The Pleasure of Traveling

One of the pleasures that I have experienced the last year and will keep forever in my heart and my mind, and not for its happiest moments but rather for the hardships I passed there, is the jungle of Perú, specifically Moyobamba and Tarapoto belonging to the department of San Martin. In spite of those difficult times, I think everything in life has a purpose and as I recount my journey I hope you will realize the great beauty of the place, people, food and places I met along the way. Perhaps it seems contradictory to say that my travels to the jungle of Perú brought me adversity, and then to continue by praising its beauties, but then again, it is when everything goes wrong that we have the perfect opportunity to realize the courage inside of us and to bear the bad times by seeing the positive side of things. 

Getting to the jungle by plane is exciting, but not more exciting than traveling by bus 26 hours while enjoying the beautiful postcards that only nature can draw in the middle of the thickness of the jungle—that nature so perfect that only a divine being could have created it. That's how I first came to Tarapoto. I was heading to a national youth camp and our happiness was so notorious that we hardly let the other passengers sleep. This time going from Trujillo to Tarapoto I would travel only 15 hours in bus. At dawn we arrived at a place called Moyobamba, where they told us we would stop for breakfast. When we were ready to get off the bus the hostess told us that it was impossible to get off the bus and the trip would continue to Tarapoto. I felt sad and thought I could not even set foot in Moyobamba. I never imagined that later, this city would host me for almost four months­­and that those months would become the most memorable ones of my life. After three hours we reached the long awaited campsite where we spent a wonderful week, becoming accustomed to the heat of the jungle, feeling the rain falling so hard as it does in that country. For those of us who are from the coast, such landscapes capture our imagination so much that just by describing them I feel I am looking back on them once again. The Peruvian jungle is characterized by its warm climate, unique flora and fauna found only in this region of Perú.

Upon returning from the camp, I returned directly to Lima, the place where I reside, and after the 26-hour trip, which was obviously very tiring, I arrived safe and sound and still with the excitement of what I had lived. 

The next week I spent at the camp, I received a phone call from a friend who happens to live in Moyobamba. He informed me that there was a work opportunity in his city, but that I should leave right away, so I didn't consider it too much and I quickly packed my things and traveled once again, this time by plane because of the urgency of the trip. With mixed feelings I arrived at the airport of Tarapoto, welcomed by a temperature of 35 °C. I was happy to return, sad to leave my family, excited and expectant of the new job. After two hours I arrived at Moyobamba, the capital of the department of San Martín, known as the city of the orchids due to the great variety or orchids it possesses, where my friend received me and opened his home to me. That is how I arrived at my new work. I was introduced to my coworkers and everything began, the daily grind of working from 8:30 till 11:00 at night or until everyone left. I was Media Coordinator for the regional and Municipal elections that took place the third of October. But returning to the city of Moyobamba, the first city founded by the Spanish in the jungle of Perú in July of 1540. It is located at 860 meters above sea level and 96 meters above the level of the Rio Mayo, and it is found in the beautiful valley of the Alto Mayo. All this information and these names I, of course, didn't remember from my childhood school years, but I was forced to learn them because of the constant relationship that I needed to maintain with the townspeople and journalists of the region.

I got to know more of Moyabamba and what most caught my attention were the orchids to be seen in that place. There is a great variety and, in agreement with the statistics given by the regional government, it is one of the few places in the world where one can see such a variety of orchids. For this reason there is such a large number of tourists who visit the jungle zone in Peru. Many families from the jungle are able to sustain themselves thanks to the production, commercialization, and exportation of orchids and ornamental plants, raising economic as much as social development for the townspeople.

As time went on and I continued my work in the jungle, I enjoyed seeing different things, becoming accustomed with new customs, people, food, beverages, fruits, etc. 

I always heard that the women of the jungle have slender bodies and that from a very young age their curves can be noted. I thought that it was an exaggeration but I was able to confirm it, and I could say that 90% of the women have very well formed bodies. It is said that it is because of a fruit called Aguaje, which possesses female hormones that define and better figures. This fruit has many benefits not only for women but also for men as it is used for the treatment of cancer, making it popular to other nations.

On one hand the days till I would return to the coast seemed too many, but I was enjoying learning every new and strange thing that I could see. I remember that I always knew that in the jungle they ate ants—I thought that they were small ants like the ones back home—but asking my friends from Moyobamba they told me that they were much larger ants that come out after the rain. I stayed curious to see it, until one day a friend asked me, "Do you eat ants?" I was a little surprised and doubting I told her that I had never eaten them but that I would love to try, so she told me she would bring me some ants at my office. I was happy with the idea but with all of the things on my plate I quickly forget the promise and not too many days had passed when the lady came again and called me and gave me a bag. She told me these were the ants that she had promised me. I thanked her and ran to where another friend was, also not from around there, and I told her that I had ants and we were going to eat. The first thing that we did was take out our cameras, but upon discovering the ants we were shocked at their size. They looked rather strange and neither of us could get up the courage to try them, until finally I said I would eat, I closed my eyes and counted to three and I popped an ant in my mouth. I had imagined it would taste disgusting, or that the ant's insides would come out, but it wasn't at all that way. Chewing was like eating cancha, or toasted corn. My acceptance of the foreign food encouraged my friend who also tried and we began to eat. As more of our coworkers arrived we offered them some of our ants, and amongst all of us we finished them. From that moment I knew what it was to eat ants and I recommended them, but I continued to investigate and was told that ants came out after the strong rains and that the townspeople were going all the way to the fields to hunt them and later frying them in order to eat them.