17 Things I Learned in the Jungle
1) My hair doesn't dry in the jungle.Nope. My fine ass hair doesn't really dry at all, and so I kind of had semi-greasy hair all week long. Oh well! No one cares about what your hair looks like in the jungle.
2) Cold showers aren't so bad.
We did have hot water--which I was incredibly grateful for the first, full day there when all you want is a hot shower to relax after such a long journey to get there. However, after a few days, it wasn't such a big deal to refrain from using hot water. I learned how to be thankful for the "little things" like hot showers, and I also felt as though I was more mindful of not over-using too much water as well. I don't think I'll be trading my life in for a pioneer lifestyle anytime soon, but hey--I don't mind bathing in a river or standing in tepid water. When you're in the jungle, you pretty much just want to wash the sweat off of you, and any ole water source will do!
3) There are HUGE spiders. And HUGE bugs. But once you've seen them, it's like "sup, guys?"
Yeah--about that. The second evening there, I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night (and you take your flashlight with you to light the way, I might add). Upon closing the door to walk back to my room, I glanced back at the bathroom door and saw the biggest f*cking spider of my entire life. It wasn't a tarantula. Nope. Just a huge. Mother effing. Spider. Surprisingly, however, after seeing that monster creepy-crawly, I wasn't as freaked out by the bugs. It's like the initial shock is taken away, and you just learn to accept that there are going to be disturbingly large spiders and bugs in the jungle because, well, it's the jungle.
4) Compost toilets do not stink.
We did not have "flushable" restrooms in the jungle. Instead, we had a compost toilet for "number 2" and a separate toilet for number 1. Surprisingly, they didn't stink! Well, the pee potty smells a little because it's pee--but the poop one wasn't bad at all. I was nervous to have to poo in such facilities, but after the first day, it's not a big deal at all. Just putting that out there in case you were wondering.
5) Howling monkeys are loud. Dude, they are SO LOUD. I only saw one monkey flopping around in the trees while I was there, but apparently howling monkeys are assholes. I don't know if the monkey I saw was a howling monkey, but I do know that one night, it sounded like they were hanging out right outside of my window. If they were hoping to come in and snuggle with me, they would've been turned away...because my bed was too small anyways for me, myself and some monkeys.
6) Toucans like to hang out in banana trees.
Pretty self-explanatory, and toucans are freaking CUTE! Check out the one in the photo who tagged along with us at the waterfalls! I swear to god, he knows that people are taking pics of him and he poses for the camera. I'm not lying. He perches, poses, gets his photo taken, and then he flies over to the next tourist who's willing to catch his freaking cute a$$ face.
Yo--the butterflies. THE BUTTERFLIES. Costa Rica is really popular for butterfly farming, and now I see why. There are butterflies there every color of the rainbow, but I think my favorite had to be the blue butterflies with huge, floppy wings. They looked like birds, flapping their wings and floating through the air. Ahh! I loved it. So beautiful.
8) Fire ants are not to be f*cked with.
Also self-explanatory. But allow me to share with you what fire ants feel like when they sting you. Umm, it's like getting tiny tattoos all over your body when they sting & bite you. That's correct: they sting and bite. Luckily, I only had about 4 or 5 places where they did both. Let's just say I was quite vigilant about not f*cking with fire ants the rest of my time there, and I was also quite respectful of their social bubbles. Ya just don't want to get all up in a fire ant's bidness. They're great team players with each other, but when you disrupt their #workflow, they don't appreciate it. At all.
9) You can drink the water--it's cleaner than what we have in our pipes, yo. True life. No flouride treatment. No chemicals. Just straight up H to the izzO.
10) Jungle crabs are a thing.
We're not that far from the ocean, so it's not really terribly surprising to see "jungle crabs." However, that doesn't mean that I wasn't taken aback by seeing a crab in the jungle. I mean, who knew there are crabs in the jungle? I didn't. Til I saw a crab in the jungle. #junglecrabs
11) The mosquitoes aren't so bad, believe it or not.
