Family and friends, believe it or not, this is my last blog post! Wow… I can hardly believe it, but I can see the light (home!) at the end of the tunnel now! Each day that passes makes me that much more excited to be back in the States. Exactly seven more days remain before I am in the Lima airport and on my way to Denver! Huh?! I’m sitting here asking myself, “How does 114 days pass so quickly?!” The days pass so very quickly, and being busy and present in the moment only fast-forwards the time in my opinion! As much as I have enjoyed writing about my journey for you each week, I am thankful to have reached this final point. I would write another blog (or two), but I will no longer be getting a grade for my handiwork (yes, these blogs were required of me, believe it or not). And who is crazy enough to write for fun?! (don’t look at me…) You can tell by how lengthy my blogs have been that I really hate doing this, right? ;) Now I know sarcasm is hard to catch through text sometimes, but I actually loved writing every blog and it’s rather bittersweet to be writing my last one this morning. I can only hope that you have enjoyed reading them as much as I have enjoyed writing them. Saving the best for last, I can’t wait to share with you my experience in the Amazon!!
This very moment I am enduring the fifteenth week – my finals week – a week of “lasts.” As a 17th grader (as my Papa would say), I took my final exams as an undergraduate student this week. I have a strong case of senioritis and a big (more like tiny) distraction, too. When I returned from the Amazon on Sunday morning, my host mom, Norma, and an itty bitty, wriggly baby cocker spaniel named Chloe came to greet me at the door. Miss Chloe is incredibly sweet and likes to sleep on my lap while I’m studying. It’s safe to say that I love everything about her, even when she tickles my toes with her little tongue. How dare my host family do this to me, right? I am going to miss her a lot! Anyhow, today marks my last day of school in Peru, but my “official” last day is May 5th, thanks to the biology class I have! THEN I GRADUATE! My list of things to do keeps getting shorter and shorter by the day, and I’m looking forward to my free week. I have been blessed with a week of vacation before I head home and a few things that I would like to see/accomplish before I start packing my bags! But let’s get to what’s really important here… the Amazon journey of my fourteenth week in Peru!!
Yes, Chloe is wearing a t-shirt.. & she's so cute!
At 8:30 AM on Thursday morning (the 14th), I was picked up by my tour guide from my hostel and transferred to a small boat. I watched the water change hues as we hit the Amazon River, a tootsie-roll brown from the sediment of the rainforest and full from runoff coming off of the melting Andes snow caps. With my partner in crime for the weekend, Miss Gabi, I walked around the lodge property for our first hour in the Amazon and saw many neat, new creatures. From butterflies with moving back antennae to Santos the baby tapir… I could go on & on & on! There were parakeets, macaws, and lizards, too. I even got to photograph my favorite bird – the Rainbow macaw! But Santos was a definite highlight of the day. As soon as our guide told us about him, I was on a mission to find him! This baby tapir was rescued from a nearby tribe and now calls a slice of primary rainforest his home, coming around the lodge in the afternoons for a nap and maybe a snack. They are teaching him how to be a tapir and survive on his own. How cool is that? Well, as you might have guessed, little Santos and I were immediate friends. He enjoyed my scratches, closing his eyes and laying down. As soon as I stopped touching him, he was back up, and searching for my attention! To get the dirt off of his face, he conveniently used my calf and, boy, did he have a hard head! I, of course, did not mind one bit (the pain or the dirty leg). I may or may not have fell in love with the little fella… On this day, I got nose to nose with a baby tapir, took a jon boat ride down the river to discover the Yagua people and their culture, and searched the river for dolphins. Whilst in the Yagua village, I had a baby Owl monkey crawl onto me from a young girl (her keeper) and avoided holding the juvenile three-toed serial killer sloths that were around all at once. Seriously, though, sloths are really creepy… Ok. After spotting the lone juvenile Gray dolphin around us, we were back to the lodge and made plans for a night walk in the jungle.
