The Jungle

Here it is, after spending a week in the Andes Mountains going through all kinds of different villages and Jungles, I'm back. There will be no possible way that I will be able to express in words the beauty and larger-than-life feeling, but I hope that I can shed some light on the amazingness of this trip.

We left on Tuesday afternoon and headed for a small city in the Andes mountains called Tarma. After driving up winding roads and passing on the curves we made it to one of the highest roads in all South America called Ticlio. Talk about cold. After that we made our way downhill towards Tarma where we ate "Caldo de Gallina" which is basically the greatest chicken soup I'd ever had. Then we traveled down to a jungle city called La Merced where we spent the night in a jungle bungalow hostal. Crossing over the mountain from Tarma to La Merced you could literally feel the change in the weather, from freezing to insta-sweat.

The next morning we got up, went into the city to get fresh Juice made from 4 different kinds of fruit. The Juice tasted so sweet, but it had no sugar, all natural. After that we went across a bridge where we checked out the river and played Tarzan on some of the vines and roots on the side of the road. A root about half an inch thick could support my weight. After we "hung out" for a while (I'm sorry about that, it was so perfect) we went to eat lunch at a sweet resturant next to the river. There I ate an animal called Zamano, which is basically a cute and cudily jungle rat. Don't judge it to quickly because it was some of the best food I've had in a long time. Very interesting. After that we went to some of the most breath taking waterfalls I've ever seen, and whats better is that we got to swim in them. After we did some crazy jumps and swimin we left to head back into to town where we chilled out and then got to bed after an extremly long day.

The next day we got up late and spent the day at the Hostal where we ate breakfast, played cards, and relaxed in some beautiful jungle scenary. We went and got some lunch in town at La Merced where I, again, ate some jungle rat. O, and the pieces still had some hair on them. Then we climbed up to the top of the city and got to see some amazing mountains and jungle behind the village. We walked down and talked to a crazy farmer guy who talked to us the whole time with his mouth full of something. We went back and ate some "Picarones" which are the peruvian equivalent to dounuts, even though they are way better. We went back to the Hostal and hung out the rest of the night, awaiting the return of our "guide" from the church to get back so we could go to a village deep in the peruvian jungle.

The next day we got up and started our journey through the mountains towards a village called "Pozuzo" which is a village started by a germans back in the late 1800's. We crossed through some of the most picturesque scenary I'd ever seen until we reached a town called Oxapampa. We ate lunch at this crazy "Southern" resturant where we ate steaks and stuff and took some great coyboy pictures. Then we went into town to find some "Picarones", but they weren't going to be ready until later so we went and found a ranch where we rode horses and saw one of the bigest bulls of all time. Then we went back into town to grab some "Picarones" and coffee, and then hit the road again. We rode on this ridiculous dirt road for the next four hours and, after a "near death" fall and a flat tire, we made it to Pozuzo.

The next day we got up and ate some amazing bread and cheeze for breakfast and then headed out to find some adventure. We explored the city a bit and marvoled over the white spanish/german speaking people. We treked through the jungle a bit and basically explored most of the city and surrounding jungle. We went to bed and got ready for the next day of travel.

We woke up and went back to eat and buy some of the bread and cheese we had the day before, and then started back to Tarma. We had an amazing trip over all, and had some great laughs and memories. Sorry I couldn't write in every detail, but your probably bored already. Altogether great times, great sights, and a great God who made it all possible.