Puerto Maldonado with Chris, Kelly, and Kristen

Hello everyone! Long time with no update! I have been doing a bit of traveling lately and lost track of time and haven't had a chance to even get any updates out. There will be two or three updates coming (including this one) in the next few days. This update will be about my trip to Puerto Maldonado (part of the Amazon Rain Forest in southern Peru), my next update will be about my trip to Costa Rica for my sister Katie's wedding, and a third possible update will be from my trip that I will be taking this weekend to Paracas, a city along the coast a few hours south of Lima. My roommate Beto also has been saying that he'd like to write an update to the blog, but in Spanish. If that happens, there will be another two updates: his and my (most likely horrible translation) of it!

A few months ago, my friend Kelly contacted me and said that her and her boyfriend were planning on traveling around South America after graduating in December and were wondering if I had any advice on where to go. I told them that I can definitely become their travel guide and keep them busy the entire time that they are here! They only got a chance to travel around Peru, as flights to Chile were quite expensive, but I don't think that they missed out on anything.

When they first arrived, I found them a hostel that is only about a five minute walk from my house and two blocks from Parque Kennedy (a place with a ton of food, bars, etc). We spent the next few days catching up and I showed them around Lima. We went to the Plaza de Armas, which is downtown and right where the cathedral and government palace are. We got to see the changing of the guards ceremony, and even got to take a picture with some of the police's riot gear on!

Chris and I with the riot shields

I then sent them on a four day trip a few hours south of Lima to Ica, Huacachina (my blog update from my trip there), and Paracas. There, they got a chance to go sandboarding, tour some wineries, visit an island inhabited by tens of thousands of birds and seals, and get nice and sunburned!

At this point in the blog, my cousin Tom, sister Annie and her friends Katie and Kristina who are visiting me and going to the jungle with me in April, should stop reading. You are going to see bugs, spiders, snakes, and hear stories about it. If you want to stay naïve and not think about those things until we go together in a few weeks, now would be the time to stop!

After Kelly and Chris returned from their trip down south, we headed to the rain forest to do a three day/two night expedition along with another friend of mine Kristen. We flew in the morning to Puerto Maldonado, where we were picked up at the airport and brought about an hour away to the port on the Tambopata River (which flows northeast until it meets up with the Amazon in Brazil). We took a boat ride for about an hour upstream until we arrived to what turned out to be pretty much a 5-star resort in the middle of the jungle (except for the tarantulas on the beds!)

On the way, we saw some turtles and birds along the river, including two beautiful macaws eating the clay right on the river bank. I guess they eat clay to detoxify their stomachs from chemicals that are in the nuts that they eat? To me, it would make more sense to just change your diet, rather than eating dirt, but I guess this is what works for them! We were also served some fried rice wrapped in a leaf when we got on the boat, and instantly we just felt like we were definitely in the jungle. We could throw our plates into the river!

Two macaws eating clay to detoxify their stomachs

After we got settled into our rooms, we took a hike to a tower that was 37 meters (120 feet) above the ground. The tower (made out of scaffolding, the same thing that we used to have to climb up on top of to film our high school football practices. The same thing that would routinely fall over with a slight gust of wind. Except that was about 12 feet high. This was 120.) reached above the canopy line and we had 360 degree views of pure green. There were areas that you could see isolated showers, and you could see that it was absolutely pouring in those areas. You could also see sun shining onto other areas. We saw more birds, some monkeys, and a great view of the river that we arrived on.

Kelly, Chris, me, and Kristen on top of the 37 meter tower!

In high school football, we had to film from the top of one of these. It was only about 12 feet tall. This one was 120!

Along the trails that we would walk on, we also came across many colonies of ants. Having only ever seen the small ants on my driveway before, this was incredible to me. They work together as some sort of a super organism, and in this picture, you can see the highway that they have created, complete with barriers, workers, regulators, and more. It was amazing to see in real life, rather than just on the Discovery Channel.

