Jungman 2 Jungle

We returned on Monday from the Cuyabeno Reserve in the Amazonian Basin after a 4 day trip to the jungle. It was a truly breathtaking experience; a wonder to behold the complexity of God’s creation. I am going to write about the jungle in the course of several posts. First though, I must make mention of the cast of characters.

Will and Neil: If you’re reading this, you probably know at least one of us, so I think no introduction is needed.

Jairo (prounced Hi-ro): Our English-speaking jungle guide, and one of the most knowledgeable guides I could imagine. He could describe the unique features of dozens of plants and had a remarkable knack for spotting even nearly impossible-to-see animals.

The Danes (Knut, Jacob, Jacob (whom henceforth shall be known as Juan Pablo), and Nicholas: 4 Danish guys our age who drink more than anyone I’ve ever met. Apparently, Denmark is ranked as the most drunk country in the world, and these guys even considered themselves light drinkers. Their stories were absolutely hilarious, as it seems all there is to do in Denmark is drink. Usually, every story ended with Juan Pablo saying, “Oh, we were so drunk that time.” Only it wasn’t like the American stories where people try to top each others drunkenness. These guys would blow any Americans out of the water (or the vat of beer, as the case may be). 30 drinks per head in a night was just a good time. They were fascinated by Neil’s and my stories of wild animals, adventures, wide open spaces, high legal drinking ages, ethnic minorities, car ownership, and violence in the States, as in Denmark these are all practically non-existent or unheard of.

Meliton: Our motorized canoe driver. Neil and I sat in the back of the canoe closest to Meliton, who only spoke Spanish. On the first trip downriver, he informed us that we were lucky to have him along, as he would make sure that Jairo would not tell us anything false or embellished. He was there to keep Jairo in line, he claimed. Meliton then proceeded to mislead and lie to us about everything in the jungle, constantly trying to trick us. Neil understood more of what he said than I did, and translated Meliton’s absurd comments for the enjoyment of the group.

The cook (name unknown): A very important person to have around, although his portions were never quite large enough. Maybe because he himself was a rather diminutive man?

2 dogs (names unknown or nonexistent): A big, rather sweet, black Rotweiler that hung around camp and another unidentifiable breed that was mostly blind, but made a good effort to attempt to knock me off the camp walkways into the water on a few occasions. Both incessantly clamored around the table for scraps, and due to his size, the Rotweiler could be quite pushy. I also learned last night from the Danes (who we met back up with in Quito) that the smaller dog killed a boar that they ate for dinner the day we left. I would have loved to seen that!