What is the first thing that comes to mind
when you hear the word “jungle”? A thick, overgrown canopy covered in
vegetation? Bathing in beautiful rivers
winding through it with rickety bridges connecting the narrow path? Thousands
of different species of animals and insects? Muddy, impassable trails? Stories
of lost hikers who go a little too far in and can’t quite make it out by dark
certainly must come to mind. Well, we lived a little of all this on Wednesday
as we made our way to Nueva Esperanza, an extremely remote village nestled in
the heart of the jungle outside Huaticocha.
back of a truck for about half an hour down a dirt road to a river where we were dropped off and spent the better part
of two hours swimming and jumping 30 feet off the bridge into the cold water
below. Picture the most beautiful scenery you have ever seen surrounding a
glistening, winding, Amazonian river. We were in heaven, climbing up the rocky
banks and exploring the paths around the river, discovering hundreds of
butterflies and other creatures everywhere we turned. We took this time at the
river to bathe as well, getting a much needed full body cleansing that we had
been lacking all week from the bucket showers that never seemed to quite cut
it. We all had a relaxing, refreshing time, much needed after all of our hard
work during the first half of the week.
to head up the hill past the river further into the jungle. We never really know
what we are doing when it comes to Ivan’s plans for us, we just kind of
discover as we go. As the trail got steeper, the path muddier, and the
vegetation thicker, we began to soak in our surroundings and realize just how
awesome our life is right now. As a team we do something called “reality
check”. Anytime we need a reminder of what we are doing, and how it is better
than anything else we could possibly be doing anywhere else, we bring it back
down to earth in simple terms. It goes like this: right now we are in the
jungle outside Huaticocha, in Ecuador, In South America, on the World Race,
hiking towards an unknown village and about as far from “civilization” as we
can get. Doing a reality check gives us a little perspective and serves as a
reminder that we wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world. We trudged on
in our boots, sweating feverishly, covered in mud, getting eaten alive by bugs,
but loving every moment.
of one of the local villagers for a
house visit. I am pretty sure this house was just dropped from the sky and
built wherever it landed. It was in the middle of nowhere and it seemingly
showed up out of nowhere as Ivan led us into a clearing in the path. We spent
about an hour with this family sharing our stories, hearing their stories, and
praying for them. After we wrapped up our time there, we headed back down the
path towards the church that we were going to be visiting that night. Again,
the clutter of houses just seemed to emerge out of nowhere as we arrived.
wooden hut on stilts and looked just like the houses that surrounded it. We all
gathered in and were amazed at that fact that even though they hardly had any
sort of modern resources they were still able to connect a set of booming
speakers and play the bass and use the microphone at an almost excruciating
level. I had a headache within 5 minutes of sitting down. The speakers were
also used to announce to the village that the service was starting and to
invite people to come out. Our team had prepared some songs in English and
Spanish to share, and our two Spanish speakers, Emily and Jamie, had prepared a
message for the church as well. We shared all of these with them, and
participated as they sang song after song in addition to what we had brought.
It was getting pretty late, and although we were loving the experience, we were
a little unsure of what the hike back would be like in the suffocating
darkness.
A few of us had headlamps, which was helpful,
but otherwise the hike back was pretty, well, dark. And muddy. It was basically
the same hike as earlier in the day, but downhill. The whole way back our young
friends from Huaticocha who had come with us, the little “jungle boys” as we
called them, decided it would be hilarious to hide in the shadows and jump out
of the gringos any chance they got and scare the living daylights out of us. Honestly,
it was pretty funny, although I don’t think Glenn felt the same (at least his
screams could make this case). Finally, we made it back to the river and to the
dirt road back to Huaticocha. Much to our dismay, Ivan asked if we were ok
walking. Seriously? Alright, go with the
flow people, be flexible. We were preparing ourselves mentally to hike for a
good 2 hours up the road back to town, because apparently we didn’t have a ride
like we expected to. Luckily, we aren’t very good at reading Ivan’s dry humor,
and after about 15 minutes of hiking the truck showed up and drove us the rest
of the way back to town. Goshdarnit, Ivan, stop messing with the poor gringos.
we will never forget. This is exactly what I signed up for. Bring it on Ivan,
give us everything you got. I love this place.
