Despite being so close to the equator, the depths of the jungle sure get cold at night. Lucky that I decided to bring along my mexican blanket on this hike. However, I still wasn't back to perfect health, so my sleep wasn't amazing. I would wake up every couple of hours to use the bathroom, which kind of worried me because I had not been able to get drinking water since sundown (our creek would not be safe at night). At around 6am, Jeffson woke up (he would be hiking back to the lodge to pick up more food for the day). At this time, I was able to ask him for water, then got a few more hours of sleep. He asked me if I wanted to return to the cabin since sickness seldom heals out here, but at this moment, I didn't feel bad enough to go back. I wondered if I had made the right decision when I woke up. I had a decent headache and had that feeling when you wake up in a stuffy room without enough oxygen. The closest thing I had to take was ibuprofen, so I took a couple which helped for the morning. I thought that eventually we would be packing up camp and moving on, and kind of dreaded it - but it turned out, we would be staying at this camp one more night. Jeffson returned around 9:30 with the rations for the day. Again, nice timing because it poured rain as soon as he returned. It sure is an incredible sight to see, mostly because it didn't last long and I was undercover. Although, I remember camping in the west coast storms which lasted days - overall, I think storm systems are neat to watch. The rain stopped, so in not too long, the campfire was cooking our usual medley of meats. They also made a chicken soup, which was a nice treat. After lunch, I was assigned to watch camp while the rest of them went out hunting. It was nice and relaxing, lying in my hammock with my ipod playing my usual mix. They weren't out too long - Marcelo's team returned with a cutia and Jeffson's team returned empty handed. Either way, we now had something for dinner. When everyone returned, we all went to the creek for a swim/bath. The guides were gasping at how cold the creek was, but this temperature was nothing for me. It has nothing on Cougar creek, Vancouver Island. When I returned, I wasn't able to wear my flip flops as usual. The flies were all going crazy over the numerous bug bites on my feet, so I was forced to cover them. If there's one thing about the jungle I can live without, it's definitely the bugs... that and maybe the fact that nothing dries out here. Later on, we cooked up and ate the cutia. In the meantime, I took out my notebook and asked Jeffson as many portuguese questions as i could think of - I only have a couple more days with my sensei. Overall, i'm really impressed with the amount i was able to learn in this time, and i'm sure it will help in Rio and São Paulo. The camp gets pitch black around 6:30, so we finished the evening talking around the campfire. We actually got to see a fjrefly up close tonight - turns out they don't glow from their butt, but have two little glowing dots near their eyes. Anyway, looks like we'll be packing it in early tonight. Tomorrow, we'll be set to pack up camp and move on.
The firefly
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