Day 43: Man vs. Jungle
Continuing yesterdays story, day 4 in the Yunga Cruz trek was nothing short of really horribly difficult. Whereas the first days of the trek were only 4-5 hours of hiking per day, this day was an eight hour slog, downhill most of the way losing over 5000 feet in elevation (oh what pain on the knees), and worst of all, having to fight through a seriously overgrown trail. To explain further, day 1 to 3 were spent up in the Andes, whereas day 4 and 5 were spent hiking downhill into the hot, jungly valleys below. The contrast between the areas was quite striking and probably the best part of the trek. In sum, we started at about 12,000 feet, went as high as 13,500, and then descended over the last two days all the way down to a mere 5,500. It was only 18 miles in total, a small trek in terms of distance, but a difficult one in terms of trail conditions and elevation changes.
Jungly areas, like the one we hiked through on the last two days, are not exactly known for having well behaved plant life. And since this is a rarely used trail, very few people had tramped through, and not enough to make a difference in clearing out the trail. So, in short, I spent about 6 of the 8 hours ducking under trees, tripping on slippery moss covered rocks (these are really bad on a downhill hike), and swiping at all sorts of branches that covered the trail. In some areas you would look at the scenery in front of you and wonder how anyone could consider it a trail at all. It really was more bushwacking than hiking. A giant machete would have come in handy. The main issue was that you had things all around you trying to trip you up or knock you down or make you fall. The eye can only look in so many directions in so little time, and often you are looking up to avoid branches bent on decapitation and fail to notice that slippery rock you are about to step on. Or vice versa.
Some things of note did happen on these two days. First, and most interesting, was when I was hiking along a narrow pass, with a 15 inch wide path seperating me from the vertical rock wall to my right and the cliff edge to my left. Suddenly the dirt gave away from my left foot, sending my left leg plunging down the side. Luckily I was on balance and managed to catch myself with my right leg and foot, so as to keep myself from tumbling over the edge. My right arm smacked hard into the ground and went numb for a few minutes, but other than that I was alright. Safe to say, the trail was not the safest one in Bolivia. The other things were actually more painful, one being a thorn which caught me in the neck as I was hiking down a slope, which of course dug in nice and deep due to that delayed reaction between penetration and the brain registering that you have something painful stuck in you. The other event was an unfriendly branch which I didn't see that caught me dead in the eye. That didn't feel so good either.
But, somehow and someway, and feeling a bit like Teddy Roosevelt, we escaped from the jungle and made camp in the valley below. It was quite an experience, taxing your mind to the maximum (the hike was far more mentally than physically exhausting, especially the jungle day when having to deal with the frustrations of a trail that just won't let you be in peace), and arriving successfully on day 5 (yesterday) into our destination, the lovely little town of Chulumani. In about a half hour I return back to La Paz, a land of civilization (meaning pizza, falafel, bagels, beer on tap, and a real bed), and with but a few blisters and sore joints to complain about. After five days of camp food and hard ground, it will be a pleasure.
