La Selva

After much debate (and thinking I wasn’t going after all the traveling I did last week) I decided to accompany Indira on her trip to the jungle. Now remember, this is the Peruvian jungle, not the rainforest. The Peruvian jungle is at times exactly what you imagine when you hear the word “jungle”—Cliffs with vine covered trees and hanging mosses next to wide rivers, lush dense forests with tropical plants and animals…. However, for the most part, the Peruvian jungle is hot, damp, and dusty. Maybe the dusty part changes once the rainy season comes? I dunno, I’ve only been once, but I’ll say the dust wasn’t pleasant on awful windy mountain roads, and the car ride feels like you’re riding a mechanical bull or a really old roller coaster. When it’s hot so you open the windows and at the end of the day of driving you’re so covered in dust you wipe your face on your shirt and it’s just solid dust—look in the mirror, and that patch of skin you just wiped off is now a shade or two lighter than the rest of you. The dust is just uncomfortable and unpleasant, and combined with the roads it’s exhausting and difficult to take pictures.

Day #1


This is indigo, btw.

We went to la selva for Indigo scouting. The CTTC has a place where they have 2 concrete vats for fermented indigo baths, and a plot of land with indigo plants. There is also an agreement with some local land owners and because of this there are 2 other plots that are grown and tended for the CTTC. We came down specifically to fix the two fermentation vats (I believe they said they leak?) and check on the indigo crop at the two plots for a potential harvest in a few weeks. So, for the sake of Indigo, we drove through Urubamba and Ollantaytambo (I will be going back there asap) at the edge of the Sacred Valley.



Then across the mountains, through a cloud forest where there was definitely snow on the mountains we could see, and then down, down, down into the jungle. Suddenly we had tropical foliage and bad roads!



We stopped, checked on the indigo at our vat site and dropped off our most wonderful repair guy to fix the vats, then were immediately traveling again. This time to Quillabamba, the capital city of the jungle region in Peru, for lunch and supplies. Then off to a smaller city further on to talk to some government officials about the Govt’s plan to change how the funding of crops is managed in the area (which includes phasing out indigo in favor of coffee). Then to the middle of nowhere, where we got out of the car and traipsed into the jungle, past a bunch of crop plots containing mangos and pineapples, to find our indigo plot and see how the indigos are doing (almost ready to harvest Indira informed me).

Indigo Plantation:


Then further on yet to a smaller town to find a hostel for the night. I left the hosue at 5:45am and we didn’t get to the hostel until after 6. Juice (with fresh jungle fruits!) for dinner (did I mention how bad the food in the jungle is**), a short walk around the town square, and a freezing cold shower to wash off the dust. Bedtime around 8pm, trying not to be eaten alive by flying insects.

Day #2



Very similar to the day before, except in reverse order. Drive back out of the jungle on bad roads for hours to find another middle of nowhere field where we have indigo growing. This indigo is also almost ready to harvest (but the guys in charge got scolded because it wasn’t well weeded and it has to be to harvest).



Breakfast at a mercado in some city we drove through (mmm fresh juice and strong coffee and avocados on bread for breakfast). Then back to where our vats to check on our guy, buy more concrete, have a discussion with the guy who tends the indigo at the vat site. While we were there they introduced me to their pet lorikeet because it was sitting in a tree, making all kinds of racket while a group of wild ones flew overhead. Then back out of the jungle, over the mountains, through the cloud forest, down the mountains through Ollantaytambo and Urubamba, and back to Cusco. Got up at 6:30am, got back to Cusco around 5:45pm.



**A note about the food in the jungle. People in the jungle eat lots of fruit, because it’s growing everywhere. Outside of this however, the food is completely unhealthy and usually unappetizing. It’s all fried trout and white rice, chicken baked in a sweet sauce, mashed sweet potatoes with brown sugar and white rice, lamb and beans and gravy and white rice, beef with gravy and white rice. If you’re lucky you get 3 bites of lettuce and a slice of tomato with this and/or a fried potato. Ugh…

Other interesting things I saw:
-A wild parrot flew in front of our car
-A cocoa plantation
-Above ground grave yards full of concrete tombs that are bling'd out like a fiesta



-A crash site where a truck full of papaya rolled itself down the side of a mountain. Didn’t look like anyone was hurt, and there was a line of people passing undamaged papaya back up the mountain to another truck.

Fruit trees identified:
-Mango
-Papaya
-Orange
-Mandarin/tangerine
-Coconut
-“Lemon”
-Avocado
-Passion Fruit
-Orchids
-Coffee (beans are ready to be picked when the skin is red!)

This is coffee, btw....