Time with our son in the Amazon Rainforest
How it Began
Let's get one thing straight - when it comes to travel Ian and I are definitely in the "why-rough-it" category. But in 2023 we both turned 60 and our eldest son Finn turned 30. Finn has been away travelling in South America for the past five years and we needed to see him, so what better way to celebrate our 60's than to plan the trip of a lifetime. Initially we hoped to meet up with Finn and travel with him and his partner Andrea, all enjoying a holiday together and exploring some of the "must see" sights of Peru. But Finn had other ideas. He has spent the last year living at Aroiris, a community that welcomes travellers from anywhere in the world to come and live within in a community built on indiginous principles and practising jungle medicines. With no electricity, no bathrooms, no running water, in fact no walls, this doesn't even come close to one star in the usual accomodation rankings and would never have been a first, second or third choice for us, so the anticipation phase of the trip involved a fair amount of nervous energy and a large zip lock bag full of non-jungle treatments for every ailment from Malaria to diarrhoea, insect bites to nausea.
Finn
Finn has always been a beautiful person but, as with all of us, not without his demons. The loss of one of his dearest friends Jack Shaw to suicide in 2021, while thousands of miles away in South America proved to be a pivotal point for Finn and perhaps what guided him to Aroiris where he has settled, somewhat to his own surprise and become a quiet but strong contributor to the community. From a parents perspective we couldn't be prouder of him.
Our reunion begins in the city of Iquitos - the largest city in the world that is not on an island and cannot be reached by road; it is only accessible by river and air. It's known as the capital of the Peruvian Amazon.
The scar on Finn's forehead in this image came courtesy of a vampire bat while we were there, but more on that later.
Day 1
Motokars, and Gumboots, Vultures and Dogs
We arrive to a wall of heat and humidity, a crowd of tuk tuk/motokar taxi drivers and a tearful reunion. We meet Andrea, Finn's partner and their loveable dog Chicha. All four of us plus two suitcases, four small backpacks, the dog and a pretty decent sized machete pile into one motokar and career towards our hotel at what feels like break neck speed but probably isn't.The hotel we'll stay in for the night before going bush dates back to the days of the rubber boom in the early 1900's. It's beautifully tiled with mosaics inside and out but with a slightly worn and musty undertone. Chicha is quickly and quietly zipped into a backpack and carried into the hotel like a secret grandchild.Once settled we head to the market in search of gumboots - a wardrobe essential for our next two weeks. The market is noisy, dirty, and chaotic. There are dogs everywhere, one stands out as the ugliest dog I've ever seen - something seems to have happened to all of it's hair - perhaps the most sensible style choice for a dog in this heat. Flocks of vultures hang out on the ground, on the low hanging powerlines and in the air - an easy way to find the market from a distance I guess. Having foolishly departed the hotel in sandals I can hardly get my new gumboots on quickly enough!
After the market, and just across the road from our hotel we enjoy watching the light change over the river with the setting sun.
Dinner tonight is our first taste of alligator.
Day 2
Iquitos to Aroiris
We enjoy the last bit of hotel luxury with breakfast and a swim in the pool before heading back to the market to stock up with supplies for Aroiris. We are not sorry to be leaving Iquitos but in less than two weeks we'll be looking forward to returning to the noisy, chaotic city.
Another motokar delivers us to the "bus station" - to me this looks like a shed with a collection of vans in various states of disrepair. People are packed into the vans which leave once full. Women come and go trying to sell snacks for the journey. Once we have 12 people and a hefty load on the roof including our suitcases we head off on a 50km journey to the Aroiris turn-off.
At the turn-off we wait for another motokar to pick us up for the final motorised leg of the journey to Aroiris - a 10 minute drive along a heavy clay road to the entrance. We wait in the shade of the roadside tienda and enjoy an ice cold lemonade while we watch chickens and children playing in the dust.
From here it's a rough ride with all of us and luggage packed into one motokar struggling through wet and deeply rutted areas where the whole vehicle lists dangerously to either side. Finn tells later us they have tipped over in the past along this road - information I'm glad I didn't have earlier. Walking this would take at least 40 minutes, probably longer for us in the heat as we've entered slow motion mode, however this isn't practical with the gear we are carrying.
The Maloca
Another 5 minute walk from the entrance through the edges of the rainforest and we finally arrive at the Maloca - a huge meeting place which forms the heart of the community and is two to three stories high, made from wood sourced from the surrounding jungle and a thatched roof made from palm.
