INTO THE (AMAZONIAN) WILD

When people hear the word "Amazon," it usually conjures up images of deadly river monsters or fierce, uncontactable tribes hidden deep in the rainforests. It inspires imaginations to think of flesh-eating piranhas, intimidating Amazonian women warriors, carnivorous plants, unexplored temples of gold, rare & exotic fauna, giant anacondas ... the list is endless!

Unfortunately (or fortunately?), I didn't meet any of these extreme things in the Amazon. Well, except for piranhas - but no man, woman, or child was harmed. :) More on these tiny biters in a while.... Even though the likes of National Geographic have produced shows and scientists plus adventurers have launched expeditions to explore this fascinating ecosystem, a large part of it is still largely unexplored due to its massive size and often dangerous terrain. A few fun facts of the Amazon Rainforest:

• The rainforest covers 5,500,000 square kilometers. The number is in the MILLIONS.

• It covers NINE countries in total, with Brazil, Peru, and Colombia getting the biggest slices of the pie.

• It has 390 billion trees. BILLION!!!!

• It accounts for 10% of all the plant species science has ever discovered.

The Amazon is one of the world's least explored and most mysterious places - up there with the likes of Antarctica and the Marianas Trench. It is home to a prolific amount of fauna, flora, and indigenous peoples so it was truly a privilege to have been able to visit even a very small part of this centuries-old rainforest.

We started the adventure with a flight to Puerto Maldonado from Lima and hitched up our backpacks in preparation for a muddy ride through the rural terrain.

Women in the Amazon! With Sarah, who left me after the Peru leg of the trip :-(

The ecolodge we stayed in was only reachable by boat and 72KM from the nearest human settlement, so we boarded one and made ourselves comfortable for the almost-two hour glide on the angry-brown waters of the Amazon River. We were treated to a simple mixed rice lunch that was wrapped in leaves - and I have to say, this was one of the BEST MEALS EVER during my entire jaunt in South America. I wanted second and third helpings, haha!

Everyone loved our river lunch that day

The river looked intimidating, add to the fact that we were going to be miles away from civilization!

Our boat glided to a stop, seemingly in some random side of the forest. We were told that we had to walk the rest of the way to the ecolodge. It was a quick but VERY humid hike in the rainforest before the dense bush and trees opened up to reveal a simple wooden structure in the middle of nowhere. We were sweating buckets even though the trek was quick and easy. Our guide told us humidity was at 100%!!! I enjoyed the walk though, as I could hear the 360-degree sounds that nature was making. I had to pinch myself just to confirm that I was living in this reality. I WAS IN THE AMAZON WILD!!! I mean, wild, right?!!

The forest seemed to close in on us. The trees and bushes were so dense, sometimes sunlight couldn't filter fully through the leaves, so we felt as though the day was in a perennial overcast state.

Our lovely home away from home: the Tambopata Ecolodge, which only had 3 walls and an open balcony with a hammock that looked out to the forest! I found a tiny frog cozying up on my pillow and a brown praying mantis beside the shower curtain, that looked like a leaf! Camouflage game was on-point!

We barely had enough time to fully appreciate our kick-ass accommodations when our group had to meet up and go experience a bird's eyeview of the Amazon Rainforest. The climb to the top was vertiginous, add to the fact that the tower looked rickety (it was 100% safe) and thin - we had to go up in groups so as not to max out the weight limit of the structure. All fears disappeared of course when we arrived at the top - trees and greenery endlessly stretched out toward the horizon and we saw monkeys, toucans, spiders, and various bird species while there. It was awesome to observe them in their natural habitat - so natural and raw that we even spied a couple of monkeys doing THE DEED!!! ;-)

Looks frail and rickety, but was 100% safe! Just don't look down if you have a fear of heights!

Some of our group smiling on top of the (Amazon) world!

