Lost in the Jungle

Canoe ride to the lodge

Our first day in the jungle! We got outfitted with gum boots and our rain gear and loaded up on a boat with nine other people and headed up river. After about a 45 minute ride we pulled over to the bank and our guide macheted a path for us. We all unloaded and started our journey. I couldn’t wait to see what we would find. It was going to be a completely different world that was populated with animals, plants, and insects I only see on the discovery channel. So we were off, following our all knowing intrepid guide. We followed the path through the jungle engulfed in the trees. We crossed a stream on some logs that functioned as a bridge

Laura on the log crossing

and saw some interesting insects. All was going well just like I had imagined. Then our guide stopped and told us to wait that the path was closed ahead and she needed to try and find a path. So then started a spider web of searching, she went to the left for a few minutes and came back then she went a little more to the right, then all the way over to the right, and again and again. She finally came back with a confused look on her face and then finally asked the group, “Which way did we come from?” We all looked at each other in slightly amused terror.


The group managed to find the trail we had come on and we wound our way back to the spot they had left us on the river. We then spent the next 5 to 6 hours trying to send messages through starting a fire to send smoke up. Yeah, come to find out, it’s hard to find dry wood in a rain forest. Somehow we managed to find enough to start a fire. We then found an echo tree that when you bang with a stick makes a very loud noise you can hear for miles.

Echo tree

Well, we had lots of time to get to know everyone at least. There was a really nice girl from Spain and two guys and two girls from Switzerland that we hit it off with. We bonded over telling each other the stereotypes and impressions we all had for each others’ countries. Not surprisingly so, they had plenty of ammo on the states. I knew there were a lot of negative views floating around but, wow, I was shocked to hear all of them. So after we were completely out of insults to throw at one another we then started to amuse ourselves with silly games like charades and the game where you have a card on your forehead with a famous person on it and you have to ask questions till you find out who it is. I wish I could remember the name. We had a lot of fun then the hunger started taking over and we played the game, I had a sandwich. We took turns adding an ingredient to the sandwich but we had to remember each item that was said before.

It was starting to get dark and we were getting a bit worried. Finally, after hours of beating the echo tree and fanning our little rescue fire the boat finally arrived and we were heading back to the lodge to get our long overdue meal. We

Rescue Fire

ate around 5:30 and devoured everything in front of us. Our guide then told us to meet back at 8:00 to go search for Cayman. We were all hanging out at the main lodge and started to get hungry again. It was getting close to dinner time and there was no sign of any preparation so we asked if we were going to eat soon. We were then informed that we had already had dinner and there would be no more food. So I guess we forfeited dinner because we got lost in the jungle. So we sat hungry, waiting for our guide to show up. 8:00 came and went. Then 8:30… 9:00… 9:30… and no sign of our guide. Then we see her walking out of the jungle with two other people. Apparently the owners of the lodge were suppose to pick her up from town in the boat and bring her back but they never came to get her. So instead she found some friends to walk back with her so she wouldn’t have to walk through the jungle at night by herself. She said there would be no Cayman trip because the owners took the boat. So we basically spent our first day hungry and didn’t do anything. At least we made some good friends. We went to bed hungry and hoped the next day would be better.