We are warmly greeted by those who are there - Seb who has helped carry our gear from the entrance, Chris who will help carry it another 15 minutes into the jungle where Finn's house is and where we will be staying. Anna Paula who has been Finn's friend since his original boat trip down the Amazon a few years ago and whose mother Patricia became Finn's surrogate mother when he needed it in Argentina. In all there are about 10 people staying in the community on this first night.
A central fire in the Maloca smoulders and will be stoked up later in the evening when we all gather around it for music and talk. I've always wondered what happens to the smoke in places like this and take note as it rises lazily and sneaks out through the various openings high up in the roof. It's only after we leave Aroiris for the last time that I notice everything we have including our drink bottles smells of smoke.
Finn's House
From the maloca it's about a 10 - 15 minute walk through the jungle to Finn and Andrea's house - the second to last of the houses in the community before the walls of the jungle close in. The house is constructed with poles, and a thatched palm roof that extends beyond the wooden platform floor on all sides coming down low for good shelter from rain and with open sides to keep it cool. The ridge of the roof is an opaque perspex and when it rains heavily one night we are kept perfectly dry with only an occasional misty waft coming in through the sides with the wind. There is a fireplace for cooking and making coffee and the bed is up a ladder on the top platform. For the duration of our stay we'll be sleeping here while Finn and Andrea generously move to the empty house next door - a similar structure but in much worse repair. By comparison their own house is a beautifully organised and well equipped home for two. It has its own river access for drinking and washing and its own toilet. On the other side of us is Jorge's house - the last house at the jungle edge. The houses are not visible to each other but within easy calling distance as we'll later discover. We set up the mosquito net we bought with us and an outdoor solar shower - both items we'll be thankful for on a daily basis.
The Toilet
No travel blog is complete without a toilet story. Ours is a palm frond hut with a hole in the ground, a platform only slightly above ground level and a toilet seat sitting loosely on top that inconveniently attaches itself where its not wanted as you stand up. Knee issues for me make it tricky to get up but I soon discover that using the side poles of the hut to pull myself up isn't a great idea as the whole structure threatens to collapse around me - not a good scenario especially with your pants down. Without thinking I drop the toilet paper into the hole, remembering too late the instruction to put it into the bin for later burning. I pick it out and put it where it's meant to be. There's a sack of sawdust behind the toilet - a handful of this covers whatever you've left behind and there is no smell. Finn correctly points out that western toilets smell worse if you follow anyone in too soon. The worst thing about the sack of sawdust is diving your hand into the unknown - especially if it's dark, It goes into the category of best not to think too much, just get on with it and get out. We quickly learn to plan our toilet visits around daylight hours. I find I need to have a shower after each visit requiring further careful planning as the solar shower we bought with us is totally out in the open.
The Bed
Finn emphasises not to touch the mosquito net while sleeping and shows us several scars he has from a vampire bat that seems to make regular visits. The saliva of the bat has an anaesthetic effect that means you don't feel the bite and an anti-coagulant to keep the blood it feeds off flowing. This
means if you do get bitten your first realisation may be in the morning when you wake up to a murder-scene of blood. None of this information is likely to make sleeping easier.
Our friend Jo loaned us silk sleeping bag liners and these provide a safe little haven to enclose ourselves in every night, but the bat will test us within a few days.
Drinking Water
The container of yellowish water sitting above the fire and cooking area is drinking water straight from the river. Several times we find small fish swimming in this which are carefully returned to the river. We chose to filter then sterilise the water using an ultraviolet Steripen. It tastes better than the now chlorinated water we have at home in Christchurch, NZ.
The Bedroom
Morning View
Making Coffee
The Toilet
The Bathroom
The Laundry
The First Night at Aroiris
We share a delicious meal prepared by Inte with a little help from some of the others. Rice, lentils, vegetables and yuka are all cooked over fires of which there are up to three. We sit at a long wooden table to eat and behind this are the food prep areas with benches, hooks along the wall to hang utensils and three washing up bins containing cold river water for a 3 stage dish washing process from dirtiest to cleanest. There's an area for hanging bananas which we later find is regularly marauded by ducks and cats and possible other creatures thankfully unseen by us. The dirt floor of the maloca and general jungle life are not conducive to high standards of hygiene and I find the best approach is not to think about it. Luckily the maloca is quite dark even in the middle of the day. The cats bother both of us a bit as they walk and sit all over the food prep and eating areas and steal food when no one is watching. There's no place for squeamishness here.
