Into the Jungle

Ok so I now have been into the jungle twice. The first time was tuesday the 1st of july and the second time was wednesday the 9th. Anyways it was a blast. The first trip was more like torture than a hike. The purpose for our trip was to fly into this remote landing strip and then hike to a mountain, then up a mountain so we could run some tests on the VHF radio repeater up there. We started out at like 8 AM and started to hike around 8:30 to 9. I went with Rob DiCrasto and one of the local villagers joined us. Each of us was carrying about 30 lbs each on out backs. The hike up was incredibly hard, harder than the grand canyon trip I did. The main reason it was hard was that I was carrying about 30lb of equipment and we had these rubber boots on that were horribly uncomfortable, and then everywhere we stepped was dead wet leaves on top of mud. I much enjoyed the grand canyons hard firm ground and desert conditions. So besides how hard the actual hike was, we had to watch out for critters. We saw jaguar tracks going up. The paw print was about 5 in long. Our guide told us if you hear any growling, to get your machete ready, so that was comforting. I was so exhausted going up that I'm sure a sloth could attack us and we wouldn't have been able to fight back. So 3 and a half hours after we had left the airstrip we made it to the top. The last mile or so was the most hazardous. We traveled on top of a ridge, so there were cliffs on either side and I think we were walking on top of trees and bushes. There was nothing solid beneath our path. My walking stick was useless because whenever I put it down it would go down about 3 feet before it hit something solid. If I stuck my foot in the wrong place, it would go strait through the ground. Anyways coming up to the summit out trip went from a horizontal hike, to a vertical hike. We had to climb up these wet slippery roots with our 30 lbs of gear and avoid falling down the mountain. Once at the top we spent 3 hours or so load testing the batteries for the solar panels and checking the radio. I about died going up I was so exhausted and the 3 hours of working didn't help fatigue. We started our trip down about 2:15 PM and both rob and I realized going down wasnt easier. Going up everything was wet and muddy, which made it hard, going down was wet and muddy, which made it extremely dangerous. Both Rob and I sliped and slided down. Because of my boots being a little small, my feet were killing me. Anyways we were going fast, at least I though. Our guide was like let me carry your backpack so we can go faster. I was like, no its ok just let me take a few breaks going down. Then he told me about the snakes. Apperently just about every creature is nocturnal in the jungle, so they have these snakes that when you have a flash light they are attracted to it. SO the snakes charge at the light and jump and attack it and whoever has the light. Also those snakes are poisionous. So I decided to let him carry my backpack, besides the one he was already carrying. Ok these jungle indians are hardcore. He said he liked Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, but Im pretty sure this guy could probably kill both of them if they were in the jungle. He just takes my backpack and puts it on his head, like its nothing and runs ahead. I still couldnt keep up even though I wasnt carrying anything. So I was dead tired in the first 1/3 of the trip down and I believe that fight or flight mechanism we humans are supposed to have kicked in. We were pretty much running down the mountain. I was slipping and sliding and both rob and I kept falling. I told not to tough or lean against things until you are sure there are no snakes or bugs. I was so tired that I didn't care, so I was brushing against and leaning on everything. It was a never ending trail. The further down we went, the more wet and slippery it got. I just wanted to die. i was dragging my walking stick and my machete behind me. Anyways we made it to the river that was next to the airstip. I was praying, "Dear Lord, I am a week week individual and you have gotten me this far, please be kind to us and have a plane waiting!" And what do you know? A plane was waiting. We were told that there was a good possibility that a plane couldn't come get us so we would have to walk 2 miles through jungle to a missionary compound and stay there for who knows how many days. We had drank all of our water by about half way down the mountain so we were super thirsty. Anyways Dan Rogers was walking to his plane to leave right when we walked out of the jungle, so we rode home and the first thing I did was get some water. That night we ate some pizza and moaned and groaned about our muscle pain. Anyways I definitely was running on adrenaline for about 24 hours. 24 hours later I got sick and was in bed for quite a while recovering. It was fun now that I recovered for the hike.
Two days ago Rob and I went into a jungle town called Pitacocha to install a VHF system. It is part of this Jungle Radio System that is used for flight and emergency calls. We were supposed to fly in and do an install then fly to another village and remove a radio. We flew into to PIT and had an interesting landing. It always rains in the jungle but it was clear enough for us to land. Kevin, the pilot wanted me to film his landing. So we approached and we touched down in a huge mud puddle and mud and water went everywhere and we slid around side to side in this huge mud hole. The mud hole slowed us down super quick and then we rose out of it and there were chickens running across the airstrip. Our plane about hit this big rooster. Anyways I got out and took a picture of the plane covered in mud. Rob and I got all of our equipment out and met the men that were to help us set the system up. Thankfully the men were all drunk. So the indians helped us carry all our stuff down though the school and came to this bodega that was locked. The idea was to put it inside this but the missionary who owned it was not around so the indians got a crowbar and removed the door. We put the radio inside and setup everything inside. Rob used a compass to find the direction to the north and south repeaters. Once we had the directions, we inspected the pole that the indians had selected for the radio antenna mast. Basically they brought out this 30ft long very hard wood tree It took three of us to turn one end of it. So it was way to large to just slip the antenna's U-bolts on, so they got out the 'machete de motor' (chainsaw) and went to town on it. After it was near the right shape the machete came out to fine tune the pole. We got the antenna bolted on and then almost the entire village came out to raise this thing. This thing weighted over 800 lbs and had an antenna sticking out one side, so it couldn't be dropped. Anyways I don't know if i mentioned this or not but it was raining hard the entire time since we had arrived. One of the indians had dug a 4.5 foot deep hole for the antenna before it started raining. The last 6 inches or so were filled with water, but by the time we started to lift the pole the hole had filled up to 6 inches from the top. Anyways our drunk buddies were there to help lift which didn't inspire confidence. We dropped one end onto the hole and everyone that was able bodied helped (the indian guy that was missing an arm pushed down with his foot on the end that was going into the hole). This was a very challenging part. It was raining hard and the more i pushed to raise the pole, the more i sunk into the ground. I don't think any of us knew what we were doing. We struggled for 15 minutes to get this thing up. If it had fallen, half the village would have been crushed. Finally after what seemed like eternity it dropped into place. The indian guys were say 'oh no problem!' so we hooked up the antenna and then we moved onto the solar panel. It went up with out any problems pretty much. We got the radio all hooked up and Rob made a few calls to base. So the radio setup was successful and then we waited around for the rain to stop. It rained so long that we were unable to go to the next airstrip. Once the rain cleared we took off and made it home by 5:00 PM.