Ola!
So, one week, 24 hours of bus rides, 10 hours of boat rides and a lot of mosquito bites later, I've returned from my trip visiting family in Shintuya in the Manu jungle. So much has happened in the past week that I'm going to have to refer to my trusty journal for the details so bare with me:
21/09
We left Cusco in the evening last night on an overnight bus ride into the jungle. Making our way through what was, for the most part, a journey on bumpy dust and stone single track roads, the views were limited due to the dark, but I could make out the occasional precarious drop over the side into a river or just darkness. The trip wasn't so bad, I think I'm slowly getting better at sleeping on long journeys, and there were frequent stops to stretch our legs, get food, pick up passengers or just for the driver to have a chat with oncoming motorists about the journey. Even so, I was glad to reach Salvacion, the first big town in the jungle itself at around 7am the next morning. After a quick breakfast at a cafe, we jumped into the back of a truck with a few fellow passengers including two chickens and a cockerel and headed for Shintuya. Poking my head above the top of the truck, Arnaldo pointed out several species of birds including parakeets, parrots and ravens flying about amongst the massive trees. About 3 hours later we finally arrived at our final destination, to be greeted by the Corisepa (aka my extended) family who were all very friendly and welcoming. The rest of the day is a bit hazy, dad had told me about the humidity but in the middle of the day it's something else! After a brief walkabout and more meeting the locals (including a friendly pet monkey called Pooka) I managed to sit, or rather sleep, through the local football and volleyball matches being played in the grounds of the school. Despite being frazzled by the journey, the things that struck me were the amazing visuals: the sight of the Amazon (specifically Madre Con Dios) river on the doorstep of the village, the wildlife and the accompanying soundtrack; the jungle is never quiet, if its not cicadas making a racket it's the birds, frogs or, at night, the sound of music and television coming from the casas. I'm not sure if it's a good thing, but it seems that the modern world hasn't left the town untouched. What was once I imagine people gathered round fires sharing jokes and stories has turned into people mainly sat in their homes relying on more modern forms of entertainment but that's life I guess. As you can imagine I slept pretty well that night, despite the noise.
23/09
Arnaldo, his uncle Julio, Julio's wife Delia, grandfather David and myself left the village in the morning to go on a fishing trip. I'm not exactly an experienced fisherman, but I thought it sounded a great opportunity to checkout life and I wasn't wrong. We headed upriver in a small wooden boat with an outboard motor, once again technology has taken over from traditional oar powered boats, but I was thankful as it was still a good 3 hours in the unrelenting heat. I think this is where I must have picked up my tan (and a bit of sunburn). We arrived at a beach that, to me at least, looked like the many others we passed on the way, but Julio obviously recognised the opportunity for some good fishing, and after a 20 minute trek over stones he found an small inlet river and we got the gear ready for fishing. I was slightly confused as Arnaldo waded out into the river, I thought they were going to use him as bait, but it turned out he was stretching the net out across the width of the water to catch the fish. A key ingredient in fishing out here is the use of a local poisonous root which is bashed up with rocks and dropped into the water upstream. It seemed to do the job as we caught about 20 fish of various sizes, and most impressively, a White Caiman, a sort of small relative of the crocodile. It's not really that vicious unlike its cousin the Black Caiman, and having seen a stuffed one back at Casa de Carolina I'm quite glad we didn't run into one. I was tasked with carrying the beast (still alive) by the throat across the river back to David, who promptly killed it by bashing it with a machete. After a few more hours and several more fish I was starting to get pretty fed up with the mosquitos, so decided to make my way back to where we landed the boat and where Delia had started the fire for tea. In retrospect this may not have been the best idea, as it got dark quite quickly and although it was a straightforward journey to the river, coming back on my own in the increasing dark with strange noises and lights (fireflies) dotting about all around me was a little unnerving. Luckily I made it to the fire with about 10 minutes before the light faded completely, and we waited for the rest to come back. After dinner of what will probably be the freshest fish soup I'll ever eat, we all set off again for another alcove. I decided against joining in the hunting trip into the jungle, as I was completely knackered and promptly passed out in the boat. Apparently Julio and David had been tracking a tapir through the jungle but it got away. The night was a bit tough, as the humidity, mosquitos and generally uniqueness of attempting to sleep in the bottom of a small wooden boat proved difficult, but as always a great experience. I was glad to return to Shintuya at some point the next morning.
24/09
In preperation for Shintuya's upcoming 54th anniversary, pretty much the whole of the village took to the water for a massive fishing trip, I say trip it was more like Operation Pescado. After landing on a beach about an hour downriver, what must have been a hundred of the villagers prepared the poison root for dumping in the river with nets again. I joined in bashing the root with rocks on the shore, and then took to the boats as we all got involved with catching as many fish as possible. To see men, women and children armed with machetes chasing, spearing and bashing the hell out of fish and then chucking them in boats was quite a sight. Between the lot of us we got a fair catch, ranging from small sardine types to a couple of massive black catfish. I even managed to get involved and whack a few myself, although I think a few more trips are needed before I start diving off the boat with a spear. Unlike the mosquitos, thankfully the more dangerous fish left me alone.
26/09
The festival celebrations kicked off in earnest today with a big football and volleyball tournament at which the local teams competed, accompanied by the endless sound of local music played on speakers at the side of the pitch. Even though the humidity and slight stomach illness was taking it's toll on me, I attempted a somewhat short-lived go at volleyball, before deciding it was probably best to leave it to the locals. Spent the rest of the day wandering, sitting about and reading, as the heat really does take away a lot of options. Everyone was in good spirits as the evening entertainment kicked off with a local band led by Peruvian singing sensation 'Anoshka'. Kind of hard to describe the music, a strong brazilian upbeat sound with electronic drums and cheesy synth. I did manage to get into it after a few Pilsens, seemed rude not to at a litre for 10 soles (2 pounds) and ended up dancing with the locals, the majority of whom seemed to be related to me somehow. Excellent evening with everyone in good spirits, ending in a massive lightning storm of which I doubt I'll see the likes of again. The rain comes down very, very hard here, but despite that I still managed to sleep pretty well.
27/09
The day was spent in similar fashion to yesterday, the heat and mosquito attacks once again having an effect, but the evening was one I'll remember for a long time. After yet more Pilsens I was dancing away with new amigos, but this time not content with being off stage, I joined the band for a rousing and slightly drunken rendition of Hotel California by the Eagles. I'm not sure what the locals made of me, but there was much talk the next morning of my antics. Hopefully they'll remember my visit for a while.
Apologies for the quality of the photos here, I impressively managed to leave the battery for my main camera back in Cusco, so all of these were taken with my trusty old Nokia. I'm not sure pictures could do the experience justice, but here they are anyway. I'm sure you'll all be pleased to know my singing debut wasn't captured on film.