Sunset is around 6pm and after this the darkness is complete. We use candles, head torches and the fires for light. The night sky when it's clear is spectacular.
Food Prep Area
Pots for Water Storage
Dish Washing Area & Cooking Fires
Mambe
After dinner about 10 of us gather around the central fire in a circle and Finn introduces us to mambe, our first experience of jungle medicine.
Mambe is a powder made from the dried leaves of the coca plant, crushed and mixed with ash. Later we'll participate in making this - a long hard process that takes half a day to produce about 500g. The mambe is used along with ambil, a black tobacco derivative syrup. The two containers of mambe and ambil are handed around the circle. First a small amount of ambil is rubbed with a finger on the gums, then a heaped spoon of mambe is poured in afterwards. The ambil helps produce saliva and the mambe should form a ball which you hold inside your mouth throughout the ceremony or as long as you want to.
Finn explains that the mambe is used to sweeten the words we speak, to bring mental clarity and help us communicate openly, concisely and respectfully. This is a time for sharing and listening and it's important not to personalise, argue or try to convince others. The ambil is to ground your words in reality and give them firmness. The containers are handed around and I feel my anxiety rising.
We both give it a go. The taste isn't good and both of us end up with a mouth full of liquid rendering us unable to speak. Finn suggests we need more of the mambe and this time I'm able to form the ball but Ian really struggles and starts to gag. It's not the best way to introduce yourself to a new group of people. Ian is provided with a bucket and his portion of mambe is unceremoniously spat out. Luckily Ian is a pretty good communicator so the evening proceeds. The mambe produces a slight numbing of the mouth a bit like Fijian kava. We each take a turn introducing ourselves and talking a bit about why we are there. Finn translates and some of the stories are long and detailed, retelling legends of the past and how these relate to the jungle medicines being practiced in the community. It's still hot and we are sitting around a fire but for the most part we are comfortable.
....and off to bed.....
The evening ends with Finn walking us back to the house - 15 minutes through the jungle and along a network of tracks which in parts will become wet and deeply muddy after rain. Finn explains that all the pathways lead in the same directions and assures us we won't get lost. One such track is known as snake alley - a fact I wish I didn't know. These daily walks will be a part of our routine for the next 12 days in daylight and in pitch dark. The night walks are one of the things I will least miss when we leave.
As we get into bed that first night I'm vigilant about keeping away from the mosquito net and we take the extra precaution of spraying ourselves with tropical strength insect repellent. As always Ian is asleep in an instant. In the deep darkness I see lightning but hear no thunder. Photo negatives of the surrounding jungle flash on and off. Entering into the magical spirit I begin to wonder if I am the only person in the world who is watching this beautiful light show.
Day 3
Into the Rainforest
We awake to an orchestra of new noises. Each day there's another unfamiliar sound to hear and for the most part we won't see the creatures behind the jungle broadcast. The wall of green that is the view from our bed is beautiful and Ian wonders what impact all the extra oxygen in the air must have. We slept remarkably well and decide to tackle the river for a quick wash. Stepping into the tea-coloured river doesn't prove enjoyable although it's cool and refreshing. The muddy bottom and the opaque water could easily start my thoughts down a track I don't want to take while submerged and I'm in and out within a few minutes. That's the last time I'll try the river, from now on I use the solar shower - it's full of river water and always cold and although I'm always in a hurry to be finished at least I don't have the same sense of needing to escape what I can't see in the water. Later we'll wash our clothes with the river water but they never fully dry and certainly don't look or smell like my usual piles of freshly folded laundry at home.
Finn makes us a morning coffee in his much treasured coffee percolator and it's a great way to start the day. Today is the day that we will do a trek into the jungle led by Finn's friend, mentor and surrogate father Jorge.
After a breakfast of a couple of bananas each and some coconut we are introduced to hauchuma (pronounce watchuma) - powdered spooned into the mouth followed quickly by water to get rid of the taste. The purpose of this is to open the heart and sharpen the senses and Finn tells us that we may feel a little light headed in an hour or so. It tastes bad and I don't relish the thought of encroaching light headedness.
There are 10 of us in the group and our mission is to visit a Lupuna tree - giant of the jungle rising above everything else in search of sunlight. Its spirit is known to be the protector of the rainforest.
