Honeymoon Adventures V: Lungs of the World

The day started at 5:30 a.m. with a cold, cold shower (Matt actually managed to stand - not dash through - the water for the first time), and a hike to the canopy walk. Matt had been wanting to do this since he heard about going to Peru. For the first time, the rain forest lived up to the first half of it's name.

It rained all morning as the group walked about 35 to 40 minutes to the canopies. But when everyone finally arrived, the rain finally lifted a bit and the mist began to clear - perfect for a hike on top of the trees.

The canopy walk was originally set up as a research center, a way for scientists to spend hours at the tops of trees studying monkeys, insects and birds that never touch the rain forest floor. Now, this particular walk has been turned into a tourist walk, although that phrase evokes some wrong ideas. There were no people within miles of Matt and Lynne's group.

The hike starts at the base, which is wooden structure that goes up about 40 feet. From there on, the canopy is ingeniously built into the trees - no large, obtrusive poles stuck into the rain forest. You walk on a V-shaped net with your feet on a board and your arms on the ropes on both sides. There's no chance of falling and the walkway barely, barey moves or sways because the ropes are so taught.

The canopy walk has 13 stations. You reach the highest - 121 feet - at the sixth station. That's like looking down on a 100-foot tree, some might say. (Very descriptive, dontcha think?)

However, the height was not very intimidating, because 1) it was fairly difficult to see straight to the ground because of the foliage and 2) everything around was so awe inspiring. From the highest point you could look into Peru for miles - green trees that seemed to go on forever. You could only imagine what or who was living beneath all that beauty.

Because of all the untouched trees, Lynne said she was standing in the "lungs of the world," which put your place on Earth in perspective. Lynne and Matt stood there, watching steam rise from the jungle while small black birds danced above the tree tops. It was quiet, the air was crisp and fresh, and everything was calm. Matt took a lot of deep breaths, trying to store up extra air.

Lynne and Matt took their time on the canopy walk, but it didn't take long to get across. Still, it was an unforgettable walk - a moment when you know right away it was once in a lifetime. (There'd seemed to be a bunch of those in row.)

Next, it was onto the ReNuPeRu medicinal herb garden, where the tour company is trying to preserve the ancient traditions of herbal remedies. Lynne and Matt sniffed a crush plant that seemed to burn their nostrils, tasted a leaf that numbed Matt's tongue and smelled sweet lemon grass (like Pledge!). Then everyone was offered a blessing by a shaman. He promised to make you 10 years younger.

The shaman brought you up, asked your name and then started chanting and blowing smoke into your head. It was rather odd. Then after he blew some smoke into your head (whhhhoop, whhhhooop, whhhhoop) he would "bless" (whack) you with some reeds that looked like a small broom. Lynne went first and described the experience as, "Being beat in the head."

Matt wasn't so keen on being beaten, but the shaman had already made Lynne 18. Matt wasn't going to be some creepy 30 year old dating a teenager. He got blessed, turned 19, and started having a dance party in his dorm room.

After lunch, the group took a boat ride up the Amazon to the village where Raul, the tour guide grew up. This was another of Lynne and Matt's favorite stops. OAT (the tour group) really stresses seeing how "regular" people live. You visit the tourist spots, sure. But they also take you to a small village and later we ate dinner in a family's house.

Everyone arrived in San Pedro, a little village cut out on the dry (non-marshy) side of the Amazon. Raul told the group that he was one of 16 children. His father had three wives. The first died of a snake bite and the second died in child birth. Raul's father had a very large farm so 10 kids went to college - very unusual. Raul studied to be a tour guide (his English was much better than Matt's), got married and had two kids - Raul and Megan.

When the group showed up at San Pedro, it was like the circus came to town. Kids, cows, pigs, dogs, and sheep followed everyone as they walked toward a building that housed the only phone in town. (This was a wealthy town to have a phone.) All the kids gathered in a room and they sang the Peruvian national anthem and the friendship song. All the Americans introduced themselves in Spanish. Lynne accidentally told them Matt was 300 instead of 30. This appeared to be the most hilarious joke the kids had ever heard.

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Most of the people lived in what Americans would consider shacks. There was no electricity, plumbing or running water. The houses were raised up off the ground, with a hammock or some blankets on a wooden floor. The people typically took a shallow canoe across the Amazon to their farm (where they probably grew potatoes or bananas) on the fertile (marshy) side of the river. Many of them spend their whole life in this village, punctuated by one trip into Iquitos.

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The only way to get to Iquitos (the nearest big city, where you can sell you goods) is to take a large river ferry, which takes about 24-40 hours to make a trip we made in two hours by motor boat. It cost about 3 soles for a person to ride the ferry, maybe 5 soles for a cattle and one sole for every chicken on board. (When you see that, you realize the Naperville bus drivers have really been overcharging for horses.)

At the end of the day, Lynne and Matt were tired, but fascinated. They had seen parts of the world and people they never imagined they would meet. But they couldn't help but wonder where they would be in 20 or 25 years.

Lynne and Matt saw huge boats filled with lumber hauling trees down the river - a crucial trade in the Amazon. And in these villages, the children tend to leave for the bigger city where they can get a better job, have a TV, etc. It's the way of the world that places and people evolve and change. But what is being lost?

Day Five Summary: 13 platforms above the trees; 20 years (total) lost in a shaman beating; 270 years lost in translation; one trip to a jungle village.

Mustache: Festering. It had been nearly a week and yet the mustache could get no traction. Lynne was sickened by it and Matt was sickened by the prospect that this was a lost project. Still, he soldiered on.

Weird foods eaten: None.

Coming next: Hot water!