So there I went, to the amazon and to the jungle... I couldn't help being in Southamerica for 3 months and not visiting the amazon.
Iquitos was the entry point, and it happened that I met my friend Stephane the day before in Lima, and he had booked the same flight than me, to Iquitos! So there we went... we met two other travellers at Iquitos airport, and we headed all toghether to the Amazon jungle, staying at a lodge. In the lodge, there was neither electricity nor hot water, but it was very well protected with mosquito nets... the first necesity was covered.
First day in the morning we visited an indigenous tribe, in the afternoon we went to see monkeys and snakes... and at night we did a night walk... in which we saw a tarantula and other stuff, listened to the sounds of the jungle... and got litteraly eaten by mosquitos. I usually don't get many mosquito bites... but the jungle is another story...
Not satisfied enough with the experience, we planned with our guide to go camping for 2 nights... deeper into the jungle. Other group of travellers came with us for 1 night, we were 10 in total. We arrived with our guide, a cook, and two other staff from the lodge, who built the camping.... while the cook would incredibly manage to make a fire and cook good food for 10 people... so we had no work to do, but we realized we had a very important task... puting mosquito repelent every 15 minutes... seriously! and even with that, we got beaten everywhere... at night we even had to use a second layer of clothes, because otherwise they beat through the t-shirt...
But things could get worse... at night, it rained.. and our tents got lots of water inside... so sleeping was kind of difficult. Next morning, my wound (from MachuPicchu) seemed to be getting infected again, I had diarrhea, a bit of fever, and felt really low in energy... everything was muddy and wet, so there was nowhere to sit down... and then we realized that our dishes were being washed with water from the f*cking amazon river... and the hot water for the tea was also "coulored", without the need of tea bag!... So, I made a very important decision... get back to the lodge, no need of second night camping! and I went back with the other group of travellers... we got back... and for the first time I truly apreciated how good it was to be able to sit down...
That night, after dinner, the guide told us crazy stories from the jungle... fishermen who had sex with dolphins (he knew real people who had done that!)... stories from indigenas, shaman powers and medicinal plants (he survived to a rattle snake bite with them)... giant snakes which measure up to 30 meters long (his father saw one)... even stories from elves living in the jungle, who apparently are small and very hairy (he claimed to have seen an elf once)... All these stories were crazy... but at the same time fastinating!... The guide spoke as if he really believed what he was telling us, he repeatedly said.. "what I'm telling u it's fully true, you can ask anyone who has lived in the jungle and will tell you the same"... It was amazing to listen to him, for the stories themselves, and for he being fully convinced about them...
Some stories sounded a bit less credible than others... but in general, I couldn't say if a story was true or false.. I had clearly not enough proof to consider them true, but I didn't have enough proof to consider them false either... so I was happy to stay with a simple "I don't know"... Moreover, when you think you really know about something, you close the door to further knowledge... As Sir Francis Bacon said "If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties"...