We learned from our guide that the Amazon is nature's pharmacy, if you got injured here, you'd be able to heal yourself, given the right botanic knowledge. I even tasted a leaf called Cordoncillo, which he picked right off the ground and is known for its anesthetic properties! My tongue felt tingly and yes, numb, after chewing it. It just further piqued my interest in preserving this rainforest that has so much to offer us humans - the Amazon is sadly becoming denuded due to deforestation and illegal logging. As of 2015, I am pledging to offset my carbon trail from all my air travels by donating to charities and/or NGOs that will plant more trees in the Amazon. :)

The rest of our afternoon was spent dozing off on the hammocks around our ecolodge; easy to do as the cacophony of sounds around us immediately lulled any one to sleep (plus the hike, heat & humidity helped!). One of the best and tastiest meals I've ever had during this entire trip was also in the Amazon - the stuffed pepper below was to die for!!! I was worried that the lodge, being situated far from the reaches of civilization, would have bland or unappetizing food. I was so wrong - everything they served us were so, so fresh and delicious!

As dusk started to envelope the forest, a bunch of us who wanted to search for caimans took the muddy walk towards the pier and hopped into the boat for a thrilling night ride along the Amazon River! Caimans are mid-size reptiles similar to the common crocodile. It's endemic to the Central and South American region and are easier to spot at night - with their red, glowing eyes peeking out behind water plants and murky waters. Our boatman shut down our boat's engine till it made just the slightest of hums, so as not to drive away the animals with its noise. He would shine a bright spotlight towards an area of the river if he spotted those tell-tale red pinprinks. We did see these scaly creatures a couple of times during the ride - not up close, but part of the fun was guessing if we were lucky enough to see them or not during the trip.

My favorite part was when everyone in the group was quiet and our boat glided peacefully across the river - in the ovelwhelming darkness and stillness of the night, we could see the twinkling of a million stars sprinkled across a midnight-blue sky. Under the cover of the night, we could hear the wild animals come alive with their nocturnal chorus, punctuated harmoniously by the gentle lapping of the waters on all sides of our boat.

Put simply, it was a beautiful Amazon night where we all felt at one with the universe and at peace with nature.

That night, I slept with a smile on my face. Never mind the fact that we didn't have any airconditioning (city girl problems, I know!). There was a slight breeze caressing the canopy bed, which more than made up for the humidity. The dense foliage around our rooms also helped in cooling down the ecolodge. The halls and rooms were lit by gas lamps until 10PM, when the staff put them all out and it made the experience more surreal - albeit freaky for some because it was pitch-black all around us, and the only sounds were of animals either settling in or waking up for the night, and the gentle rustling of trees and leaves just outside our open balcony. Nature's orchestra lulled me to sleep that night. :)

We started early the next morning to - wait for it - go PIRANHA-FISHING!!! There was light rain all around, the ground was muddy and the skies were gray. It didn't dampen our thirst to go on this adventure though - we all had a grand time fishing for these fierce little buggers (some were more successful that others)! Contrary to what we've all seen in movies, piranhas do not just attack people swimming in Amazonian lakes and rivers. They are, however, attracted to blood and that blood-lust can make them mistake wounded humans for vulnerable prey.

ABOVE: OOTD for the day consisted of a raincoat and muddy boots :) BELOW: Look at those sharp teeth! And boy, can they cut!

The afternoon was spent kayaking down the Amazon River and it was one of my favorite parts of this leg of the trip. I mean, how many people can say they've kayaked down this iconic river?!? A few of the guys in our group were trying to overturn each other's kayaks, a couple was fighting over directional paddling (their relationship survived, haha, and they recently got engaged!), and our guide was just gliding across the river faster than everyone else. Rain drops started falling fast, the chocolate-brown waters swirled darker, and the greens from both sides of the river got more vivid in the wet environment. TOPS on my list as one of the best ways to conclude our Amazonian adventure - never mind the fact that we had to walk back barefoot in the mud - I had fun mucking about! - the ground was soft and gooey from the rain.

I promised to myself that I will go back to the Amazon to explore it deeper and sleep in the iconic houseboats on the Brazilian side. I met a Panamanian girl in Cusco and my Amazon conversations with her whetted by appetite further to visit Manaus, Belem, and Iquitos - the largest city of the world that cannot be reached by road. That's going to be one hell of an adventure, I'm sure - but for now, I will just reminisce about this jaunt into the world's most ecologically-biodiverse ecosystem.

HAPPY TRAVELS! x

#Peru