Koen, Lars, Wim and I are traveling through Colombia for two weeks to visit a few different places. After a quick stop in Bogota we find our way to Leticia, Colombia’s southernmost town and one of the major ports on the Amazon river, to do a two-day jungle tour. We soon find out that we didn’t prepare well for the tour and have to do some last-minute shopping for appropriate clothing and flash-lights. We look just like the A-team with our newly acquired camouflage pants.
We wake up early and jump in the pool before our guide picks us up. I’m going to call him Julio for the remainder of this story. Unfortunately the translator we had booked with the tour is sick so he can’t join us. Julio only speaks a form of local Spanish. This is going to be a challenge. It turns out that Julio was born in the jungle and has no official nationality. The first time he wore shoes was when he turned 14. He tells us that he’d still rather walks on his bare feet, as his feet can heal from wounds. In contrary to his boots: when those break, he has to buy a new pair. For this trip his son and daughter are joining us to carry provisions and other necessities.
Three tuk-tuk’s pick us up and the A-team is on its way to adventure! As we start walking through the jungle, we find a path to follow and Julio tries to explain with his hands and feet about the vegetation, insects and some of the medicine trees. The place is packed with mosquito’s looking for fresh juice. Fortunately, they typically don’t really like mine, so I’m safe. Koen and Wim.. not so much.
We walk for a couple of hours on existing or newly created trails. Sometimes it’s an easy path to follow, but when we’re walking on a lower altitude we often have to jump between tree branches to keep our feet dry. I’m happy that we’re wearing rubber boots. Given the temperature and a humidity level of 96%, it is quite the exercise and we’re sweating like a hooker in church.
Julio is extremely skilled with his machete. Only using different kinds of wood and leafs - that he finds as we’re walking - he is creating baskets, plates, spoons, rooftops, a place to stay for the night and he prepares a hot meal. As we’re getting thirsty he finds us trees that contain fresh drinking water. It’s quite impressive.
I expected to see a bigger variety of living creatures. We see a couple of huge spiders and some colorful butterflies. We did come across three monkeys who were hanging high in the trees, but I couldn’t spot them. It’s a shame that we don’t speak Spanish, because I think we only got about 20% of what Julio was explaining. It was a bit frustrating sometimes when we stared at each other like a deer in the headlights, while trying to communicate.
Nonetheless, the environment is gorgeous. There is a huge variety of vegetation and shades of green. When the sun comes shining through the trees it makes for a beautiful sight. Julio takes us to some of his buddy’s, who show us how they live and pass time in the jungle. I think they’ve never seen anyone as tall as Wim is, because when they see him, they laugh and point their fingers towards our buddy: “El Gigante!” So obviously that’s going to be his nickname for the rest of this trip.
One thing we definitely have to get used to is the pace in the jungle: it is much slower than what we’re used to. It seems that the main things these people have to worry about is to stay dry for the night and make sure their belly’s are filled. As there is plenty of time in a day to take care of those things, there is no need to rush. It’s refreshing to realize how satisfying a simple life can be. Yes, we get the chance to travel and pursue our passions, but that can also lead to the fear of missing out and worrying about making the right choices in life.
We make camp to stay the night in hammocks with mosquito nets. It’s pretty noisy with all the crickets and birds chirping simultaneously, but fortunately we are so tired from the hike, that we’re getting a pretty good sleep.
In the morning we are spoiled with coffee and eggs and start hiking back to the beginning of the trail. A couple of times we have to run as we are chased by angry bees who’s environment we seem to have disturbed. They target Koen as he receives multiple stings on his head. Between that and a couple of misplaced steps in the mud, nothing major happens and we find our way safely to the exit, where three tuk-tuk’s bring us back to the hostel. The A-team is exhausted and ready for a shower!
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Gr. Peter