When I first met Ruber at the airport, I was worried that the organization of the trip would be a bit chaotic, but this impression appeared to be wrong because from the day we went to the port to take the boat, I understood that everything was going to be very well handled and taken care of.
Man, the port was already a cultural surprise, seeing this huge, steep slope leading to the boat and the locals carrying live animals and motorcycles on their back, carefully watching their step, while we were watching from our plastic chairs on the boat and being offered batteries, 40 sorts of food, toilet paper, magazines from the local vendors … and I’m forgetting the odd thing. Besides watching the human traffic going in and out, we kept chatting with Ruber and met the super friendly Sidaly and one of her nieces and got to know each other.
Ruber briefed us for the expedition and told us we would walk around the camp because with only 5 days of forest, you can’t go far away. After what seemed like an hour and half, the boat finally left and we started to be really excited yet tired because we hadn’t slept the night before due to our last ayahuasca ceremony with Percy. So we went inside our cabin and slept a few hours, woke up to the sound of Ruber knocking on the door with plates of fried chicken and fried potatoes, which were more than welcome after the hardcore diet we had at Percy’s center. Ok, I’m being all dramatic about the diet, could have been more strict, but having one boiled potato and one boiled egg twice a day wasn’t a daily enjoyment even if the lunch was a little more interesting. Back to the story, it was night and it was raining heavily while we were devouring our fried chicken. We went to the front of the boat to discover that the light that was guiding the boat was a single flashlight that a man was holding.
We could have panicked, instead we just smiled at each other. Back to the cabin, more sleep. Woke up at 4am to get ready, Ruber constantly inquiring about our level of comfort, which was very nice. We quickly realized that everything would be ok. The rain then stops and we watch the boat stopping in these tiny villages to offload some goods, with people again carrying heavy loads on their back, crawling up some muddy and steep slope again. Crazy.
We then arrived in Herrera where we met Juan. Juan is a clever man, besides being obviously friendly and responsible. He’s also an excellent storyteller, he always had an interesting story for us. He took us for breakfast in the corner. He asked if we wanted to have some cheese, which was a total surprise since we didn’t know Peru had cheese. He came back with the cheese and some bread, and we while we were eating the whole cheese, he told us that the Swiss brought the cheese recipe to Peru thirty years ago, which was fun for us since we are Swiss and we love cheese.
When we were done, we went to Aucayacu, it was one of the best boat rides I’ve ever had. You start discovering the landscape with the rising sun. You see the beautiful nature and the serenity that goes with it. And that boat goes slowly, gives you time to enjoy the sights and sounds of nature, those different rivers. You pass a few fisherman boats and exchange some hellos and you feel happy that you invested your savings in a travel, instead of investing in a new laptop.
We arrive in Aucayacu and meet the rest of the family, as well as the two other tourists going with us in the jungle, coming from Chile.
So we meet Lady, many children, Jairo the shaman and Mauro, the great hunter, plus other people I can’t remember the names. The guys from Chile were having their breakfast, and we got another, a huge tortilla with rice, bread and coffee, which was way too much for us, but with a little effort we managed to eat everything. The family kept offering stuff and asking if everything was ok, we felt like kings. Lady is an excellent cook by the way.
More chatting and then we get our stuff ready for the expedition. Juan hands me a pair of rubber boots and I politely decline and proceed to explain that I think that the Salomon boots I had were enough. They look unconvinced so I start getting confused about what I should do, I mention you advised me to get those hiking boots, so Juan says that if you said so, then it must be ok.
When we are ready, we get our last good meal while Juan warns us about the possible dangers of the expedition and announces that we will eat what we will find, that if we are lucky, we will have some animals to eat but otherwise we ‘ll be starving. I look at my girlfriend and exchange an eyebrow flash.
We begin the expedition and walk some three hours. Mauro leads the walk with his machete and his rifle and a backpack made of rice bags and ropes – it seemed heavy and uncomfortable to say the least. The walk is more difficult than I expected because of the density and chaos of the forest. You also have to learn that vertical look, watch out not to stumble or hurt your head. On passing a “bridge”, I fall and get my feet all wet in the river. I get the “I told you” look from Ruber but remain convinced that these shoes are more comfortable for hiking. We see huge trees, and a sloth, slowly crawling on his branch and then we run from bees. We are delighted.
We arrive to the camp place and start unpacking, it’s 4pm. Ruber and Mauro show us how to do it. We see a huge red spider on one of the surrounding trees. When everything is set, we eat some rice, bread and cheese. I start realizing that Juan’s forewarning was a joke, which worked on all of us gringos. We bathe in the river and test the Steripen (great tip !). We then go relax inside our hammocks and Ruber says he’s gonna wake us up at 8pm. At this point we don’t know why.