We set off and soon have to tackle the first and the worst of several river crossings. This one involves an approximate 6 foot drop into the river below which is strewn with bits of fallen tree spiking up from the chocolate water directly below us. A fall from here would potentially not be a soft landing and the plank we have to walk is a large tree trunk resplendent in a coat of green moss. We passed this way yesterday and I was hoping not to have to do it again. Also the cactus might have gone to my head because I feel particularly shakey. Finn is kind and encouraging and holds my hand guiding me across. The others all stroll over without hesitation leaving me feeling like an elderly women requiring help to cross the road.
The Cacao Chackra (Garden)
We stop on the way at a cacao chackra and taste the white juicy flesh that encompasses the seeds. The fresh taste is declared by Ian to be the best fruit he's tried so far and we collect the seeds to dry and later roast. Finn gathers a large bag of whole fruit to take back to the maloca.
A two hour walk into the rainforest includes a couple of stops along the way with Finn, Andrea and Anna Paula utilising the pause to sing their gratitude to the place we are in. Our first encounter with the Lupuna tree is its boney roots rising above the ground to shoulder height like the backbone of a hungry animal. We can see blue sky far above us but none of the sunlight reaches down to us.
The walk back to the maloca isn't easy, the heat and humidity leaving us wet all over with perspiration. Finn is attentive and helpful, once again holding my hand for the final river crossing and allowing me to take my time. Once we are over for the last time he points out that his help was purely psychological as if one of us fell the other was certain to follow.
The four hour trek has been exhausting and just as we arrive back to the maloca we hear a rain storm approaching, roaring it's way through branches, leaves and vines. Ian and I are happy to stand outside and get a complete drenching.
We eat a dinner consisting of a variety of starches - yuka, potato and rice which Inte works magic with to make a delicious meal. Just after dark, at around 6:30pm Ian and I head to bed and sleep til around 11am the next day. Ian began to feel unwell after the walk and unfortunately symptoms will persist until we leave the jungle which frustrate him immensely.
Day 4
A Trip to Nauta
We wake to the sound of a passing flock of maracas or so it seems, the cicada's wall of sound turning on and off instantaneously. I find the sounds of the jungle seem louder more varied at night. We eat breakfast next door at Jorge's house - spaghetti, rice and yuka plus some of Finn's coffee. Finn badly burns his foot by spilling boiling water on it and this will be painful for him for the remainder of our time together.
Afterwards Finn washes the dishes in the river and cools off his injured foot.
Today we head to Nauta - the end of the road from Iquitos and approximately another 50km to the south. Our plan is to stay the night and do a boat trip tomorrow to see the pink dolphins. We retrace or journey of a few days ago via motokar back out to the main road to discover that a protest somewhere on the road nearer to Iquitos has blocked it and there may not be any buses or other vehicles for several hours.
While we wait on the side of the road Finn forages for some Caimito - a fruit that will leave you with sticky lips for a long time afterwards if you're not careful when eating it. Andrea expertly braids Finns hair. After a bit of a wait with no vehicles coming through on the road we pay the motokar driver to take us further up the road where Finn and Andrea have lunch - another large serving of rice and yuka along with some chicken or fish. We had hoped we'll find better transport options but ultimately end up going all the way to Nauta by motokar.
The drive to and from Nauta is a good deal more hair raising than would be ideal. With everyone in both directions doing their best to use the smoothest parts of the road and avoid potholes, we frequently find ourselves on the wrong side of the road regardless of fast approaching blind bends and/or vehicles.
Nauta is a small and slightly cleaner version of Iquitos. We are dropped off beside a market that has an array of food that smells good, clothing, footwear and household items. There's still the dogs of course and we see a nasty dog fight amidst the general chaos.
We go in search of accomodation, walking alongside the river, past the fish market with its attendant flock of vultures, over a ramshackle wooden bridge and along a boardwalk that connects the houses which are built over the river on stilts. It's noisy with motokars, people and very loud music. In some of these simple homes where windows are just openings and parts of the floor are dirt we see large flat screen TVs.
Eventually we find a clean hotel in the central plaza with rooms that have private bathrooms, cold running water and wall mounted fans. The day ends with a cold beer on the banks of the river watching the sun go down, followed by a fried chicken dinner. While we eat children as young as 5 or 6 wander in selling a variety of things from chewing gum to sweet crisp bread.
More to come.....
