A jungle entry

Wednesday, 3 August 2011

This morning there was this incredible mist over the river. It was so thick you could barely make out the outline of the banks. Combined with all those strange jungle noises, it felt like a different planet.

Breakfast was fantastic, but it´s surreal eating oatmeal with honey, banana pancakes and peanut butter in the middle of nowhere.

One of the boat motors broke down yesterday, so we´ve had to send it back to Iquitos for repairs. It´ll come back in a couple days, but in the interim we´re having to use our supply boat to ferry people back and forth to the villages. While waiting for our turn, Jose Luis took Jen to see the remains of an alligator. He says it had been hunted by the locals, its body cut into smaller chunks for food, but leaving behind the limbs and its head to rot.

Meanwhile, Patty (leader of Amazon Promise) explained to me why it´s rare to encounter authentic Amazon tribes. She says the missionaries went into the most remote areas of the jungle to spread the word of God but also urged the tribes to abandon their age-old taditions. Patty says that before the arrivals of the evangelicals, some of the tribes were impeccably hygenic, highly developed, and the people wrote beautiful poetry. All that culture, completey unique to the jungle, now forever lost to the world.

Today´s clinic had a few interesting patients.

• One boy had the worst hygiene I´ve ever seen - head lice, dental carries, and a fungal skin infection all over both arms, both legs, chest and back. But so smiley, such a dirty happy kid!
• One woman complained of pain in her right eye. Apparently her husband had punched her and then refused to allow her to seek medical attention. She´s now blind in that eye, and still lives with her husband. 
• One man had this horribly deep scar on his claf, a 3cm deep dich running from knee to ankle. It´s an old wound, but if you look left, you can make out 2 additional puncture marks where the snake bit him. Funny thing is that this man is the mayor of the village, but I guess that counts for nothing to a snake.
• Anoher woman kept moaning about her dead child. We thought she was delusional until we found out that a couple years ago when terrorists were still active in Peru, she almost had her head chopped off when she was pregnant with twins. Although she survived, one of the twins was born dead while the other lived to the ripe old age of 6 before dying of an unknown fever. 
• But I also met the sweetest girl there, Flor Pizango. She hung around my station for the entire clinic. Later she taught me how to spell blue in Spanish (azul), and I gave her a purple toothbrush. 

Lunch back at our own village, and delicious as usual. An unbelievably light and nutty white fish that fmelted in your mouth, with a citrus cabbage salad and plantain fritters.

Then an afternoon boat trip up river to swim and go fishing. Ben caught a piranha, bu threw it back. We had brought along canoes so I joined Patty in one to explore a small tributary. Her at the front paddling with a single oar, me in the back staying as still as possible, trying not to capsize us. At the mouth of the creek I saw my first pink dolphin, where a pair of them were playing in the water nearby. As we floated down the creek, the trees started to crowd above us and the banks seemed to close in. Everything went quiet and suddenly there were animals everywhere. Patty whispered to me every time she saw soething cool - tiger herons, black collar hawks, a pair of wattle jacana... She said her jungle knowledge comes from training with the Peruvian Air Force and the tutelage of Jose Luis, a man of the jungle. Back at the cove the boys went swimming (bitten by these tiny jumping fish that have a taste for nipples) while I spoke with one of the Peruvian girls. Random chit chat about Facebook, Jennifer Lopez, and learnt a few good (and bad) words. Good chance to practice my Spanish. Creo que lo es improvar, ¿no?

Rode back to the village just as the sun was setting. Floating down the Amazon River when the sky is filled with all the shades of pink, purple, orange and blue is one of those moments that is just impossible to capture on camera. All you can do is sit there, soak it in, and pray that your memory serves you well.

Got back in time to have a quick shower of river water from a large communal bucket before heading to dinner (again, delicious). Played a few card games, then went outside to chill on the benches along the river side. Some chatter, some laughter, but basically sat there gaping at the countless stars. Then a 5 minute hike through pitch black jungle foliage, armed with head amps and flash ights, trying not to fall into the river, getting stuck in mud pits, sidestepping the 10 inch high ants nuts, and we´re finally back in our hut. Quick check of the room for critters, blow out the candles, slip under the mosquito net, and I´m ready to go to bed. A moment to reflect, a new journal entry is made, and a full day is remembered in writing.

Just your typical Amazon Promise day in the jungle. Good night!