This pequenito light of mine: The Jungle Experience Part 1

I'm back! Back from where you might ask - back from the Bolivian Jungle of course. What is the Jungle like you might ask - humid, green, full of bugs, big leaves, fruit, and rivers!

peeling papayas

This past weekend I went with the young adult group to Chapare. I spent some time in the kitchen, learning how to cook and cut Bolivian food. As you can see in the picture - the style of cutting includes cutting towards yourself versus using any type of board as a base or cutting away from yourself. For this reason - I have 6 cuts on my hands. Do not worry though, the blood never got into the food - I am a sanitary cook. ;)

raw fish cut in half

We also cooked fish over an open fire. To cook the fish you have to split it in half (like in the picture). To eat the fish I had to use my fingers because I forgot to bring a plate and cup. It tasted good, but, fish have a lot of small bones in them, so it was difficult to eat. One of my friends knew that I don't like fish eyes so he got my attention and proceeded to pick out the fish eyes with his fingers, put it in his mouth, smile, and swallow, "mmmmmm." But that wasn't enough, so he fished around for the brain and ate that too. What are good friends for if not to gross you out?

chugging contest - I lost

Other than cooking I also participated in a couple of skits - which received raving reviews. In my favorite skit I posed as a street vendor with another friend. We interrupted announcements to try and sell a liquid made with coke leaves that would solve all your problems, mainly make you more attractive and lovable by everyone. We convinced more than 10 people to drink the liquid. At the end, after the pot was empty, we revealed our secret ingredients. 1. A coke leaf 2. a dirty sock. Everyone was in an uproar when they realized they had just drank the liquid that sat in a pot with a dirty sock. "VERDDDADDD" (That's riiiighhhtt), is all I said as we ran off the stage. Good times!

You know how it is when you go to a beach and try and throw sand, or mud, or climb on someones back - basically - when you go to a beach and try to have fun - and than a lifeguard or, a sensible adult reprimands you and explains how "dangerous" it is? Yea - I know how that is - I never liked it. One of the cool things about swimming in the wild...with a group of young adults as leaders is that - you can be "wild." We had sand fights in the river and mud fights - oh my goodness - it was so much fun. There were at least one or two girls that tried to stop us from throwing sand because of the "dangers", but, they weren't a lifeguard, nor a leader, so... unfortunately (really fortunately)...no one listened to them. :)

In an attempt to enter the river I grasped onto a tree bark only to touch a group of something fierce. Before I knew it, 3 of my fingers started burning. "What is happening?? Why do my fingers hurt and there are no bite marks??" "oooooowwwww" A "jungle expert" (one of the Bolivians) came over and showed me the group of catapillars I had touched. My fingers continued to burn for 30 minutes and than subsided. I was later told that a much quicker remedy would be to kill the catapillar and squeeze out its liquid back onto your finger. Wish I would have known in the moment because it wasn't fun feeling like your fingers are on fire while trying to do stuff.

leaf grasshopper

Another interesting insect that I did not touch is a butterfly. It is GORGEOUS and BIG. But if it lands on you, it immediately injects it's larvae into your skin and your skin starts to form a boil. You have to pop it and than out crawl the little larvae. I saw this type of butterfly three times - I've never seen anything like it.

Other than butterflies, there were cockroaches, rats, big spiders, and tons of mosquitoes. The humidity level was unreal. Just sitting and listening to the preacher made us all sweat. There was no shame in smelling bad, that is for sure.

I probably could share more stories, but I think photos can help explain the trip better.

Alison Garza