Day 21 Madidi

Compared to camping in Amboro, camping in Madidi was like staying at a five star resort.  When we woke up the next morning, breakfast was ready and waiting for us.

That night we were going to leave the lodge to go camp out in the jungle, but first Jesus wanted to take us on a hike closer to the lodge.  So, off we went.  We saw all kinds of cool stuff:

Centipede?  Or millepede?  I always forget.

Crazy spider.

Blood red roots.

This tree looks like it is wearing camoflage.

This goofy plant numbed your mouth.  Our guide showed us all kind of medicinal plants, and this was just one of them.

This picture doesn't accuratley portray just how big this ant was, but the thing was huge.

There was lots of varieties of fungus in the park.  This one looks like bleached coral.

This was our destination.  All the land in front of us is Madidi.

Jo in his Havana pants.

The View #1.

The View #2

The View #3

The View #4

Twisty vines.

More fungus.

Crazy caterpillar.

Crazy spider.

Crazy forest buggies.

Lovely beetle.

Just look at those antennas.

About this time in our walk Jesus spotted us some lion monkeys swinging up in the trees.  Lion monkies insert info and pics here.

Stopping at small creek.  Madidi was different than Amboro in many ways, but one of the most obvious was it's lack of running water.  We occasionally came across these trickles, but there was a distinct lack of swimming holes.

When we got back from our walk, we were ready for lunch.  First, though, our crafty guide had to reveal a surprise to Jo. The day before, Jo had dropped our camera lens cap and we had been using a sock to protect the lens ever since.  Jesus came to our rescue and spotted the cap with his eagle eyes.  I had seen him find it but Jo had no idea.  Jesus waited until we got back to make the grand reveal, making both Jo and I laugh.

After lunch, we pack our things and headed off to spend the night in the jungle.  We had about four hours to go, and we were both so excited to see what other treasures the jungle would reveal to us.  Jesus wanted to get to camp as soon as possible so we had time to set up, so he set a brisk pace, meaning we didn't take as many pics as earlier in the day.

The jungle was so dense.

Look at this spiny little guy.  Couldn't fool us, could you?

Flower thing.  Neat-o!

More interesting fungus.  If we took a picture of every variety of mushroom we saw, Jesus would have killed us.  There were a ton of varieties.  I was in mushroom heaven.

The tallest palm tree in the forest.

We got to base camp in good time.  I didn't get a picture for some reason, but it was actually a pretty nice set up.  There was a covered sleeping area, a covered kitchen area, a fire pit, a dining area, and plenty of benches.  There was even a bathroom!  Jo and I weren't quite sure what to expect, and we were surprised at how established the forest camp was.  We shouldn't have been, though.  Madidi has tons more visitors than Amboro.  Without established jungle camps, the volume of visitors would do tremendous damage to the forest as they looked for a place to sleep each night. 

Another difference between Ambora and Madidi was that we had a cook with us each night at Madidi.  Pretty swanky, right?  Her name was Arciela and she was absolutley wonderful.  Very sweet and a damn fine cook, if I do say so.  Even if she was a bit confused about my vegetarianism.  She asked a few times if I could eat the canned meat:-)

We had arrived at the forest camp as it was getting late.  Jesus offered to take us on one more forest walk before it got too dark, and we were both so glad we went.

Why?  Because of the PIGS we saw! Insert chancho info here.

It was dark by the time we sat dinner.  We ate by candlelight...very romantic.

We had hung up our nasty, sweaty, stanky clothes earlier.  When we went to change back into them to prepare for a night hike, they were all covered in a thousand different variety of moths.  Apparently, they were enjoying the salt.  Kinda gross, but also incredibely cool.

We also found a gigantor cockroach.  Cockroaches were also quite common in the jungle, but this one took the cake for sheer massiveness.

And then, it was time for our nightwalk.  Part of me wished I hadn't gone, since neither myself nor Jo could look at the junjgle the same way afterwards.  We kept imagining the creepy jungle beasties that could be hiding out in every log, hollow, or leaf.  Take a look and you'll see what I mean:

 

Don't say I didn't warn you.