Feb. 25 Day 10
We got up pre-dawn and piled into 4 x 4s with our bags on top. We met our indigenous guide, Raphael and his brother-in-law Felix, who would be accompanying us on our journey. The first hour was on paved roads but it took us a surprisingly long time to get out of the city. The second hour was on dirt roads that got increasingly rough as we neared our destination. We were given a good shake by the roads and glad to get out and stretch our legs. Our chef, Chavez and his helper met us and supplied breakfast. Plantains and eggs were basics with a variety of fruit juices (lula was a favourite though tree tomato was pretty good too) and choice between black coffee and hot chocolate.
We set out after breakfast along a dusty path that mainly lead upwards. Every once in awhile someone would yell "moolah!" or "moto!" and we'd have to move off of the path to make room for some mules or motorbikes. We would go by farms with the same animals you'd expect in Canada with houses with open sides and tin roofs. For some reason the chickens looked particularly healthy, many of them pretty enough to be placed in shows.
After about two hours we stopped at a shady stand where a lady was selling fresh-squeezed orange juice. Her business model was excellent as almost everyone had one and it was truly delicious. A few hours more of uphill slogging followed, landing us at our lunch stop. The cooking crew had been there for awhile and prepared stewed chicken for us. For dessert we had our first Gol bars, sort of a version of an O Henry but really tasty when you've been hiking. We also saw the setup for most of the sleeping places we would use. This was an open-sided building filled with rows of bunk beds covered in mosquito netting. Pretty basic.
At lunch, Meg noticed one of her two water bottles was leaking and had a chip out of the bottom of it. She shouted to the group, "my water broke!" Some people did not know quite how to react to this news.
We had about 4 more hours to go before getting to our camp for the night. Our clothes were soaked with sweat and we piled on sunscreen and bug dope onto the skin that was showing. I went with long pants and long sleeves but many of the group were in shorts and tees for the trip. Again, it was mainly uphill but Raphael promised us a surprise at our next stop. That surprise turned out to be sliced watermelon, which was again a welcome treat. Many other group were hiking the trail with us and you could see a collection of watermelons at the stop, each labelling with the name of its contributing group. G Adventures distinguished itself by exclusively using Wiwa Travel and indigenous guides, which we supported.
After another descent we crossed a metal bridge over a river and left all of the motorcycles behind. Filipe said that we were crossing into the park and indigenous territory but we couldn't find the exact point where this happened. After another ascent we had nearly an hour of descending to get to our camp. Downhill doesn't make you as hot but it takes more concentration and tires out different muscles in your legs.
We finally made it to Wiwa Camp where we would be spending the night. It was quite large, with tons of bunk bed stacks, a large dining area, an array of showers and several meeting buildings. We weren't allowed into our bunks in our hiking clothes so we showered off. The showers also featured a toilet and were controllable pipes that dumped cold water onto you. If felt great to be cool and clean and we rinsed out our hiking clothes and put on our clean clothes for lounging and sleeping in.
We hung up our wet stuff on lines around camp and went to dine on breaded red snapper. Our group contained a large number of hot sauce enthusiasts and it was not uncommon for several bottles to be drained at a given meal. After dinner Filipe warned us to checked our boots and shoes and watch the floor carefully if we got up in the middle of the night. Bugs, scorpions, snakes and spiders were about and didn't appreciate being stepped on. This was the jungle, after all.
Afterwards we headed to our bunks and by 8 o'clock almost all of the exhausted hikers had gone to sleep. Considering how many people were jammed into such a tight space, we slept well.
We got up pre-dawn and piled into 4 x 4s with our bags on top. We met our indigenous guide, Raphael and his brother-in-law Felix, who would be accompanying us on our journey. The first hour was on paved roads but it took us a surprisingly long time to get out of the city. The second hour was on dirt roads that got increasingly rough as we neared our destination. We were given a good shake by the roads and glad to get out and stretch our legs. Our chef, Chavez and his helper met us and supplied breakfast. Plantains and eggs were basics with a variety of fruit juices (lula was a favourite though tree tomato was pretty good too) and choice between black coffee and hot chocolate.
We set out after breakfast along a dusty path that mainly lead upwards. Every once in awhile someone would yell "moolah!" or "moto!" and we'd have to move off of the path to make room for some mules or motorbikes. We would go by farms with the same animals you'd expect in Canada with houses with open sides and tin roofs. For some reason the chickens looked particularly healthy, many of them pretty enough to be placed in shows.
After about two hours we stopped at a shady stand where a lady was selling fresh-squeezed orange juice. Her business model was excellent as almost everyone had one and it was truly delicious. A few hours more of uphill slogging followed, landing us at our lunch stop. The cooking crew had been there for awhile and prepared stewed chicken for us. For dessert we had our first Gol bars, sort of a version of an O Henry but really tasty when you've been hiking. We also saw the setup for most of the sleeping places we would use. This was an open-sided building filled with rows of bunk beds covered in mosquito netting. Pretty basic.
At lunch, Meg noticed one of her two water bottles was leaking and had a chip out of the bottom of it. She shouted to the group, "my water broke!" Some people did not know quite how to react to this news.
We had about 4 more hours to go before getting to our camp for the night. Our clothes were soaked with sweat and we piled on sunscreen and bug dope onto the skin that was showing. I went with long pants and long sleeves but many of the group were in shorts and tees for the trip. Again, it was mainly uphill but Raphael promised us a surprise at our next stop. That surprise turned out to be sliced watermelon, which was again a welcome treat. Many other group were hiking the trail with us and you could see a collection of watermelons at the stop, each labelling with the name of its contributing group. G Adventures distinguished itself by exclusively using Wiwa Travel and indigenous guides, which we supported.
After another descent we crossed a metal bridge over a river and left all of the motorcycles behind. Filipe said that we were crossing into the park and indigenous territory but we couldn't find the exact point where this happened. After another ascent we had nearly an hour of descending to get to our camp. Downhill doesn't make you as hot but it takes more concentration and tires out different muscles in your legs.
We finally made it to Wiwa Camp where we would be spending the night. It was quite large, with tons of bunk bed stacks, a large dining area, an array of showers and several meeting buildings. We weren't allowed into our bunks in our hiking clothes so we showered off. The showers also featured a toilet and were controllable pipes that dumped cold water onto you. If felt great to be cool and clean and we rinsed out our hiking clothes and put on our clean clothes for lounging and sleeping in.
We hung up our wet stuff on lines around camp and went to dine on breaded red snapper. Our group contained a large number of hot sauce enthusiasts and it was not uncommon for several bottles to be drained at a given meal. After dinner Filipe warned us to checked our boots and shoes and watch the floor carefully if we got up in the middle of the night. Bugs, scorpions, snakes and spiders were about and didn't appreciate being stepped on. This was the jungle, after all.
Afterwards we headed to our bunks and by 8 o'clock almost all of the exhausted hikers had gone to sleep. Considering how many people were jammed into such a tight space, we slept well.
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| Intrepid Meg en route. |
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| Our path to the city. |
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| A Wiwa ceremonial village. |
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