A trip to the jungle (Part 2)

Wednesday

Today I went back to school with Megan in the morning. This meant getting up at 6am to be at school for 6.45am! I didn't dare mention that I was supposed to be on holiday although I was secretly glad that San Andres starts at 8am. The extra hour in bed makes all the difference! Megan had 4th grade today and so went through the routine of telling them where I'm from and what I'm doing here and no I'm not Megan's sister! The children enjoyed finding out about Scotland especially the Loch Ness monster! Wherever I go the children never seem to tire of this story so I've had to start adding bit to it until Nessie decides to make an appearance and give us something new to say about her/him.

The sign at the baths gave us a laugh:
"Welcome to attractive tourists " it reads in English!

Tonight we went for a trip to the thermal baths outside Moyobamba.  It was a fantastic experience for two reasons.  Firstly I got my first ride on a motorbike! Nearly everyone in Moyobamba has a motorbike since the dirt tracks, which are the only kind of roads here, make it impossible to drive a car.  Instead of taxis and buses they have mototaxis - a motorbike with a contraption attached to the back for the passengers to sit in.  Its a pretty noisy and bumpy journey and a bit of a pain when your mototaxi gets stuck in the mud after it rains but its another memory of Peru that I will never forget.

Tonight I went with of Megan's friends on her motorbike.  It was fantastic! We drove along the windy, dusty tracks out of the town and into the jungle.  It was beginning to get dark and as we sped along I looked up to see millions of stars burning beautifully and brightly against a background of palm trees and mountains covered in lush jungle.  A warm tropical breeze was blowing through our hair and the sound of parrots in the trees reminded me I couldn't be anywhere else but in Peru.  I had never seen the stars before from the southern hemisphere and they looked brighter and closer than they'd ever seemed at home.  It was one of the most memorable moments of my time here in Peru and one I will never ever forget! It made me think again of how fortunate I am to be here in such a beautiful country.

The Río Mayo from our canoe

Thursday
Today we took a boat trip along the Río Mayo (the Mayo river) which runs through Moyobamba for thousands of miles through the jungle until it reaches the great Amazon river.  We took Megan's substitute mother, Yolanda and a friend with us.  Luckily we managed to secure a covered top canoe since it was very hot and sunny.  Unfortunately we didn't see much wildlife except parrots but it was a lovely experience and a very relaxing out on the river with a very gentle warm breeze blowing.  The time passed very quickly and we had to return to shore long before I wanted to but it was another unique Peruvian experience I will remember for many years to come.  As we climbed the never ending steps from the river bank to the town on the hill above we came across a rather strange sight.  A group of men and boys were furiously hacking at the grass and undergrowth on the edge of the path with clubs and machetes! We stopped for a while to watch and ask what was going on.  Apparently a big poisonous snake had been spotted near the path and they were trying to batter it to death.  Further on up the path we came across a little green parrot who was quite happily nibbling on someone's coffee beans that were lying on a big piece of plastic, drying in the sun.  I don't think I'll ever tire of the unique sights and sounds of the jungle!

Friday
Today I left Moyobamba behind and myself and Megan headed back to Tarapoto before going to a little town called Lamas.  I'd heard about Lamas before and really wanted to visit.  One interesting thing about Lamas is that it is built on a hill in three levels and on the bottom level at the bottom of the hill live an indigenous community.  The Wayku, as they are called, are one of many indigenous tribes in Peru and are mostly Quechua speaking.  They live a quite different life to the mixed (mestizo) Spanish-Peruvian community in the rest of Lamas.  They still hold onto to their own culture, traditions and livelihood.  Many work as farmers in the fields that surround the town, others work as craftsmen making pottery or woven mats.

typical Wayku house with no windows

One of the things I noticed as soon as we got to the community was the strange houses.  The Wayku houses have doors but no windows at all so inside they are very dark! There is a small hole in the roof for the smoke from the fire in the centre of the room to escape.  Apparently the Wayku have their own religion, like many amazonian tribes, and are quite suspicious.  They believe that having windows in your house encourages evil spirits to enter and stay, bringing bad luck on the family.  The Wayku community are quite reserved and because we didn't speak Quechua we couldn't really converse with them which was a bit of a shame.  After a short time in the village we headed back up to Lamas where we stayed the night.

Lamas is really a very small town and doesn't really get much tourists so everywhere myself and Megan went we got stares and comments about our pale skin and blue eyes.  It's been quite an eye opening experience living in a country and a culture where I am the foreigner when I am so used to speaking of others in that way.

Some Wayku women making pottery and sewing

Tonight we walked to the top of the hill on which Lamas is built.  You get a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside from the top and the rural, empty countryside reminded me of home except the sound of the crickets and the warm wind! My time in the jungle is very quickly coming to an end.  Tomorrow I head back to Lima which is a million miles from the exotic, tropical peace and quiet I've got used to over the past week but strangely, going back to Lima feels like I'm going home.