Where we stayed, at Florestral, the living quarters are far enough away from the river in the valley below to be away from stagnant water. At the same time, the river waters flow swiftly enough to make it difficult for egg hatching in one, concentrated area. That is not to say that I didn't get bitten (I did!), but I was surprised that I wasn't eaten alive like I usually am when at the beach at the Outer Banks, for example. And while I'm a lover of nature, you better believe I murdered the mosquitoes (sorry Dani!). Nobody makes me bleed my own blood.
12) Shake out your blankets. Check your shoes.
Thankfully, for me, I was able to avoid the shock of slipping my foot into a shoe with a mutant spider hanging out in it--but this lesson came at the expense of one of the guys on our trip, Drury, who did have that happen to him. Also, my roomie and I were warned by him to shake out your blankets before getting into bed because...who knows what might be in there. And he was right; I shook out a couple cockroaches whom I was NOT interested in sharing a bed with.
13) Coconuts are very versatile.
The coconut or pipa is an abundant tree fruit--or nut--and it's cheap. Want to drink coconut water? Just order una pipa and watch a guy hack it with a machete until there's a tiny hole big enough to shove a straw into, and then enjoy! Also, coconut meat is not sweet when fresh. It's definitely a hearty flesh and while it has a slight sweetness to it, it's definitely more salty and meaty than you may imagine. We even tried a "coconut cheese" which was amazeballs that was made out of the raw flesh. There are so many ways to use a coconut that it makes me appreciate this food so much more!
14) You can breathe along with the cicadas.
As I lay on a gigantic boulder that is the size of my office, I let the sun soak into each and every pore of my skin. It was lovely to be able to be outside without having to bundle up in infinite layers of wool and down fluff. It was just me, the jungle, the river and the rest of the natural jungle inhabitants, including cicadas. Jungle cicadas are loud AF, but they're also like a constant song playing in the background of a dream. As I relaxed into a state of just being with nature, I noticed that my breathing became synced with the rhythm of their song. I breathed in (silence). I breathed out (cicada song). It was so freaking cool. You should try it sometime.
No joke: it really does. It's like being in a vortex where time moves slowly like a long, languid gulp of sticky-hot molasses vapor. One day seems like three days. When the sun rises, you rise with it (at 5:30/6 a.m.) and when it sets, you eat dinner, hang out a bit, play some music, and go the hell to bed. Each hour of light is used to its advantage, and because Florestral operates on solar power, you notice how thankful you are for the simple gift of sunlight. Nothing needs to be rushed or forced when living a natural life that flows with the cycle of daytime in the jungle.
One thing that ayahuasca taught me is that the jungle has as many personalities. She is dark and mysterious in damp, shaded ravines. She is bright and airy in birdsongs and floating butterflies. She is hearty and strong like the tall, ancient trees. She is playful and caring as a vine curving its woody spine around itself, dangling loosely from the bough above. She is sharp and unforgiving in the sting of a fire ant. She is silly and carefree as a monkey swinging from branch to branch. She is beautiful and shimmering in the sheen of turquoise hummingbird wings. She is exotic and passionate in the many fruits and flowers she holds within her fertile bosom. Everything about the jungle represents all aspects of life, and when you appreciate each face of the goddess, you can't help but marvel how mankind has the capacity to live in harmony with such lush, green abundance.
17) The jungle is a magical, mystical place of power. You can just feel it!
Never in my life have I stepped into a place that beheld so much majesty and wonder; you are put under a spell of wild, lustful enchantment in the jungle. She is so beautiful! Again, the thing that stands out most about this experience is the way humans live among this untamed and sometimes unforgiving landscape. It is truly humbling. That is not to say that I didn't already have a reverence for nature, but there's something about this place that is positively awe-inspiring. You wonder: how did the indigenous peoples survive in such a place of rugged wilderness? You think: how could anyone want to cut down trees in a place like this? You believe that there is no greater power than that of nature, Mother Earth, Gaia spirit. Just by being there for one week allows me to say that I am sincerely changed forever and much more respectful for the raw, extraordinary force of the natural world.
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| Original photograph by Dani Behnod Florestral and Sound of Light Circle, Costa Rica |
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