Check back in to read about the Pink Dolphins, making Mambe, extracting the juice from sugarcane, peanut soup and loads more stories
Those River Crossings
Andrea catches our tenuous river crossings on video
First and most difficult crossing
Getting Easier
A Piece of Cake!
Day 5
One Bloody Rooster & The Pink Dolphins
Day 5 has a challenging beginning for all of us, for which we will pay the price later in the day.
We are all awoken at around 3am by a rooster who seems to be resident in the hotel corridors, or at least within the property boundaries. He simply doesn't stop crowing until even Andrea, who loves animals more than anyone I have ever met, could probably have been convinced to wring its neck. Certainly the machete Finn casually carries with him throughout the town could have been put to good use.
At 9am when we meet in the hotel lobby we are all over-tired and a bit low in spirits.
We head straight for the boat that will take us out to the dolphins and are soon headed into a cooling breeze. We travel for around 45 minutes along the Marrañón river towards the place where it meets the Ucayali river and becomes the Amazon. These rivers are fast flowing, wide and muddy and by the time we reach the Amazon the banks are easily two kilometers apart. Finn tells us more of the stories from his boat trip along the Amazon from a few years ago and talks of places where the river stretches to 30 km wide. It occurs to me that Finn has enough stories in him at the age of 30 to fill a lifetime of storytelling and I hope he'll share these with the world sometime.
Our boat for the trip is a simple wooden structure with a thatched roof of palm leaves, powered by a long tail motor - very standard here. Our tour guide for the day is confident we will see the famous pink dolphins and we are not disappointed. These unusual freshwater creatures are native to South America and bear no resemblance to the friendly little Hector's dolphins we see at home in Christchurch, New Zealand. With the brown, opaque water keeping most of their large form hidden, we watch them slowly rise and arch through the water without ever really seeing the whole outline of the fish as you would in clearer water. We watch with delight as they pop up around us then disappear again to resurface somewhere else. We see a mother and baby and remain happily entertained by the pod for a long time. The images you see here are not mine but come from Wikipedia, as we were more focussed on actually seeing the dolphins rather than photographing them and they tended to pop up and down quite quickly.
Close to where we see the dolphins is a village and our boat driver offers to take us there for a visit which we eventually agree to.
Once home to over 300 people there are now only around 30 remaining. The village is clean and tidy with a school, playing field and a covered central meeting place. It reminds me of my days living in the Solomon islands 40 years ago.
The local kids call out a greeting to "gringo" and we 3 gringos all respond with smiles and waves, only to find that they are calling their pure white dog named Gringo.
The others all sleep during the boat ride back to Nauta. Once we've said our goodbyes to the tour operators and their gorgeous kids we jump on a motokar and head out of town to find shade and food. We try the local ceviche which is fresh and delicious although the alligator component is still not my favourite. We are all a bit over tired and it shows. After some deliberation we decide not to stay another night here but to head back to Aroiris.
Today is the day we spend processing old issues and redefining new adult relationships with one another. Aroiris is the perfect setting. This is an important day for each of us and we are grateful for the opportunity and the process which is loving and respectful.
Apart from Jorge everyone else has gone to a distant village for a special event that will go on for days. The timing couldn't have been better and we put no pressure on ourselves to do anything other than talk, eat and relax on this day.
Day 6
A Family Day
Up Next:
Bats, Frogs, a Snake and Some Jungle Medicine
Day 7
Making Mambe and a Bat in the Bed
Having participated in using mambe on the first night, today is the day we learn just how much effort goes into making it - an experience that will make Ian feel slightly guilty for spitting a whole lot out that first evening. First we pick leaves from the coca trees which are growing abundantly around the community. We gather about 5 large buckets full in total.
The Coca plant is the same plant from which Cocaine is produced however to make 1kg of cocaine you would need approximately 125kg of coca leaves and these would be refined and mixed with toxic chemicals. The process for making mambe is very different and mambe itself is not addictive, has no negative health effects and has been used by indigenous people for many thousands of years for it's therapeutic and spiritual benefits. As described earlier, at Aroiris the mambe ceremony follows the traditional ritual of a "circulo de palabra" or "word circle", where the community gathers around the central fire in the maloca to talk. Topics can include relationships, legends, philosophy and community decision making. Sometimes these ceremonies can continue all night and mambe is known to act as a stimulant similar to caffeine.
Once picked the leaves are tipped into a huge flat dish that sits above a red hot fire. The dish looks like a giant paella pan. To ensure they don't burn we keep them moving by stirring with long sticks. Three or four of us work at this task continuously. Meanwhile Finn starts making the ash that will be added to the crushed leaves to produce mambe.
