YA LEUM.69 — Now, I can die!
During this trip, I met the best version of nature. I saw hills, valleys, mountains, lagoons, lakes, rocks, the desert, beaches, islands, flowers, birds, and glaciers.
In 2003, I participated in cultural exchange for choirs in Germany. My choir sang in several places all around the city and its surroundings. One day, while leaving a church after a concert, I was presented with a gorge of high and elegant trees for kilometers. My eyes flashed and I thought to myself: “One day I will live in a place like this”.
10 years later, I moved to the Netherlands and although it is the flattest country I know, it is also filled with trees, forests, and parks. And, once again, it made me feel that cozy feeling and thought “I want to live here!”.
When I started this trip, I had no great expectations nor requests, there was just a place, an experience that was on the top of my list.
It was not the famous Machu Picchu, the desert in Patagonia, the carnival in Rio de Janeiro, nor the paradisiac beaches of Indonesia.
It was the Forest, the woods, the Jungle!
In Laos, I entered the rainforests, where I immediately felt happy.
In the Philippines, I explored the wild forest that meets the sea, where I felt like It was heaven.
However, Amazonia gave me everything.
This was my place.
There was home. And, probably, in another life, I was born a tree.
I could not be any luckier than having met the Jungle as I did.
A friend of mine recommended to visit Amazonia in the department of Madre Dios, which is located in southwest Peru. Since it was easier to reach than going to the north, in the area of Iquitos, we did not think twice.
In Cuzco, we caught a bus to the main city of Madre Dios, Puerto Maldonado. The trip was tiring and long. I was worried about the road, these trips couldn’t always be described as safe, either due to the roads, the drivers, or the state of the buses. It looked like the more trips I went on, the less comfortable I felt. The first part was spent crossing the mountains, it was all about curves and more curves, going up and down, to leave the Andes region. Then, slowly, we started to reach lower heights, the heat returned slowly, and all that green started to enter through our eyes.
As soon as we entered the department of Madre Dios, I was invaded by a feeling of well-being and happiness. My eyes covered the windows of the bus and I tried to absorb everything that forest was already giving me. We were arriving at such a wonderful place…
Once we reached Puerto Maldonado, we went to meet our couchsurfing hosts: Juan Carlos and Rosi. A couple born in Puerto Maldonado, who worked inside the Amazonia. We had no idea before we actually met them! Juan Carlos worked for a non-governmental organization that developed projects to promote the conservation and fight deforestation in Amazonia and Rosi worked as a sociologist, close to the native communities. I was in heaven!
In love and curious about the forest as I am, as soon as I met them, I asked countless questions! After a little while, Juan Carlos, in a natural tone said: “Now, we do not have any programmed trips to the forest but, if you want, we can talk to our farmer colleagues who live there so that we show you around”.
I could barely handle all that happiness! Entering the Amazonia Forest with locals, without travel guides? It was my dream made true!
And so, it was.
First, we visited the non-governmental organization where Juan Carlos worked, still in Puerto Maldonado. They looked enthusiastic about meeting two Europeans who were interested in their work and in collaborating with the organization.
Then, with a few of their colleagues, we went to meet Sixto, the owner of a plantation of Amazonian chestnut, and his colleague Emígdio. We had lunch together, then left Juan Carlos and his colleagues and left towards the forest!
Emígdio and Sixto, each one with their own motorcycle, took us and showed us their second home.
Their land was located in the Natural Reserve of Tambopata, near the River Tambopata, like the majority of the residents of the Amazonia area.
First, we had to go through security, to inform them about our existence.
Then, we went to Emígdio’s house, which was inside the forest, by motorcycle. It was where he spent the majority of the time. During the day, he worked in the harvesting of the Amazonian chestnuts, gather the wood from the ground to make constructions, and other accessories; he strolled around with his dog and walked through that huge natural park. At night, he watched over that natural sanctuary, protecting it from illegal activities or thefts.
It was only at this point that the real adventure started!
Sixto and Emígdio, each one with their machete opened the way for us to pass. We went through paths that had never been walked before. There, we were in the forest that had never been touched by a man. Everything was pure, everything was pure green. Everything was, pure and raw nature.
My eyes shined with happiness, I felt like levitating. I was so happy I could not stop smiling.
I was constantly saying to Mathieu:
“Look, it is so beautiful! It is so green! Look at that tree! And those bushes! Can you hear that bird?”
We went through hard but wonderful paths and they told us a thousand stories from that place.
How people lives there, who lives there, how to plant the Amazonian chestnuts, how to collect them, the animals, the deforestation, the illegal mining, the humidity, the heat, and those who got lost there and never appeared again!
We found small lakes of water along the way and had lunch in a wood house, made by themselves. We heard the animals singing all the melodies, we discovered trees we had never heard about and were hypnotized by the penetrating green of the rainforest.
The sun rays penetrated the giant palm trees and bushes, and the forest was enlightened by a fascinating golden brightness.
The weather was wet and we sweat non-stop. Yet, I had finally found what I had always looked for.
I was at home. In another life, I was certainly a tree.
And I returned to myself.
To be Continued…
April, 2018
Patricia Assis
