From May 2-8th, the group of crazy exchange students took a trip to the jungle city of Pucallpa. Pucallpa also happens to be the original home of both of my host parents, so I've heard a bit about it, and I got some advantages. Our flight was fun, but the small plane moved too much for my taste and I had a small panic attack. No biggie though, just hyperventilation and arrhythmia...
Our tiny plane!
We had a Rotary meeting the first night when we arrived and we just spent the time after we arrived in Pucallpa, relaxing and settling in. The next day we went into full tour mode. We took a giant tour of the Laguna Yarinacocha making some stops along the banks in tourist towns. Our first stop was in San Francisco to buy artesanias.
Piranha in San Francisco.
We went to our next stop which resulted in a fun trek in the jungle, but first we had to pass by the home on the island, where they keep a Black Spider Monkey as a pet. She was so cute, and a bit frightened. She just wanted to be let free to cuddle. I made my usual cooing sounds that I make at every animal I see and she responded with some little squeaks!
Look how sweet and vulnerable. I never wanted to leave her.
The jungle tour was cool too! We got to see a ton of medicinal plants that they still use, from wrinkle creams to parasite removal. We all drank from 'Cat's nail' which has a water inside that is healing. Our main goal was to reach a 300 year-old Lahuangana tree. To do that, we had to cross some pretty deep streams using a log that was usually cut down right in front of us by a guide. Those machetes are sharp!
Carter drinking from the 'Cat's nail'
In front of the huge, old tree!
Thankfully, our next stop was lunch! We went to a tourist restaurant at another stop that had all sorts of animals and even a pool. It was a super cool place and the food was great. I had juane, which is a traditional dish from the jungle made of seasoned rice with chicken, wrapped up and cooked in banana leaves. I also shared some fried alligator, which was delicious! Of course, the animals were my favorite part though. There was a Capuchin monkey, some cool birds, two huge boas, and baby alligators.
Baby gator!
NOT baby boa! He weighed a ton!
We hit a really shabby zoo next, which a bit sad, but the animals were so interesting. My favorite was the Woolly Monkey! She kind of jumped unexpectedly onto Mackenzie, who freaked out a bit. I pulled the sweet thing off of her and got a monkey on my head instead. Then she hung out with us for a while before we headed back to Pucallpa to sleep. We had a great first day in the jungle!
Rachel with the monkey hat.
L
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