Welcome to the Jungle
When you’re looking around, you can only see trees, bushes, rivers, waterfalls and sometimes, with a lot of luck, animals. It’s a feeling you’ll never forget because that’s the moment when you realise you are in the jungle! Every plant and animal could be toxic and dangerous, but luckily our guide Miguel knows about everything. Now I’ve skipped parts of the story, so let’s start from the beginning of our unique experience in the jungle.
Our bus arrived at the borders of the rainforest, from where we walked straight into it. On this day I was one of three students who should plan this day. That’s because every day when we stay on land, we have three students as project leaders of the day. So, when we arrived in Miguel’s camp we instantly moved into the cabins Pina, Miri and I had decided for everyone, after a little security introduction. This is necessary because sometimes an animal finds its way into the camp, e.g. scorpions, snakes, spiders, etc. That’s why you have to shake your clothes and backpacks before using them because they might be hiding in there. After we had moved into our little jungle cabins, we ate dinner, and everybody was so surprised that there was such good food. That’s because we all didn’t expect so much and so varied dishes in the middle of the rainforest in Panama.
The next two days we had actually the same structure and after breakfast we went on an expedition into the jungle. There, we walked through the jungle under Miguel’s guidance and stopped at rivers for swimming. Everyone swam in their clothes and walking boots. But that was not everything because Miguel explained some plants to us, and I ate termites for the first time in my life. After lunch back at the camp, there was time for interesting presentations our classmates had prepared for us with information on the rain forest around us, and a workshop where we were cutting nuts, so they look nice because of the fibres. Then, after dinner, there was time to write diary and go to bed.
On the third and last whole day at Miguel’s, we went on an expedition for the whole day, that’s why we had our lunch with us in our lunchboxes. We walked to a river valley Miguel led us to, where we swam and then enjoyed half an hour of silence. No one was allowed to speak, and we could think about things which were on our minds. In the evening when we came back to the camp, we had to pack our luggage for the next day, which was a bit stressful.
Then it was time to leave. Time to take a last look into our cabins and around camp, and to thank Miguel and his wife Janet for the great time we had had with them. We walked back to the main road in the morning, where our bus came, and our next adventure started as we left in the direction of Panama City!