Butterfly on sedge
Santos!
Spider lillies
I spy...
Tui parakeet
Rainbow macaw & Blue-and-gold macaw
Owl monkey
This makes me feel uncomfortable...
Blow dart presentation from the chief of the Yagua people
Handicrafts of the Yagua tribe
Oh, the jungle at night… I must admit, I am afraid of the dark, but that was the first time in my life that I was truly ecstatic to be in the darkness! AND it was everything that I could have ever dreamed of!! The sounds, the smells… Just imagine the Lied Jungle (at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo), but tenfold, and you will (somewhat) be there. Truly, the sounds were what really got to me (yes, I almost cried). The rainforest is so loud at night! Insects chirping galore, frogs singing & croaking, and birds of all kinds were calling out to us. My first step onto the trail met up with a sleeping Owl butterfly underneath a leaf. With our guide leading the way, I encountered more spiders than anything (yippee…), but they were still beautiful from a distance... even the deadly Brazilian wandering spider! Frogs, too, met us on the path; my favorite being the Smoky jungle frog – he had tiger stripes! Yet, my favorite moment was when our guide told Gabi and I to turn off our flashlights for a moment and be quiet. It was as though we had turned off all of the lights in the world and turned up the volume of the rainforest, too. I could not see 6 inches in front of my face, but I was completely enveloped by the sounds of the jungle. I will never forget that moment for as long as I shall live. Unbelievably amazing.
Owl butterfly
Pink-toed tarantula
Upland tree frog
And... that was just the first day! Friday (the 15th) marked my second day and it was just as eventful, if not more! Spoiler alert – this was my day in the rainforest canopy!! I woke up at the crack of dawn and was blessed with the sight of the sunrise on the Amazon River. We took the “shortcut” route to get to the canopy, which included a few boat rides and a little mototaxi ride! We stopped for breakfast at another lodge and I was surprised with the opportunity to photograph a small troop of Squirrel monkeys stealing bananas. I took far too many pictures, if that’s even a thing? On the way to the canopy via jon boat, I saw my first of many blue morpho butterflies, toucans, and Dusky titi monkeys – apparently a rare sight! Gabi spotted those and she was attracting the blue butterflies with her blue jacket! Blue morphos are rather territorial. Finally, it was time to take a stroll down the Canopy Walkway. Sleepy bats, one with a baby bat, greeted us at the first of 13 platforms, each of them connecting the walkway: a wobbly bridge made of cables, ropes, wood, and ladders. There wasn’t a whole lot of action that morning in the canopy, but I could have cared less. My heart was racing regardless, as I conquered my fear of heights with each step. We spotted a Pink-toed tarantula and our guide, Orlando, bothered him out of his hiding spot for a better look (I could have done without that, but it was still cool). He was tucked into his web inside a bromeliad leaf on a rubber tree waiting for his lunch. At the highest point, platform #6, I saw a Thorny-tailed lizard and was overwhelmed by his view. I was 118 feet up in the air, above the canopy, and the world seemed as though it was nothing but trees. If only! All that I could see was green and, again, more birds, frogs, and insects filled my eardrums that ever before. I never wanted to leave that platform; I actually stayed so long that our guide went on to the next platform without Gabi and me. I wanted to take in every bit of the moment that I could… how incredibly beautiful that perspective was; words simply do not do justice to what I experienced up there in the canopy. Coming down from the canopy, we took a short walk through the floor of the rainforest to reach the botanical garden. There, we met up with Stephen and Barbara for a presentation from a shaman and a shaman in training about the plants of the rainforest that are used to make natural remedies. After their talk, we were invited to partake in a ritual to remove our negative energies. The four of us did it together and… wow. That was a very powerful experience for me! I definitely had goosebumps! Again, I will never forget that, and I am doing my best to hold onto my positive energy. :) Before I knew it, our daily activities were through and it was time to return to home base. On the boat ride back, there were two views: on one side of the river, fluffy white clouds and bright blue skies, and on the other side, a storm was brewing. Soon, we could see the blurry curtain of gray in front of us… and, once we finally reached it, there was a torrential downpour. I was overcome by emotion (almost cried again), because I felt so lucky to be on the gigantic Amazon River during a true rainforest rain. I love rain. I never stopped smiling on this boat ride! Luckily for us, the rain stopped just in time for our mototaxi rides and the very short, open boat ride back to the lodge. We missed the sunset, but we got to watch the next storm come our way, displaying a gorgeous light show for Gabi and me. Friday was a day that I will always keep close to my heart. I was in the rainforest canopy for goodness sakes!! I can now check that off of my bucket list, but I’m definitely going to go back someday!