It’s 8pm and we get up. It is completely dark. We get our flashlights and pointing on my hammock, I see that the outside net is literally invaded by ants. I call Ruber to come and see and he points to the tree where one of the hammock end is attached to. We see hundreds of ants crawling down the tree to my hammock. We shake the hammock and remove some ants with a stick, but to no effect, they keep coming back. These ants were a problem because as soon as I would unzip the net to enter the hammock, hundreds of ants would come inside. So I decide to apply some deet on the whole net, making the ants flee.
Ruber tells us to get ready for a walk. My girlfriend asks me why the hell would one have a walk in a jungle at night. I answer that I have no clue but that we should do it anyway and that listening to the sounds of the forest might be nice at night. One thing I have to tell you is that I had to convince my girlfriend to do this expedition, she was apprehensive and not ok with the lack of comfort we would get. But that was about to change.
We start walking. It’s a bit scary, we carefully watch every step, and hope not to meet any unwelcoming snake. We walk half an hour and then Mauro stops and points to something invisible hiding in the river. Ruber tells us it’s a baby caiman. He tells us that he can see his eyes. Damn, these guys could see that. But that was only a glimpse of the skills Ruber and Mauro have. The caiman decides to retire in his cave. We keep on trekking and suddenly Mauro makes big signs in the direction of Ruber and the latter tells us to put the lights out and to remain silent. Mauro uses his red flashlight and show us a big bird on a branch, 50 meters from where we are. A bird called “perdriz”, or something like that. It’s beautiful, with lots of colours. Mauro then takes his rifle and shoot the bird. In the brain. And the bird falls down in the river. We are amazed by Mauro. And understand that the night walk is for hunting. Mauro goes and grabs the bird, comes back and poses for some pictures, with our applause. We were all impressed. We went back to the camp, happy that the expedition was going so well. –> Sleep.
Wake up the next day, and find a new guy in the camp: Jaime. Apparently he had come alone and left Aucayacu before sunrise. This is gonna be one of the belief-reframing thing of the trip: You don’t necessarily need a GPS to walk through the jungle. We experienced a paradox: in the jungle, everything looks the same, yet everything is different. So one can easily imagine being lost in less than 10 minutes of walking, and die there. But not these guys, they apparently know how to tell the difference from this tree and that other tree, which look the same, but are not. Regarding orientation in the jungle, perceiving the most insignificant details can be crucial. At times, they seemed to be a bit lost, walking one way and then walking back, looking around and saying, ah no, it’s this way. And it eventually was.
It’s “breakfast” time: rice and perdriz, with a little sauce. Delicious. Mauro also knows how to cook. We learn that Ruber & Co only eat twice a day, in the morning and at 4pm, two full meals. The reasons for this are now quite obvious. We leave the camp.
We walk and walk and walk. Sweat comes in gallons. This is not easy. I look around and admire the chaotic order of the jungle, trying not to focus too much on the walk and on the hazards on the way.
Ruber tells us the name of many plants and trees. One good advice that I would give to someone willing to do this expedition is to have a knowledge of botanical spanish, because Ruber would tell us tons of things but we wouldn’t have a clue of what it means in english or even better, french, which is our language. Otherwise you miss an interesting part of the experience.
We also learn that crossing a river without a bridge is not a problem. You only have to make a bridge. A few “machetadas” on wood and there, you have a bridge. Plus the sticks to hold your equilibrium with it. These guys are wonderful.
For some unidentified reason, I can’t remember the rest of the second day.
It didn’t rain too much during the five days (one day arriving at Aucayacu and one days spent at Aucayacu, for a total of seven days). But when it did, we thought we would be all wet. But no, once again, we had Jaime to cut some huge leaves and protect us from the rain.
On the third day or fourth day, we had the sapo. I got only two dots, but that was enough for a first experience. Blood flushing, dizziness, swollen lips, red face, strong nausea leading to vomiting. 20 minutes of extreme discomfort. Luckily, Mauro was pouring fresh water over my head. But then, a state of enhanced awareness, focus and energy, which I liked so much that I had to ask Juan to give me a stick and bring it back to Geneva.
An hour after the sapo, we hear a gunshot and some noisy branches. Mauro, who had left, came back holding a “louro”, alive.
It was precisely shot in the wing. But the louro wouldn’t stand still, trying to escape by walking. Ruber held him, and started to tear out the feathers. He was keeping the upper feathers, I ask him why and he says that they use them for arrows. Mild cultural shock ensues.
