¡Es Muy Peligroso! Jungle Experiences

Just getting to the jungle is just the highway itself is very precarious. The ten plus hour journey is, save for one hour, all on an unpaved road with steep drops on one side, holes and traffic that goes two ways on a road that is wide enough for one car. There were several times where holding your breath and crossing your fingers for a safe arrival was all the power you had.

During one stop on the highway in route to Manú, we encountered the first animal. It was a snake (I think it was called a Ferdinand) and it was a baby snake no more than one foot long (30 cm). Apparently, it is one of the most dangerous snakes in this part of the amazon and you will die without anti-venom within 48 hours. Also, the babies are even more venomous... It was clear that having a guide who is familiar with the animals was going to be invaluable and necessary to steer clear of all of these animals.

The second night that we were in the jungle we participated in a night walk where we set out in the darkness with flashlights, rubber boots and our guide to go and find snakes, spiders, caimans and other creepy night crawlers. This was the first excursion in a string of excursions with bad luck, where we saw few animals that we hoped to find. We did not catch any caimans (by us I mean the guide), see any snakes or many spiders. We did however manage to see one spider that can kill you without you even realizing that you have been bit, because the bite is nearly invisible. Great.

The invisible bite spider 

The third day we went on a walk into the jungle with the tio (uncle) of our guide who forged the trail using a machete. It felt really authentic. Once again we saw few animals and caught nothing more fishing than a turtle and some plants while we were walking. However, we did see a lot of species of ants and other bugs that were peligroso. One bite and your hand swells, more bites and you are very sick or dead. One of my favorites was an ant that enters your body through your cavities, makes its way inside your body and kills you from the inside out. We quickly learned that most things in the jungle can make you sick and they were peligroso, but if the guide said they were "muy peligroso" it meant that it would cause death. We also learned not to touch anything or allow anything to crawl on you (easier said than done). I managed to get bitten by some kind of ant and had a swollen finger for almost a week after. It's just now looking normal again.

The third night we spent watching for Tapirs in a makeshift tree house. The house was definitely not made with any kind of building standards from the western world- with a rickety ladder, sides without guard rails and 6 meter (18 feet) drops on all sides. As I said we had bad luck, so we didn't see any Tapirs (we are certain that it is more of a fictional creature than real). Did I mention that looking for these animals meant taking shifts all night with a lantern to shine into the swap every once in a while? We stayed up all night for something that never came!

The fourth day we spent in a boat making our way to the riverside camp we would set-up for our last night. We again looked for caimans and saw an eye (maybe) and that was it. What we did hear were stories about nearby jaguars eating families of people and attacking people on their drunken walks. Really didn't make you want to use the "baño natural" too far from camp.

Beautiful place to camp, but only for a night

After our experiences in the jungle I know one thing- I wouldn't want to live somewhere where the ground moves with creatures, most of which can make you sick or kill you. I went with my two German friends and apparently a synonym for the jungle in German is "the green hell" and it's not hard to see why. My short time in the jungle was enough, but I think I'll stick somewhere where the things that are "muy peligroso" are generally bigger than my finger nail and thus easier to spot and avoid!

Who knows what was crawling on this log as we attempted to fish.