The pan is lifted off then back onto the fire several times to regulate the heat and thoroughly dry the leaves. Once they are completely dry we crush them with our hands, then they are put into a tall, narrow wooden version of a mortar and pestle, to be pounded into powder by Finn. It looks like very hard work but Finn keeps up a steady rhythm until the job is done. This is then pushed through a fabric bag to reduce it to a very fine texture. At some point the ash is added to make the fine green, bitter tasting powder which is mambe. All of this takes about half a day.
Andrea uses the residual heat from the mambe fire to fry some yuka and we enjoy a snack of yucca chips, watched enviously by the two marauding cats.
That Bat Story!
Sunset at Aroiris is around 6pm at which point it gets very dark very quickly and the noises of the jungle really get going. Whether it's the darkness and my heightened awareness due to a basic fear of all things creepy and crawly, or whether it's actually real, the jungle always seems noisier at night to me. On this night we are both tired and head to bed at about 6:30pm - a far cry from our usual 11:30ish routine. At around 8:30 Finn wakes us to say they are heading to a local village to attend a wake. He's checking that we will be ok. Full of sleepy confidence and not considering the fact that Ian and I will be totally alone in the jungle with everyone else from the community gone, we send them on their way and go back to sleep.
Sometime after midnight Ian wakes me saying there's something in the bed, then just to add drama he lets me know it's something big. I'm not brave when it comes to this type of thing. I am likely to freak out if confronted by a dead mouse or a rat inside one of our traps in the garden at home. I literally cannot even look at them. This is bound to get messy. The safe haven that was our mosquito net has now become a cage trapping us inside with something large from the Amazon rainforest.
And then I see it.
It's a small black bat - about the size of a mouse. Noises come out of me involuntarily and the thing flies to the opposite side of the bed and disappears. As Ian tries to find it he's impeded by me shrieking and clinging to him. It doesn't help. I see the mosquito net moving and we find it again but, as I try to get distance between it and me, we lose it once more. Meanwhile Finn and Andrea have just arrived back from the wake and, hearing the noise, come running. By the time Finn gets up the ladder the bat seems to have gone but we make sure by turning everything upside down and shaking it out. We re-secure the mosquito net around the bottom edges and try to go back to sleep. It's not easy! I'm forever grateful for the silk sleeping bag liners loaned to us by our friend Jo from home. On this particular night I pull the top of the bag in close so at least there will be a layer of silk between me and any other unwanted nighttime visitor.
Day 8
Cold Weather, Sugar Cane and Cambo
The drama of last night is the subject of great hilarity and is likely to be for sometime to come. There's no point in suffering through these traumas if you can't make a good dinner party story out of them.
Like yesterday, today we've woken to really cold weather - it's actually cold enough to see you breath on the morning air. While we eat breakfast with Jorge, he tells us, via Finn's translation, that this cold weather comes at around the same time every year and lasts for no more than a week. We are all wearing more layers than I ever would have thought necessary here and we need two extra blankets at night.
Finn's coffee is a very welcome beginning to the day.
We each take a machete and test ourselves against the sugar cane. There's definitely a technique to this but we all master it quickly.
Finn has warned us that ants are often found amongst the leaves which makes me both vigilant and slightly itchy. The cut canes are washed and then passed through type of wringer which squeezes out the juice.
Today we will harvest some sugar cane and squeeze the juice out of it to make a drink, which we'll drink as-is but is often fermented. It's a quiet, easy day and we enjoy the slow pace and the time just to be with Finn, Andrea and Chicha.
Kambo
We've been waiting for an opportunity to find a Kambo frog and harvest it's secretions for the famous Kambo purging ritual. Heading to bed that night from the maloca we hear its call and return it - a low croak that sounds like "baow". Finn detours into the trees and in no time comes back with the small, lime green frog perched at the end of a stick. These frogs have no natural predators so they seem surprisingly docile. Hold up a stick for one and it will walk right onto it. Ian helps to carry the frog-on-a-stick through the jungle and back to our house where Finn has the things he needs for the harvest.
Animal lover Andrea talks gently to the frog and strokes its back - it's only once the frog is stressed that it will secrete it's poison so in the meantime, while it's still feeling laid back Andrea takes the opportunity to bond. He is really quite a beautiful thing with long legs and "fingers" that appear to have long, bright green fingernails. He moves slowly or not at all.
