The Amazon Rainforest
After a few days in Tayrona National Park, we took a plane to Leticia, a tiny city on the bank of the Amazon River. We arrived at the office of the company and left some of our luggage at their office. After that we had lunch (not that good) and we went off to get into the boat. The boat ride 🌊 was of about 1 hour and when we arrived, we were met by a man named Dennis and two dogs. 🐶 🐶
At first, I didn’t realise that Dennis would be our guide for the next three days. Dennis asked us what our name was, so we said, and he was very happy to see that Raphaël was like the Colombian name “Rafael” so he became sort of Dennis’ favourite. We walked for about twenty minutes and about halfway through, we came across an indigenous village with very cute children in it. We continued the muddy walk, and in the end, we arrived at the Tupana Aruu Lodge and we were shown our room. What was funny at the lodge site was that there were these birds that made a noise as if it was a drop falling into a river. 💧It was very cool and funny to listen to! After a bit of resting, we started our first activity with Dennis (who by the way speaks only Ticuna, his tribe language, and Spanish so we practiced our Spanish quite a bit!)
With his companion, Jackson, we walked to the bridge across the pond, we stood in the middle and watched. Jackson took a solid stick and tied a string tightly on the end. On the end of the string he tied the half of a fish and hung the fish over the water. In the murky pond we could see a head looming close to the fish. All of a sudden, we heard a huge clap and the water splashing in every which way. We all jumped in surprise! Dennis and Jackson laughed and told us that the fish 🐠 was called PIRARUCU and could measure up to 3m long! Dennis showed us more how to lure the Pirarucu in and told us to hold very tight. Of course, Raphaël tried first with Dennis holding him to make sure he didn’t fall into the water. When Raphaël tried we were still surprised by the commotion but after a few times we were used to it. When I tried, I realised that the fish pulls extremely hard on the stick. When Mum and Dad had a go (we all did), they got a whole fish and that made the Pirarucu pull even harder! During this activity, we were introduced to Martin, a very small but cute monkey who made a very loud and high-pitched sound. We really enjoyed this activity and it was a good start to the three days in the Amazon Rainforest!
After all that excitement, we went to bed, under mosquito nets because there were a lot of mosquitos, all tired by our bad night at Don Olivo hotel! (see Apolline’s blog, in French) 👀
On the second day we had breakfast and we were announced that today was the big day and we would be hiking into the Amazon Rainforest, setting up our hammock camp and sleeping the night in the jungle. We didn’t have space for pyjamas or clean clothes for the second day so we were going to have to sleep in our sweaty and dirty clothes. After breakfast, we packed our bags because everyone would be carrying their own hammock, their own mosquito net and their blanket.
At around 10, we set of for about 4 hours of hiking. We stopped along the way and after a lot of sweating, we arrived at the camp site.
The guides (Dennis and Jackson) immediately set up a sort of tarpaulin for the rain and about 2 minutes after it was finished setting up, it started raining. Once the rain had stopped, they set up the hammocks and the mosquito nets and started the fire for the dinner. For dinner we had mashed plantain and an amazing fish called Paco. It was so good, grilled on the fire, it was just heaven. 😋 Sadly and annoyingly, the numerous mosquitos ruined the moment a bit. 😖 After the delicious dinner, we quickly went to bed (7pm) because we knew that we would be waking up early the next morning because of the sunlight and leaving early to get back to the lodge on time.
It was very dark at night and there was actually rain during the night. I have to admit I was slightly afraid by the noises especially one in particular. A bird which made a noise like a person singing far away. But luckily in the end, I got to sleep.
At 5:30 in the morning, we were all awake. At 6, the hammocks were down and we decided to have a little bit of food as some means of energy. And at 6:40 we were off. The way back was a bit harder than the way there because we were all a bit tired. During the walk, we did have a few issues. Apolline cut herself above the lip, Raphaël got a blister and me, I banged my head on a branch and got stung by a wasp. But in the end, we arrived all sweaty and dirty (by the way sleeping in sweaty clothes is not the best of experiences). As soon as we arrived at the lodge, we took our boots off and had a much-needed breakfast.
Once we were full, we all had a shower, changed and went out for a little stroll around the camp site and we payed a visit to Martin the monkey and took a picture with him! 📸
The next activity was including a blowpipe. We had to blow an arrow at a target and the winner was Dad. It was actually quite hard because the blowpipe was very heavy and you had to blow really hard. The aim was a bit hard as well.
Finally it was time to go home so we started to walk back and, in the middle, we stopped at the indigenous village and we got painted on the face using a fruit which makes an orange colouring ⬇️ and we took the boat back to Leticia.
All in all, I LOVED these three days even though some times were hard.
Love from Eléonore
💖💖💖💖💖
