Day 17: Planned to the end; JUNGLE!

When I'm traveling, it's always a constant struggle of what to do with the time I have abroad. In a place like Peru, there are tons of amazing opportunities to travel; amazing sights to see... it's always a bit overwhelming. My formula is to figure which place will be the most unique/hardest to reach in the future... and then do that.

Such has been the dillema the past few days. While I have wanted to go to Puno, the city in the south on the banks of Lake Titicaca, I have been presented with the opportunity to go to Manu, Peru... the deep jungle. Manu's real name is El Parque Nacional de Manu, the national park of Manu. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site, a 6,000 square mile area in the Amazon Basin, home to 20,000 species including 1,000 individual types of birds (more than in the US and Canada combined). The park is one of the most biodiverse places in the world and features animals from monkeys to poison dart frogs.

Only about 5% of the park is open for visitors (known as the "buffer zone") and a lot of work is needed to keep the area safe for visitors as well as keep research going on the amazing flora and fauna that the jungle features. That's where me and my 5 good friends come in. On Friday, we will leave Cuzco at 4:30 in the morning and drive the approximately 10-15 hours to Manu where we will volunteer there helping with an organization that runs in the buffer zone.

To give you an idea of how remote this place is:

-The last 5 hours of the drive has no road. It's just mud.
-To access where we'll be staying you have to hike down from the road to the river and then use a zip-line pulley system to cross the river below
-There is no electricity
-No hot showers :-(
-My roommate nick, who did this a few weeks back said that he would often wake up with a monkey or two balled up at the foot of his bed. They apparently get cold at night and like to cuddle for warmth.


I had mixed feelings about this before, but I have decided that it will truly be an amazing experience. The people who I am going with are so much fun to be with, and I know we're going to have an incredible- most likely hilarious- time. I will be off the grid from Friday early morning and then leaving the jungle on Monday late at night, arriving back in Cuzco early in the morning on Tuesday. Then I'll have until Thursday to tie up loose ends in Cuzco before heading out to Lima next Friday- crazy!!


---

Today I worked at the clinic in the morning and was literally given the reigns of Triage. I definitely did not ask for this... they just decided I could take care of it and took off. For me, it's not the blood-pressure-taking that poses problems, it's trying to record people's addresses in Spanish. While I can easily converse, it's hard to know what constitutes an address in a foreign place... so I often laugh my ass off trying to make sense of what they're saying. Nonetheless, I cleared the massive line outside of triage today- and I'm pretty sure I'm so good I could take the blood pressure of a dead rhinoceros. I met my friends at La Plaza for lunch at our favorite Israeli falafel place before meeting with Jacob from PATAS to determine my travel options. It's been a busy few days that's about to get a whole lot busier.

Tomorrow I'll start planning for the jungle... I need to buy some supplies (flashlight, bug spray, etc.) as well as stock up on some food rations. So excited!



Finally- check out new pics from my trip to Pisac last Sunday. They are amazing shots of such an amazing place.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2480998&id=5522121&l=522e6ad3a2


Love you guys!

Greg