Extreme Conditions

When the reality TV show Survivor first graced our tv sets, I thought, I could be on that show. However now, after spending some time in the jungle, I realize that I have no real life skills and would probably die the first day. I don't even know how to use a lighter to light a candle. I'm pretty pathetic and so 3 weeks in the Bolivian jungle is more than I will ever spend in a jungle again, but I am proud to say that I survived and tested my endurance both mentally and physically. I met a few people who left after a couple days because they could not cope with the conditions. I also met people who have been there for 10 months but, I question their sanity.


To describe the entire experience is difficult to put into words without sacrificing blood and sweat writing it. Every day starts at 6:45am when a volunteer yells, “Good Morning Ambue Ari” and everyone wakes up at that time. We have 15 min to get dressed so we can start our morning job at 7am. Each of us is responsible for an animal to feed in the morning and this task changes weekly. At 7:45am we move to our 2nd morning job that changes daily. This could be cleaning the showers and outhouses to sweeping the patio to setting up for breakfast. At 8am, we have breakfast which consists of 2 pieces of bread and so most people buy jam and oatmeal in town to supplement it. At 8:30am, we have our morning announcements and our first work starts at 9am. At 12:30pm, we break for lunch and return to work at 2pm until 5:30pm. We then have dinner at 6:30pm and after dinner we sometimes go into town 20 min away to drink beer, play pool and dance or call it an early night. Only on Saturdays do we get a half day to go into the real town 45 min away to check our internet and buy additional food supplies. Other than that, we have no time off unless we stay at least a month and then we get one day off and never any mornings free.


My cabin consisted of 10 beds crammed into a small space. Cockaroaches visited frequently and chanchos or pigs lived underneath and smelled pretty bad. Since rain came every day, we often left our clothes hanging in the cabin to dry and so the room was often damp and musty. We had no electricity anywhere in the camp nor hot water. Bathrooms were simple outhouses that rats and big spiders visited at night. Our water came from a well and no one seemed to have any issues from drinking it.

Our food wasn't bad, but the daily stew got old fast. In terms of the food chain, we sat last on the list. The cats ate the best with their constant supply of fresh meat, then the birds and monkeys received fresh fruit and vegetables every day. We ate the same thing as the pigs since they had our leftovers. We rarely had fruit and most of our meals consisted of vegetable stew.

I did get sick on occasion and at one point, our entire cabin called Cochabamba went down ill. We never quite problem solved the exact cause since the illness spread to the other cabins and everyone was soon sick with the 24 hour bug that caused constant diarreahea and sometimes vomiting and chills. Some people I suspect had Dengue Fever and the rest, who knows. Cockaroaches and rats visit our kitchen each night and every morning we have to wash all the dishes for breakfast again.

The weather often tested my patience. Every day, I had to wear two pairs of clothes and a jacket to prevent most of the thousands of mosquitoes from biting me. Their suckers are so long, they can pierce clothing and still draw blood. I also wore two pairs of socks that were always wet because it rained every day, a hat and mosquito net. Walking around in my space suit while carrying heavy water for the cats, I often felt that I had created my own version of jungle Bikram yoga. I sweated heaps and took 2 showers a day to feel better.


Unfortunately, since the animals get sick from the mosquito repellent, we were not allowed to wear any. So, my body was often covered with bites that I scratched daily til I bled. Laura, who had some samonella issue and therefore spent much time in the bathroom, put mosquito repellent on her ass just to keep the mossies off while she used it. I should have tried that trick a lot earlier since I am still scratching my butt these days. During my time in the jungle, I think I lost what little dignity or grace I may have had and I hope I have not done irrepairable damage to my skin.

Besides the mossies, I ran into a bunch of fire ants while looking for my cat that I lost in the jungle. More about that later. I had never been stung by fire ants and really hope to never again. Their bite stings for quite some time afterwards and it feels as though the ant is just sitting on you stinging you the whole time. A couple of them stung me on my temples since they got into my hair. I ran out of the jungle screaming while shaking my hair wildly about. That same day, the flies laid larvae on me. Thankfully, I never had a problem with ticks unlike everyone else. My cabin mates often pulled them out of their skin with tweezers. Several people had foot fungus problems too. You may be totally disgusted at this point, but imagine how I felt living through this for 3 weeks.

To calm my nerves, I could have turned into an alcoholic if the town wasn't 20 min by bus away. We could not drink at the camp since Faustino, the howler monkey, is an alcoholic. He will take away any alcohol and he even eats detergent to get high and so we can not leave any lying about. He use to be hotel pet and the owners always gave him liquor.

This is a synopsis of the conditions. The animals added another element to the whole experience that I will write about later.