Tingo Time: Our Trip to the Jungle

While this week started out on a sour note, but ended with a bang. Let’s recap.

At the sulfur pool, our first big stop in Tingo!

Tuesday was Jimmy’s birthday. Katrina and I gawked as Carolina prepared his birthday meal by killing and preparing two hens. I had envisioned us going out to a giant stump, then thwacking the chickens off with a lumberjack-style ax, but it turned out we just cut the chickens throats over a bucket in the kitchen. From there, Carolina dipped them in hot water to help pull out the feathers, then cut them up, and threw the leftovers to the dogs—which is when I discovered Mohada acting sick.

Wednesday, we had the joy of public transit with a dog (yet again). The vet recognized from the last visit with Hueso and quickly informed us that Mohada had caught the virus distemper from him. Distemper is apparently rampant in Peru and 80 percent of dogs that get it, die. I was in a sorry state after this news, but the vet gave gave Mohada a few shots and a few instructions for us to help Mohada as much as we could.  

Being Bats at the Cueva de las Lechuzas

Thursday morning we returned to the vet for a status update, and he said her temperature had broken, and gave us a pill regiment for the next three days. With that good news, I was able to approach our next venture with a little less worry on my mind: Tingo Maria.

Tingo Maria is the “selva” (jungle) and is just over two hours away from Huanuco. When we told our host family we wanted to make a trip, they forbid is from going alone; Tingo has a bit of a reputation for drugs and violence. Luckily, Jimmy was down for a trip to Tingo, so the three of us headed out. Our first night was quiet, walking around the plaza and soaking in the city. In honor of Christmas, a giant fair was set up in the middle of the plaza, and we quickly hopped on a Peruvian Ferris Wheel, which apparently is a LOT different than an American one. For starters, it’s fast. Too add to that, the carts were like the teacups at Disney World that you can spin around and around and around. Somehow Jimmy and Katrina were able to get their spin-fix and I was able to not barf, which seemed like a fair compromise to me.

Our favorite stop of the trip: the waterfalls! 

Friday was a FULL but fantastic. We started the day by finding a reputable travel agency, then booking a few excursions. Our first stop was the Agua Sulfurosa Medicina which was a beautiful pool, full of, well, sulfur and water. It reeked like rotten eggs, but was interesting to try and we kept ourselves highly entertained by slinging stinky mud at each other and catching little fish in our hands. From there we the National Park of Tingo Maria to check out the Cueva de las Lechuzas, which is NOT full of owls, like the name might suggest. Nonetheless, it was cool. Our next stop was my favorite of the day: Catarata Santa Carmen. This was essentially a series of waterfalls and small pools for swimming. We played here for hours, taking pictures and enjoying the fresh water.

The mountains behind us are called the Sleeping Beauty.

Here I feel like I should pause to say that the normal Peruvian thing to do is to swim in your underwear. Neither Katrina nor I wanted to “Do as the Romans Do” in this situation, so we swam in our bathing suits. I think this deterred Jimmy from the traditional underwear swim for a while, but after a half hour of watching Katrina and I have fun, he abandoned his pants to join us. So that is why there is a picture of a man in his underwear in a lot of my Facebook pictures (Rachel, this side note is for you.)

We finished the day by visiting a lookout point of La Bella Durimente, a series of mountains that look like a woman laying down to sleep. Exhausted, we went back to the hotel, freshened up a bit, then returned to the fair in the plaza, time playing in a kids bounce around like a bunch of five year olds.

Pausing for a picture in the bounce around. 

The next day, we headed out for another round of excursions, this time checking out the Laguna de los Milagros, where we swam around and exfoliated with some of the mud (that turned out to be full of fish poop). From there, we headed to the Serpentario, which is a local place full of snakes. Katrina had been itching to get a picture with a boa, and convinced Jimmy and I to do the same. My verdict: the snake was heavy and needed lotion—no wonder its skin falls off.

After that, it was time to head back to Huanuco, so we bought our last few fresh jungle bananas and headed home. I was greeted by a happy Mohada, who seems to be doing okay, but has another vet appointment tomorrow.

Catching a picture with the boa!

Sunday, we’d had a campfire planned, but ended up having to postpone it because a pastor visited from Orlando’s parent’s church. The pastor, who oddly enough was named Santos, treated us to a few of his church’s regular songs and delivered the sermon. He brought his family along with him, who were a joy to meet and we might get to see again on Sunday before we leave.

On that note, this week is our last one in Huanuco, which is so hard to believe. Huanuco has been a breath of fresh air (literally, Lima is full of smog.) We’re headed back to Lima on Saturday, and from there it’s off to Cusco, for our next big adventure. Until then, we have a lot planned before we leave Huanuco—we’re not done here yet!