The harvest involves tying all four legs down and gently scraping off the white secretions as they appear on the frog's back and along its legs. Finn and Andrea having 4 looped pieces of cord ready for the task but the frog isn't interested in being tied up and begins its secretions with only 2 legs secured. They very gently perform the task and the frog obliges, offering up plenty of his treasured bodily fluid. The secretions are collected on a flat stick to be dried out later. Once the secretions ebb they take the loop from the Kambo frog's leg and and walk him back, still on the stick, to the tree he came from where they gently release him. The process is quiet and gentle and doesn't harm the frog who in another 3 - 4 months will have another good loading of secretions to offer the community.
The Kambo Ceremony
The kambo ceremony is a purging or cleansing ritual which for most people involves a session of vomiting, dizziness and/or diarrhea. We didn't find it overly tempting. It's an ancient ceremony which requires careful understanding and application as the poison from the kambo frog is extremely toxic. The ritual is said to help with chronic pain, build stamina and produce feelings of well being. Given that Ian and I already came from a place of general well being we were reluctant yet still curious.
A small dot is burned onto the skin using a hot piece of vine, then a small ball of the dried secretion from the kambo frog is placed on the open wound. A beginner may have three dots and those with experience may have as many as 10. The small scars you see on Finn's chest are from previous kambo ceremonies. He was very keen for us to try this but after a lot of deliberation, in the end we decided against it.
Day 9
Day Trip to the River
Today we take a day trip approximately 20 km along the main Iquitos/Nauta road heading south to a small town on the banks of a river that feeds into the Amazon. It is from here that Finn hopes to work with Jorge to take boat trips along the river and into the jungle, offering travellers a wilderness experience like no other and something to complement the other experiences they may have at Aroiris. He is in the process of having a boat built and obtaining a motor. We have lunch in a roadside food stall and watch a van/bus pick up passengers on its way north to Iquitos. It's hard to distinguish buses from privately owned vans as they are in various states of disrepair, always with a huge load on the roof and sometimes with windows or even doors missing.
We walk around the area that boats are coming and going from, and the others have a swim in the chocolate coloured water.
At the end of the afternoon we enjoy a cold beer in one of the roadside food stalls. While we sit there we manage to negotiate a ride with a passing motorist heading our way, who charges us the going bus rate. This seems to be standard practice and our driver is a very friendly guy with a comfortable SUV - probably the best vehicle we've seen anywhere in our travels within Peru. It turns out he is in the Peruvian Navy and was very happy to meet some New Zealanders, he even had "Down Under" by Men At Work playing on his car stereo.
When we get back to Aroiris there is a new arrival - a traveller from Austria whose nickname is "Fluffy". We gather around the fire in the maloca that night and Andrea makes us a spectacular banana cake using local ingredients - no eggs, flour or butter in this and cooked in a pan over a fire. She decorates it with grated coconut and fresh flowers and is rightly proud of the stunning result. I wish I had a photo of it but we were too busy enjoying eating it to pause for photos!
Day 10
The Last Day at Aroiris and Andrea's Peanut Soup
Ian and I prepare our luggage and start shifting it to the maloca, organising it so that Finn doesn't have to do too much heavy carrying for us. Meanwhile Andrea and Finn are hard at work in the maloca making peanut soup - a dish that requires hours of preparation including cooking and removing the dark skin from 1 kg of peanuts then grinding them, peeling and slicing various vegetables, adding pasta and long slow cooking over a fire. The soup is garnished with pieces of crispy fried potato. This is a dish that comes from Andrea's home in Bolivia and it is by far the most delicious thing we have eaten in Peru. It's also one of Finn's favourites.
The Conch
The conch is used to call people in the community to the maloca, often for meals or ceremonies. Chicha always joins in. It can be heard for miles around. That evening when Fluffy doesn't show up for dinner we check on him before bed where we find him sleeping. Finn says if he wasn't there we would have returned to the maloca and used the conch to issue a call. If anyone has got lost in the jungle this would help guide them back.
We each have a huge serving of the soup and following this a siesta in one of the maloca hammocks seems almost obligatory.
The water filter in the main maloca has been on a go-slow so later in the day Ian and I decide to take a walk along the dirt road to the tiny shop which sells amongst other things cold, bottled water. On the way we play with our shadows and check messages at a high spot beside the road where we can get a signal.
