Coincidences. When you're travelling you get a lot of them and this was one time. When we bought our ticket for the bus ride from hell, we were given a leaflet for a tour operator in Rurrenabaque called Mogli tours. Cool name, nice leaflet not sure about the hard-core treks they were advertising. Wendy wasn't sure she would cope fitness wise...
When we were shopping around the tour operators - there's a lot to choose from that cater for all kinds of budgets - we stopped for some food and got chatting to 2 Israeli girls who recommended Mogli - they had heard good things. An hour later we're booking our tour to start the very next day with Mogli as a group of 4 with the 2 israeli girls who seemed like a lot of fun. They demanded the founder of Mogli, Faiser, be our guide which was agreed - plus we got the number one cook the lovely Ryna.
We did all this on the day we arrived from the overnight hell bus, so once sorted we found some nice cheap digs, blogged then went out to eat.
The part of the Jungle we were entering in the Amazon basin is a protected area called Madidi National Park. One of the most important ecological and biogeographic areas on the planet due to its high biodiversity and the variety of eco systems. Over 1000 bird species, 300 mammals, 200 reptiles and over 6000 variety of plants endemic to the area. There are also indigenous communities ancestraly settled in the area. Our guide Faiser is from the Tacana Tribe where his father has many wives 20 odd children and is a medicine man and Shaman is his village. This is how Faiser has become so knowledgable about the uses of the different plants.
DAY 1
Met up at 8am - packed our rucksacks, left our valuables, grabbed some breakfast, then jumped on the boat for a 3 hour ride up the scenic River Beni to our drop off point. Another guy joins our group, Alex from Germany... so we have us, 2 Isreali girls; Nogi and Adi and Alex...soon to become El Groupo! The humidity hits us all like mother nature's (Pacha Mama) left the oven door open! We start our adventure and enter the jungle along a well trodden path to a small village community; 3 Hermanos about 45mins in. Met by villagers and curious staring!
We unpack the food so Ryna can start lunch, put up our mozzy nets in the shack we'll be spending the first night and then head down to a small stream to try and cool off. It doesn't work as the water´s warm but at least it's refreshing.
We head in the jungle for an hour or so, to collect wood for the fires and all the time being shown medicinal plants and functional plants by Faiser. He speaks only Spanish, but our understanding is good as he uses many examples and much gesture.
He stops at a particular tree and tells us about the ants that use the tree as their home. They're not just any ants, they're fire ants. We're asked if we want to see what their bite is like - we each take it in turn to find out! The effects come on strong a few minutes after the event, so hot for such a small insect.
We get back and as lunch is served, we're all so impressed by the food considering the venue.
The children from the village start to arrive when word gets around their are sweets being handed out. They literally seem to come out of the woodwork. Wendy and I had bought a reem of paper, pencils, colouring pens, balloons and paints so we hand them out and enjoy watching them draw, write and play as their parents stand back in the darkness.
Our guide Faiser performs a ceremony to Pacha Mama (mother nature, god.. whatever you want to call it). We're each given a small piece of a stick to chew on for a bit, which is very bitter. Then we're given a handful of coco leaves, place the bitter, wet, softened stick in the middle, add some bicarb of soda then more coco leaves, scrunch it all into a ball and place it in our mouths to one side where it sits. The bicarb reacts with the stick and makes it very sweet which is good cos the coco leaves are bland. Suddenly we all feeling calm tranquility...(no shit!)
Candles are lit, the fire is blazing and the ceremony begins. It's a sign of respect for all that we have been given in the world, the jungle etc. We each make a wish and the ceremony concludes with sweet wine being passed around. We then catch fire flies and star gaze...A great first night.
DAY 2
After listening and laughing about Ryna's snoring which vibrates the whole jungle... we set off on a hard core 6 hour trek... heat... humidity... mosquitos...and heaving rucksacks full of food and water. Faiser gave El Groupo... a serious talk before we started as it is important that we work as a team looking after each other and if he says stop we stop, if he says quiet then we must all be silent... he reminds us of the dangers of this environment and how we must keep together with him leading at all times. Off we go... we come to a river... Faiser looking around all the time, sniffing, listening, sensing... interesting to watch.... he walks straight through the river and says 'vamos, vamos' ... we have waterproof boots but this river comes past our knees... but as Faiser keeps saying 'es la selva...' (is the jungle...) and yes it is!!! We really feel like we in the jungle now... so amazing.... spiritual... energy from the trees... loving it but hard...onwards... there is no path, Faiser continually cutting our way through with his machette... We sweat, we struggle with bags, but El Groupo is strong and team spirit is so good... lots of laughing at each other if we trip or slip into the mud.
