meanwhile the younger kids were out with guides setting camera traps and exploring the jungle. These sessions helped us open up to each other and, between our shared thoughts and perspectives and the many shared experiences of the amazon, we became very close.
These new friends were so interesting and do incredible work in the world. All are very accomplished. Yet we were all students of our three local jungle guides, Claudia, Fernando and Jair who taught us about the plants, bugs and trees of the forest, and who explained just how delicate the ecosystem is in the amazon jungle.
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