A highway of ants across the path

The next morning, we woke up early to take a half hour boat ride, then an half hour hike, to get onto another boat that is located on a lake. In this lake, we saw cayman (a cousin of the crocodile), birds that were originally thought to be prehistoric (they look like dinosaurs while they are young), and we went fishing for piranhas! To fish for the piranhas, we used pieces of raw steak. The steak would be devoured instantly, and if we were lucky they'd also eat the hook. The guide kept telling us that they are vegetarians and we have nothing to worry about, and that the only reason they eat the steak is that the blood gets them going. I don't believe that. This thing is designed to eat meat. Look at the teeth!

A piranha! We caught them using pieces of steak as bait...

On the way back from the boat ride, we came across an interesting tree that didn't have bark. Instead, it was covered with red fire ants. Instead of the bark protecting the tree, the ants have a symbiotic relationship with it and they protect it. In return, the ants get the nutrients from the tree. The guide offered to grab an ant for us to have it bite us to see what it was like. All of the guys in the group volunteered (some macho thing or something), and it BURNED for about fifteen minutes or more! In old times, people that lived in the jungle would punish women that lied by tying them to this tree for fifteen minutes. That sounds a lot worse than water boarding or whatever it is our government is up to these days!

A fire ant biting my wrist

We then visited a farm where a shaman lives with his brother and nephew. They shaman works in cooperation with the hospital back in the city to provide healthcare to all of the people still living out in the jungle. Many times, treatment in hospitals is too far away or too expensive for these people, so they turn to the shaman for natural remedies. He showed us medicines to treat cancer (now patented by Bayer), erectile dysfunction, parasites, and many more. It is interesting to see natural medicine actually being used, especially by someone who has spent his entire life learning the ins and outs of nearly every plant in the nearby jungle.

The shaman's nephew's t-shirt said "Someone who loves me got me this t-shirt in Minnesota"!

After we left the farm, we got a great view of the sun setting over the river. As my dad says - You can never see enough sunsets in your life!

Sunset over the river in the Amazon Rain Forest

After the sun went down, we went on a night hike. After checking that we didn't have spiders in our boots (one guy in our group had a big one on top of his), we set off on our night hike. We saw some giant ants, a monkey frog, and a giant tarantula. Unfortunately, we didn't see any snakes like my parents did on their night hike a year ago! When we came across a tarantula the size of a baseball mitt, our guide tells us all to be quiet and turn off our lights so we don't scare it. This tactic didn't make a lot of sense to me, because now we were 8 people standing in the middle of the jungle in the pitch black with a giant tarantula somewhere near us. Brilliant.

Giant ants (the guide said there is no way that we would want these ones to bite us)

A tarantula the size of a baseball mitt

The guide poking a giant tarantula during a night hike. Genius.

Keeping my eyes out for the tarantula that our guide was just poking...

Cool looking monkey frog

After surviving the night hike, the rest of the group was brought back to Puerto Maldonado to fly back. The four of us had decided to stay an extra day. They dropped us off at the shaman's farm and we stayed there for the day. We were given a personal tour (read: marched around like soldiers) by a 6 year old for most of the day, but we also got a chance to speak with the shaman about what he does and how he does it. With Kristen and I both applying to medical schools this summer, it was a great experience to learn from someone who has spent his whole life devoted to this type of medicine. I think that more people that are interested in medicine should spend some time talking to people like him and get more perspectives than just what they have seen in school.

Me, Kristen, Kelly, and Chris in our "in-patient housing" at the shaman's farm

The most exciting part of the day was when we asked the shaman what he was going to do for the rest of the day, his response was, "get the boa constrictor out of my roof". We thought he was kidding, until we looked up and saw what he was talking about.

Boa constrictor in the roof

After getting it down by continuously poking it with a 30 foot pole, it was slithering around his kitchen for a while until he shooed it out with a rake. I had a video of it all, but it didn't upload to the computer correctly. I guess I'll just have to hope I can see something like it again when I return with my cousin, sister, and her friends!

A boa constrictor in the shaman's kitchen

I don't think I'll get the Costa Rica update out today, but be expecting another update from me early next week!