After aprox 4 hours we feeling very weary with still some way to go before we reach the area by the river where we are to camp for the night. Faiser senses our exhaustion and stops to show us how to drink from a specific tree... so delicous and refreshing. Possibly the best drinks of our lives. Refreshed we continue, noticing everything around us, butterflies that we couldn't believe, balancing on log bridges, walking through more rivers, tracking and seeing yellow monkeys in the canopy. Then we stop. shhhhhhh Faiser says something big is moving... shhh... wait.... we listen, smell, he says its ok and we continue. His senses are so sharp... but he considers the jungle his casa... ie his house and he knows it completely. We feel safe. Onwards... then someone shouts in pain and panic. Its James or (James Bond as he gets called...) we rush back to help. A swarm of bees who are nocturnal are disturbed by our noise and James has bees on him, getting stung and in pain. Faiser calms and shhhhh and removes the bees and stings from James putting anti biotics on them and making him drink stuff too. Phew... all ok but James in pain ...
At last we arriveat our camp; weary, relieved about James (Wendy is at least) and ready for a bath in the river.. but first we set up camp and Ryna starts cooking. Then river bath heaven as the water is lovely and warm, the girls shampoo and we all smell so much better! It starts to rain.. well it is the rainforest after all! The rain is cool though and the boys head back to camp while Wendy and Adi enjoy the special surroundings of Bolivian mountains. The rain makes it very slippery - the girls have difficulties climbing back up the river bank.. but they are strong jungle girlies!
Get back for a suprise from Ryna - she's made a cake - in the jungle??!! Not only but popcorn and hot water too. Fantastic.
Everyone goes fishing except Wendy who has a rest at camp. James in barefoot and shorts follows others but takes wrong path and ends up arse deep in mud. Great, dirty again, another wash needed. We don't catch any fish but the mosquitos have a feast on our bare legs.
We return to camp at nightfall and get ready for a night walk. With Faiser leading and James at the rear James is given the machette for security.. finds it quite unnerving. We're shown poisonous spiders, cricket larvae whilst listening all the time at the sounds. We sit at one point in total darkness for 5 minutes just taking it all in.
When we get back to camp another rain shower so we all huddle around the fire which has huge palm leaves to protect it, chat and drink hot whiskey whilst Wendy dries her socks and boots.
DAY 3
Breakfast is banana pancakes with caramel sauce and fresh cheese and onion empanadas (pasties) and coffee. Mmmm. We go for a walk without rucksacks (thank god!). We have a swing on a tree. We're shown a termite nest on a tree and dared to eat one - only Alex tries, what a man! We learn about the dangers of the jungle; Puma, Jaguar.. but Faiser says they don't scare him as the animals have a sixth sense and know if someone feels fear.. so he remains strong and confident and not feel the fear (easier said than done maybe if you see one). He talks about what does scare him; snakes. A bite from a snake of the mambo family and you're dead in 20 minutes, and if you panic your heart pumps the venom around your body quicker. Such a knowledgeable guide, so so interesting. We El Groupo though and we feel safe and strong group spirit in his company, special.
We always looking at where we are.. so beautiful, so lush.. we lucky and feeling it.
So we return to camp, pack up and move on. Shoulders hurting but at least bags lighter as we've eaten a lot of food. The rain has made it more difficult for Faiser to pick up scents of the jungle, but he senses something and then we hear them - wild pigs. We drop our rucksacks and run after them for a better look. Madness. They smell like kidney meat, strange.
We continue, passing rivers that we filll our water bottles from without needing chlorine, then Faiser stops at a tree. He picks up a long twig and gentle pokes it in the whole, suddenly a baby tarantula about 4 inches span appears, amazing.
At one rest stop Faiser paints our faces with the dye from some leaves he picked up earlier. We each get a unique design.
We move on again toward our next camp, Fasier loving his 'casa'. 'La selva, la vida, el mundo.. entiendes?'... 'The jungle, life, the world, understand?'. And YES, we're beginning to feel the magic of it.
It's cooler today which is a relief because of the rain. We arrive at a large path and follow and suddenly we're back in the village area we started in - the locals looking at us funny with our face paint. It's strange to see so many people again.
After camp is set up we sit by a river and Faiser keeps 'las chicas' happy by showing how to make jewellery using baby coconuts and seeds. The kids from the village run into the river and have some fun as the sun goes down, what an amazing place.
At sunset after dinner James and Alex make a fire down by the river - not a very good one but it´s warm. The stars are out for a bit but cloud soon hides them. Faiser brings his MP3 player out and the conversation flows about locals, problems for the indiginous communities and the environment. Very interesting.
Many questions and lots of patience and explanation by Faiser and our boat captain. Then more stories. Faiser Jungle man from Bolivia visits Europe. Het met and married a Czech girl (Teresa who runs Mogli Tours with Faiser) so last year they went to meet her family and friends.
The contrast of jungle life to Europe is so huge (obviously) but the stories he has kept us laughing for hours by the fireside. Then he runs off and brings us a bug and frogs!! We constantly wondering what the hell is he going to bring us next. James and Alex's fire suffocates but Faiser and sea Captian fix it in seconds. Faiser removes a particularly big and ugly tick from Alex's back. Yuck!
That night, the Captain sleeps on his boat but the river rises and the boat floats off. He wakes up at 3am, not able to find his torch, about to go over a waterfall... oh my goodness! or Fuck!!!
Back to Rurrenabaque... strange, sad to leave... Wendy leaves heart in jungle, surprised herself how she loved it. Hard and a challenge but we definately going back.