The bird was making noises, I hesitated to say anything because I didn’t want to interfere, I didn’t want to be ,or sound, judgmental. But my girlfriend couldn’t stand it so she asked Ruber to kill the louro. And the beautiful bird wouldn’t die. It probably had to be the longest and most painful death I’ve seen, not that I’ve seen many of them but still, the animal was suffering with Ruber choking and twisting his neck. Poor beast. Mauro made a soup of it.
Alongside with the soup and rice on the next morning, we had palm. We had been shown how to get palm salad. Jaime went to cut this tall tree, with only his machete. We watched the tree fall down, impressive. And from that tree, only a tiny part is edible. And from what I understand, you can’t use the rest of the tree to make paper. So you decide you’re not gonna buy canned palm anymore, ecological disaster. The salad was delicious, fresh like I never had tasted fresh palm before.
Besides all this, we got to drink vine water and saw rubber trees, we discussed cultural differences (Ruber’s favourite topic: by the way, he is very smart, and has an excellent ability with languages, he knows some french and other languages, but mostly he’s curious, and I value curiosity) and had some good laughs.
On the second to last day of the expedition, we were walking and saw another sloth. Ruber tells us to look, awww, it’s oh-so-cute. Before we have time to make a picture, we hear a gunshot. Mauro had shot it. The sloth doesn’t fall off the branch on which he was sleeping. He remains hanging upside down. We look at Mauro and I ask him how is he going to get the sloth now….pfff, stupid me, you just have to cut the tree with your machete. Jaime cuts the tree, and makes a handbag with the legs of the sloth, carrying him on his shoulder to the next kitchen.
The sloth was served smoked the next morning with spaghetti. It looked awful and it tasted awful. My girlfriend ended up being the only of us four gringos eating it (or at least trying). The locals seemed to enjoy it a lot.
Juan arrived then with the boat, to take us back to Aucayacu. We spent the day there, visiting Jairo’s house, the school, the plants, eating, chatting and went fishing.
These places between Aucayacu and Herrera are so beautiful, and as I said before, they evoke a feeling of serenity and harmony. It was a complex emotion I can’t really describe, but it was deeply felt and had a strong impact on me. It was a moment where I felt really happy.
Back to the camp, I watch the others eat as I’m the only one who’s having the ayahuasca ceremony. Having been only in centers before, this was less comfy, lying on the bare floor, no mosquito screening. But then, after drinking, it didn’t matter at all. Jairo’s ceremony was good, the guy just doesn’t stop singing for three hours. I purged my guts out, the brew was very strong, I threw up at least 7 times, probably also due to the diet break of the week. The good thing is that when I was out throwing up, a hand coming from nowhere handing me toilet paper to clean my mouth. It was Ruber’s hand. And then toilets visits, 4 times, with Ruber helping me. The guy is so sweet and caring.
No visions, only cleaning it seemed.
The next day was time to say goodbye to Mauro, Jairo, Jaime and the kids. The rest of the family came with us back to Iquitos.
On the big boat, Juan opened up a packet in our cabin and guess what, it was full of mushrooms, at least 40 of them. He left them in our cabin and told us to have a good time. It was a disaster waiting to happen, I was worried that we would end up eating them all. But luckily, we got the lucidity to eat only 8 mushroom (fresh) each. We were starting to trip very well and had later a wonderful night. The sky was full of stars, we were on the front of the boat, dancing to the captain’s music. We noticed later that he had been playing the same song all night long. But then, we had to buy the cd and we didn’t have time in Iquitos to find it, so we asked Ruber to ask the captain if we could buy the cd from him. The guy said it was no problem, and didn’t specify any amount of money. We gave him 30 soles, which was probably way too much, but we were both happy with that. Now every time we play this cd, we remember that night. It was really the best way to end the expedition, enjoying the landscape, the locals, and laughing to tears. We laughed a lot with our Chilean pals (we were so lucky to have met them, we got along extremely well). By the end of this sleepless and unforgettable night, we were worn out, I hadn’t slept for two days now. I was starting to get really emotional (sad) to have to say goodbye to these people that took great care of us.
We said good bye to the girls (Lady & Sidaly), to the Chileans, to Juan and went with Ruber to the airport, his brother driving the motocarro. We made it on time. We chatted, exchanged wishes and love. Once Ruber left, tears came to my eyes. I didn’t want to leave Iquitos.
So to conclude this report, I would say that this has been one of the most profound experience in my life. Not only because of the jungle and the plants, but also and mostly because of the amazing people we met.
It touched me on an emotional level like no other travel has done before.
R., Switzerland