First, a few personal headlines: 20 Kilo cocaine drug bust, amazon river boat pirates, bloody non-venomous snake bite, camera robbery and knife attack, drinking old san pedro cactus and throwing up, thousands of mosquito bites, explosive diarrhea, wet tent and sleeping bag, broken boat motor, inexperienced jungle guide, sun burn and jungle rot, strange giant turtle and frog, amazon creatures, small flesh eating piranha, fishing at night using spear and flashlight, and looking for crocodiles in small canoe.
I don’t have time to get into all of the details, but the adventure has sure stepped up a few notches. Things are going great, and I feel great. I am traveling a little bit lighter after losing my camera to three knife wielding thieves in the center of a busy market in Belen, just outside of Iquitos. I guess it is true. Belen can be a hazardous place when a tourist carries a camera bag on his shoulder. After running after the three guys for several blocks and yelling “LADRON” (pickpocket), and “RATERO” (thief)...they got away and nobody came to help me. It was an exciting little visit to Belen, and now I don't have a camera to be stolen anymore.
Marcin and his two friends from Poland arrived last week, and we all decided to travel downstream for 4 days to the remote city of Iquitos. We have been in the Iquitos area for almost two weeks now. The trip to Iquitos from Pucallpa was perfect. Somehow we managed to get a discount on our ticket, and a free 4-bed cabin on board the large, two-story boat. The food was good (for boat cooking), nice staff, and not too many passengers. Meals were served three times a day and usually consisted of salty chicken soup with beans and rice. We each needed to bring our own plate and utensils, and supply all of our own drinking water and toilet paper.
I just got back from a six day jungle trip into the National Reserve Pacaya Samiria, in Northern Peru. It was Jungle like I have never seen...so clean, pure, relaxing, refreshing, and inspiring. We stayed along the main river and didn't see too many animals. We did see a lot of dolphins, and a never-ending varietiy of birds. I learned an important lesson thanks to the millions of mosquitoes. They only bother me as much as I let them bother me. There is a choice. Isn't there always a choice in everything? This made me remember just how much I control my experience. How do I choose to react to things? How do I choose to live?
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