Back from the jungle

I´m back! I´m alive! I haven´t been eaten by tribes people or alligators! Parents - you can let out that sigh of relief now. 

It´s been two weeks of living in villages, floating down the Amazon river, treating snake bite injuries, and playing a ridiculous amount of cards. I kept notes but I need to edit that senseless, babbling stream of consciousness that is my journal.

For now, here are some of the most memorable events.

TOP 20 SELVA AMAZONICAS MOMENTS

1. Swimming with pink dolphins at the mouth of the Amazon River.
2. The time a monkey scampered into the hut during a midnight house call, freaking out all the doctors.
3. Hanging out under the Milky Way on clear nights.
4. Learning Spanish from one of the chillest and sincere girls I´ve ever met.
5. Yelling “chiggers!” every time someone got a new red skin lesion.
6. Eating like kings despite having no electricity, no fridge, and no running water. You try making pancakes and jello in that kind of kitchen.
7. Floating down the Amazon River in an open top canoe, scanning the jungle canopy for sunburst macaws and howler monkeys.
8. Stumbling upon a campsite with feathers, bloody carcasses, and a fire that was still smoldering.
9. Peeing as quick as possible before a spider or scorpion crawled out.
10. Playing volleyball through a monsoon shower with locals on the river bank.
11. The time a Peruvian doctor called the patient a “retardo mental” based on the way she spoke, and managing her treatment according to that snap judgement.
12. Playing with the cutest little girl ever, but quickly checking her hair for lice before returning her hug.
13. Waking up at sunrise to watch women fill their buckets with river water while their children played in the canoes.
14. The shock on our faces as blood poured out of a girl´s sting ray wound and all over the boat floor.
15. Wishing we had brought the machete to chop through the rotting tree that was blocking our canoe.
16. The times we sat together in silence scratching our respective bug bites.
17. Waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of someone beating away the rat that had crawled into her bed.
18. Swinging from the vines of a jungle tree with a trunk the size of room.
19. Performing a gynae examination while chickens stood by watching.
20. Discovering the snack box.