Forever in Love with the Amazon

My expectations for my first real solo trip that led me to the Amazon rainforest got a little bummed shortly before my departure in Cusco. I got news per call that I had to pay back student loans - perfect timing to splash the cash on the other side of the earth. The plane took off arduously between the mountains and as we were floating through the clouds I decided to not give a fuck.

During landing you could see the deforestation, where western greed for gold, cacao and palm oil forced entry into the amazon. Humid air hit my face while leaving the plane, I’m loving it immediately. The airport is bordered by rainforest, my driver’s greeting me ebulliently in the arrival hall. He’s driving on red sand and worn down asphalt through Puerto Maldonado, an old town that sadly blossomed again after the built out of the Transoceanica that connects the brazilian atlantic coastline with the peruvian pacific coast and runs straight though the amazon forest, which brought back the illegal gold miners. There’s reggae-ton blasting out in the streets everywhere, people are moving in slow motion, motos are overtaking recklessly. we reach the river. I’m the only passenger on the boat and immediately get an invitation from the flirty peruvian guy to steer the boat and smoke a blunt with him later at nighttime.

Electricity per generator is available for 2 hours in the evening only, no wifi. After a short irritation, relaxation is spreading. Rain is pouring, i’m sweating without even moving, the moist air keeps pushing me deeper into my hammock in front of my room, and I couldn’t be happier.

I get to know my neighbors with whom I’m spending the next days. Later that day we got offered a boat tour to see the caimans, my boot driver from the afternoon is steering with hawk’s eyes in absolute darkness, trying to find animals even for the blindest tourists of us. Some capybaras were looking at us while walking though the bushes at the shore, being all zen. They’re a rare catch to get a glimpse on our driver told us.

Back in the camp all visitors are having dinner together in the main house, a huge wooden building on stakes, with giant mosquito nets on three sides for ventilation. We’re having a few beers while playing pool until the generator shuts down just in time at 10pm. Without light there’s nothing to do but watching fireflies and listening to the noises of the jungle - could be worse.

In the next days I’m awakened by the chirping of birds, attending guided hikes, reading in my hammock or get to know the others a little further. Lady, a peruvian women living in Lima is visiting her parents in Puerto Maldonado and is having a little time off in the rainforest. We talk about social problems in Peru: domestic violence, how women still don’t have access to education and the resulting dependance on their husbands. Lady herself studied and even worked in Europe.

Or Federico, who started learning English on his own because the argentinian school system didn’t offer sufficient lessons. Thank goodness because my A level Spanish skills would not have let this friendship happen. It’s because of him I’m not just addicted to chocolate bars, but now also to the sweet white cacao pulp, he was feeding me all day. If you read this: Get your car ready, I’m coming soon to hit the road to Ushuaia.

One morning a cat was waiting for me in front of my door, meowing loudly, running forward, checking if I followed. I did and she showed me her little new born kitten a few meters away from my hut. During the next hour she carried them over to the couch right next to my room and starting then she never left my side again. The other strolling cats from the lodge were close ever since too: waiting for me by the pool, jumped on my lap while I was in the hammock or picked me up after lunch. I must be in paradise.