Long walks in the jungle

Sometimes in the afternoons when we had free time, I would go back out to the forest and walk on the trails all by myself. I really loved these excursions where I could just walk at my own pace and stop to admire every plant that caught my eye, which normally meant stopping about every 2 ft! I felt like I had the whole jungle all to myself! Even when I went on trails I had walked before, I discovered new things every time. And each time, I was completely awed by the incredible diversity of plants and fungi in the forest. I’ve seen a lot of weird fungi in Vietnam, Laos, Panama, and Hong Kong, but I’m still always amazed by all the different colors and shapes. There is fungi everywhere in the Amazon, growing on plants, dead trees, underneath the soil, or just lying on the forest floor. I saw spongy, bell-shaped fungus that looked like a chocolate brownie when you split it open, long strings of clumpy white fungus that glows in the dark, blue mushrooms, and one of my favorites: fungus that looks and feels just like a rosy-red, damp, squishy, floppy pig’s ear.

Then there are the vines and lianas. I’ve seen a lot of vines in different jungles around the world, but they also never cease to amaze me. I am always impressed by how tenaciously they cling to trees and plants, some forming delicate, green coils that look like springs and others forming monstrous woody lianas thicker than my leg. These woody lianas often seem to have no beginning or end, rising like serpents from the forest floor, stretching their necks out across the crunchy leaf litter, then arching sharply upwards to wrap themselves round and round an unsuspecting tree. In their quest to reach the light, many of these lianas curl themselves around multiple trees, tying the fates of all of these trees together. Then, when one of these trees falls, they all fall. This is just one of the many things that reminds of how interconnected everything is in the jungle. In certain parts of the forest at Piedras, the lianas had grown so thickly that I felt like I was in the middle of a den of serpents, all writhing and twisting in a giant tangle.

There are so many really cool plants and trees in the rainforest, I can’t even begin to describe them all, though I think all of them are interesting enough to write a novel about! There were plants that climbed up the sides of trees, plastering their thick, soft leaves on the tree trunk; beautiful palm plants with leaves that flared out and then tapered at the ends like the tail of a fish; dark green leaves with purple undersides; and small orange flowers that reminded me of the pinwheels I used to play with as a kid. All the different phases of life found in the jungle are so beautiful and fascinating: the fungus that feeds on decaying tree trunks, the strangler figs that swallow up other trees, the young leaves that emerge in a flushed red color... everywhere, there was such immense beauty I could not help but feel completely awed by the sheer vibrancy and beauty of life. I feel so incredibly lucky to have been able to spend time in places like this.

The jungle also has a ruthless, untamed aspect to it too, which can be a bit scary at times but is also why I love it so much. The trails are all quite easy to follow, so I never really got lost, but once in a while I would go off the trail with Emma or Garza and within seconds find myself completely turned around with no sense of which way was up or down. It is always quite dark in the jungle because the forest canopy is so thick overhead, and around dusk it is even darker and spookier. Everything moves in the forest, especially if it has just rained; birds startle and fly off and all the leaves laugh and dance as water drips down onto them from the canopy. During the day, the forest is always filled with the sounds of macaws squawking, screaming pihas wolf-whistling, and oropendulas flitting around their hanging nests and making videogame-like sounds. Around dusk though, the forest fills with eerie Halloween noises: trees creaking, birds hooting hollowly, insects chittering and chattering (probably plotting their conquest), and hundreds of other unidentifiable noises. There was one bird that always called at dusk and sounded to me like a door swinging back and forth on its rusty hinge. I swear, all those scary movies must get their soundtracks straight from the jungle.