Day 11
Back to Iquitos
We start the day slowly, in no particular hurry to leave Aroiris and head back to Iquitos. I am already crying intermittently, hiding behind sunglasses, at the thought of the goodbye that is fast approaching. It is not going to be possible for me to keep a dry face when the time comes and I find the best strategy for now is to try not to think about it.
We have planned to spend the last 2 nights of our time in Peru in Iquitos and have booked a hotel with a pool for a bit of luxury. Unfortunately the hotel we were in last time was full so we are going somewhere different and a little more central.
On the way to the road out of Aroiris we see some monkeys playing in the trees - the first we have seen. This adds to the list of wildlife we've seen here, which includes a woodpecker, several hummingbirds, a bright blue, sparrow-sized butterfly, ants of all sizes, and a baby snake.
The bus we catch this time is the roughest and most heavily laden yet. It is a Lite Ace van packed at one point with 13 people and a heavy load on the roof including our bags. The roof is almost rusted through at the corners and the window beside me is missing. Ian is sitting on a seat that is mostly just metal frame. I realise that if the van rolls I am not going to come out alive - another thing best not to think about.
We strike a glitch when we arrive at our hotel - they won't let us check in because Andrea doesn't have any photo ID with her. It's a requirement here that no matter who is paying everyone needs ID even though we are a family group. In the end we get things sorted thanks to the quick thinking of Andrea and an email exchange with her sister in Bolivia.
That night we try Emoliente - a popular drink in Peru, sold by street vendors and made with spices, herbs and barley. It's one of Finns favourites and we enjoy the warm, spicy flavour. It's served hot and we sit at the curb drinking and watching a car pull up beside the vendor, idling on the roadside while the motokars weave around it. The passenger orders a drink which is brought to her car window in a large glass beer mug. She finishes the drink, hands back the tankard and they drive away.
Next we head to one of the restaurants that has supported Finn in the past by allowing him to busk at their premises. It's a fantastic pizza restaurant and we all enjoy the food.
Day 12
A Toucan, An Anteater, A Jaguar and A Monkey Called Ken!
Finn has suggested a trip to a butterfly farm and wildlife sanctuary and we head off by bus and then boat. On the way we meet Anna Paula and Sebastian - just returning from the party in the village that we had decided not to go to - we agree that was definitely a good call.
We leave from the port which is busy but doesn't look a lot like a port to me.
The place we are headed to is called Pilpintuwasi. On the way there we cross under a huge bridge and Finn tells us that this bridge leads nowhere - seemingly another unfinished project in a city that needs so much. The bridge ends in a dirt road. It's massive but there is almost no one using it.
The photo you see here is just a small part of the bridge which curves around before crossing the river.
At this point I am still under the illusion that we are going to a butterfly farm, however when we arrive at Pilpintuwasi we are greeted first and foremost by a very inquisitive monkey with a very red face.
When the human caretakers eventually arrive they tell us that the monkey is called Ken and ask us not to interact with him because they are trying to teach him to connect with his own species rather than with people. In the past he has been a pet and they want to reintegrate him with his own kind. As it turns out Ken is not the least bit interested in this plan.
I start to get really alarmed when our young English guide tells us that sometimes Ken can get into the area meant for the people and gives us instructions on what to do if he does..... and to think before this I was concerned about being amongst fluttering butterflies!
And of course, before we know it he's in! Right behind me touching my legs. I have made the unfortunate choice of wearing a top that matches this monkey's face and I don't know if this is the reason but he has taken a liking to me - a feeling definitely not mutual.
If I thought having him on the ground behind me touching my legs was bad, things are about to get a whole lot worse.
Without me really knowing how he's sitting on my head - a living fur hat that admittedly does go well with my outfit.
No one gets a decent photo of this as they are all too busy a) laughing and b) protecting themselves.
This actually happens twice to me and, in an incredible demonstration of control, I stay calm and do not thrash about in a wild frenzy although I am sorely tempted.
On his third attempt to mount me both Ian and Finn form a bit of a barrier and I discover to my surprise that Andrea-the-animal-lover is also rather monkey-averse.
The actual highlights of this wildlife sanctuary are the Toucan, the Giant Anteater, the Jaguar and the Ocelot - all animals rescued in one way or another.
The butterfly farm at the sanctuary was really interesting.
Ken was definitely NOT a highlight for me!
....and just like that we are on our last night.
The river bids us a very special farewell. Tomorrow we begin the journey home.