Sunrise on the Amazon River
Stopped here to hop on the mototaxis
Mototaxi ride!
Charlie the Capybara
Spider monkeys
The Canopy Walkway!
Pink-toed tarantula
Thorny-tailed lizard
Moth caterpillar (4,000 species)
Fighting the wasps for a treat!
The rainstorm
Now, for the last day… Saturday (the 16th) was hard for me, but I still had a wonderful day. It rained for most of the night and into the morning; I wondered if we would be able to do much of anything at all. I was sad when I woke up, because I was missing Peyton’s funeral, but my mom was there on my behalf. I can’t thank her enough for being there for me. After a short rain delay, I put on my rain jacket and went on a little fishing trip… for Red-belled piranha! I didn’t catch anything but snags, either. Typical! I missed my Papa, too, because he’s the one that always saves me from the snags. :) Between fishing spots, I saw a lot of new Neotropical birds and a few that we have in Nebraska, as well. I also got to see what I had been waiting for the entire trip… an Amazon River dolphin AKA Pink river dolphin! Three gray dolphins were also feeding nearby, making it a rare sight to see the two species together. I felt so so so lucky to be graced by his awesome presence (almost crying again). Although I don’t have any pictures of him, I will never forget what I saw that morning. How special that was for me to see one! After another failed fishing attempt, our guides took us to see some prehistoric birds – Hoatzins! I had no idea that they would be in the Peruvian Amazon… another pleasant surprise for me. The entire trip, I was also surprised with myself and how much I already knew about the Amazon rainforest. Both plants and animals – I found myself telling Gabi what they were before our guide had the chance to sometimes! Once we returned to the lodge, Orlando walked us to the largest tree on the property – the Ceiba tree. This massive beauty was 115 feet tall and 200 years old. I was in total awe and took a lot of time gawking at it; raindrops were falling all over me from the morning rain and I never wanted to leave. Seeing the giant Ceiba tree sadly marked the end of my Amazon adventure. I wish that I could have stayed much longer, but I hope to return one day. To see the Amazon of Peru and the sheer mass of biodiversity and beauty with my own two eyes was totally indescribable, but one of the most incredible things I have ever experienced. I am SO blessed!
Gray dolphin
Fishing in the rain
Ant nest in the trees
Jacana (bird)
Water lettuce
Getting ready for rice season!
Heliconia
Subspecies of Blue morpho butterfly
Heliconia in bloom
Ceiba tree
I'm an ant next to this beast
You can't see me
Red cup mushrooms
Reflecting on my trip over a mango margarita ;)
Goodbye, Amazon!
That’s all, folks! I hope that you enjoyed viewing the few (only 76…) pictures I have included and reading about my amazing three-day Amazon adventure! I can’t believe I’m saying this… but, this time next week, I will be zipping up my suitcases and heading to the Lima airport to come home! I may be ready to be home, but I am so glad that I took up on the opportunity to study abroad in Lima. I have had some really great experiences and met some awesome people along the way, too. If you want to know about my last two weeks, I guess you’ll just have to wait until I get back to the States. :) Until then, CHOW! I’m sending love and light in your direction from Lima, Peru. I will see you soon! Have a great weekend; this is my last one in Lima! - A
