How I ended up hiking in the Amazon in a wool shirt and my pants tucked into my socks

Let me just start by saying, I must really love my girlfriend. There have been a number of times that I have allowed her to convince me to partake in activities that I had sworn off for life. On this trip alone she has several times convinced me to change our itinerary to follow some new adventure, including adding two unplanned countries to our journey -- Uruguay and Bolivia. Now, this is not to say that I have ever regretted allowing her to pull me from my somewhat rigid proclomations against certain activities, just to illustrate the degree to which my seeming inflexibility fades with the appearance of the puppy dog eyes and an excited face.

As you may have guessed at this point, one of my 'I am not doing that!' exclamations applied to the Amazonian jungle. Bugs and I have a very unequal relationship, which is to say, they love me and I, in turn, hate them. Having declared all blood sucking insects my sworn enemies, I saw no reason to seek them out unnecessarily.

I went astray by convincing Kate that she too should read our guidebook as I had already done months before. Dutifully fullfilling my request, she poured through numerous sections on towns (and entire countries) that I had avoided bringing up during the planning process. As she read, she would excitedly tap me on the shoulder and relate details of various locations that peaked her interest. I, at that point, would make my best, most stern 'we don't have time for that' face, but ultimately her excitement and curiosity almost always won out.

It was by this means that I succumbed to researching and eventually booking a jungle tour before we left for the Inca Trail. After a few days rest, we set out for 5 days and 4 nights in the Madre de Dios region, a feeder river of the Amazon located near the Bolivian and Brazilian borders in Peru.

Mind you, I had not exactly packed with a jungle adventure in mind, though we did have a hefty supply of 30% deet bug spray and malaria pills due the to the overcautiousness of Kate's travel doctor. The result is that I had to decide between sweating profusely inside my wool long-sleeved shirt (not having any lighter weight long-sleeve shirts) on a 90 degree, 95% humidty, 6 mile trek through the jungle or being driven insane trying to fight off bugs for over 4 hours. From the title of this post you can guess which option I chose.

Additionally, because of particularly aggressive ants that latch on to your shoes as you walk and procede to climb up your legs under your pants and chomp on you, I made the fashion-forward decision to tuck my pants into my socks. A smart choice, I might add, as I did find several ants on my pants, which is a far better place to find them then under your pants.

Despite the fact that I was drenched in sweat (and still sustaining some bites on my small patches of uncovered skin, namely my neck), it was a great day. The hottest and longest hiking day of the 5 we spent in the jungle, but full of memorable sights. On the hike our guide lured several tarantula out of their homes in the ground - one the size of my fist; spotted a 'monster' frog that looks remarkably like the dried leaves covering the forest floor; caught a transparent butterfly whose wings are completely see-through but for a touch of fuschia on the tips; teased out a baby caiman (alligator) in the lake we visited and its 10 foot long mother; introduced us to the call of the howler monkey whose territory we walked straight into in time to see several of the monkeys including a mother with its baby clinging to it; and pointed out the Amazon's largest snake, the Anaconda, sunning his over 30 foot long body beside the lake (the width of this guy was slightly larger than my head and he is capable of comfortably eating a child of 4 feet or so, though he only really needs to hunt once a year and spends the rest of it basking in the sun and digesting). Additionally, we saw tons of birds including colorful macaws and Hotazins (at least, I think that's how you spell it, but here's a good picture nonetheless), a stick bug, numerous turtles as well as jungle plants and flowers.

I probably lost about 5 pounds in water weight on that particular day, but the heat certainly made the lack of hot water at our lodge a downright blessing. That this town is a mere 30 min plane ride from Cuzco - 18 hrs by bus because of the poor road conditions - and the Andes is just amazing to me. They are working on building a road and expect to have it completely paved in the next 3 yrs, cutting the journey down to 8 hrs by car. There are also plans for a bridge over the river, making the trip to Bolivia and Brazil more navigable as well. (Presently vehicles have to be put on a boat and ferried across the river, much like what we experienced on our trip from La Paz to Copacabana where our big tour bus was put on a very rickety boat while the rest of us took a more sea-worthy vessel across a small section of Lake Titicaca.)

So ultimately, I should stop my whining because it was a pretty amazing experience. All the same, I did my best to minimize developing a photographic record of what I looked like on that particular day, though I think Kate sneaked in two which she might presently be uploading on the computer next to me. I'll let you all search for them!