Primary Jungle

When everyone woke up with all limbs intact there was a sense of relief and light amusement when we said good morning.  The Australians decided to stay another night but were not prepared to stay in the jungle again but would rather stay in another native’s house.  Despite being scared out of my wits the night before I was adamant in venturing deeper into the jungle and I made sure that Raphael knew about it. 

We did some more fishing, this time with a bow and arrow, but for the black piranhas which can be a meter and a half long!  Unfortunately it was not our day and we made our way to the local family’s house empty handed but where we could buy souvenirs.  These souvenirs were no colourful rubbers and pencils like you get at zoo, these were the boa constrictor’s teeth the claws of the panther and the hoof of a wild boar (none of which I condone).  If this wasn't enough the sight of a fully grown boa constrictor, ALIVE, in the one room house would have been.  It was massive; the pictures will show you the sheer size of this beast.  One of the 11 children had caught it after the snake tried to eat one of their dogs!  After some picture taking they put it away in a tub with a gas tank on top to stop it getting out and got on with business.  Later they were planning to kill it once everyone had gone and use the skin for their products.

When everyone woke up with all limbs intact there was a sense of relief and light amusement when we said good morning

Pleased to be away from the snake, especially once the children persisted on tormenting the thing which made him suck the air in and grow twice in size, not nice! Little did I know that this would be the least of my worries as later we would be in their territory.

We made our way to another native’s house where we had our lunch and then Raphael and I parted ways with the rest of the group and made our way into primary jungle.  I was excited for sure, I had a guide all to myself and I was about to sleep in the jungle again but this time deeper where there is no track and the forest is so dense you have to be so careful not to disturb a web or tread on something alive!  It was when Raphael thought that there would be a need to ask for the shot gun, and failing to obtain one, when I started to feel a little uneasy about the situation.  ´Do you think we will need a gun then´ I asked, ´just in case, but no worries we have the machete´ he answered.  When he said that I still don't know whether maybe he was a little bit nervous himself, because despite being in the jungle nearly every day of the week he knew that each time he stayed it could be his last.  The realisation that we were putting ourselves at risk was becoming ever so more prominent.

The two hour trek we made further into the jungle with the bare essentials on our back, including of course the crackers, was formed of silence broken only by my voice insisting that maybe this wasn't a good idea after all.  The fear really set in the first time that Raphael suddenly stopped, put down the sack containing the hammocks and swung the machete into the air as if he was going into battle.  Oh my god, you wouldn't believe what I was feeling at that point in time, my hands started to shake as my adrenaline started to swam inside my body.  ´What was that I whispered´ which was replied with a shhhh and a mere tist and we moved on.  It worried me more when he never said nothing more on the subject, because I knew that his explanation would only worry me more, and that the animals could be able to sense my fear. Panic started to set in the second time we stopped.  The rustle of the trees and the loud thud sound that followed it soon after, literally a couple of meters away, was enough for me to start shaking again.  I knew what Raphael was going to tell me ´that was a large cat jumping from a tree´.  Once again, oh my god, we were being watched, were we on the menu for that evening??!!!!  It was getting closer to six in the evening and that was when the cats come out to play, we started moving again and from then onwards and until the next day I was so close to Raphael that he was almost carrying me. We arrived at our camp, well it was more of a parting of the trees, enough space for two hammocks and that was it.  We dumped our bags and made our way even further into the jungle to a surreal place of tranquillity where there was a mini waterfall falling into a pool of virgin water.  Raphael did a little ritual with some of the leaves of the wonderful tress surrounding us to give me success and protection, the later obviously for the immediate future I was hoping.  If I wasn't so petrified then I would have enjoyed my surroundings more.  It was beautiful, something that I will never forget as long as I live, amazing.  The sound of the birds, the deep sound of the jaguars roar (this time being so close I think Raphael was a little concerned) and the swaying of the trees in sync with the wind, what could be better than this.  Time was getting on and it was dark so we made our way back to our patch and hung up our hammocks ready for the night ahead of us.  There was no fire as Raphael said that it would scare the animals away, (emmm not such a bad idea I thought).  Instead we had four candles around our hammocks and we sat a talked about everything, family, the future and the past.  Talking of comforting things helped my anxiety and I started to settle into the jungle and my role as Jayne.  You cannot even imagine the different noises that the jungle make throughout the night when all the animals come out, I won’t even try to tell you as it would do it no justice at all.  Sure enough I had the best night’s sleep I have had in ages.