November 8 - our first jungle day. We follow a small miners trail to the Jatunyacu River. Listening to Jim`s (many) stories made me slightly apprehensive about hiking to a dredge site run by Columbians. On our way we stopped to get a view of the river from a narrow foot bridge linking a village to the main road. Beautiful view of the jungle. The animal sounds are amazing!
Then we`re off to the dense jungle First person we saw on the road apparently had a Mexican standoff with Jim earlier.... he with a gun, Jim in his truck. Jim won. Next came a truck with 2 very happy jocking men inside. One of them a dreaded Columbian (one of the good guys apparently) headed to the same place we`re going.... Gulp...Up through dense jungle the road gets pretty bad before we crest the hill. Past the odd family home with corn thriving on the steep hillsides. Winding up to a flat stretch where brave rafters get a glimpse of their starting point... they are in for a ride today! Not far from here a Columbian was killed trying to hang on to his dredge in high water (90foot rise in one day) Another truck comes along (with yet another dreaded Columbian). Again smiling faces greet us. I am so glad they like Jim and Adam. They are headed to the camp as well. The driver kindly lends us his machete (weapon of choice in the jungle... doesn´t everyone have one of those?) He figures Jim's were too big.... Gulp...
Near the trail head are a couple of pools where we will stop to swim later. Now we´re really in the jungle.

Watch out for a furry kind of plant that stings and won`t quit!!

Watch out for a little yellow frog as small as your thumbnail. The locals rub their poison darts on it´s back. Lethal enough to kill you!
Gulp!

Watch out for snakes.... as one slithered in front of us Jim explained that is one of the things that you never joke about in the jungle.... it´s just too dangerous.
Gulp!

Trudging on clear paths & ankle deep mud we made our way to the Columbian camp. These guys carry 120lb gas cans, the dredger & pontoon boats (in an easy to assemble condition). How they get it down the last verticle descent is beyond my comprehension. I needed a tall stick and a lot of deep breathing to get down.

The river is cool & refreshing. Great place for lunch. We visited the camp to say hi (gulp) and were immediately offered Coke (gulp) I've heard about those Columbians and their Coke but how do you politely refuse. It wasn't easy so, when she brought us the tin cups full of CocaCola we managed to get it down without incident. The camp woman who handed us the cups was not about to take no for an answer. The good news was that the river, being too high & muddy to work means only the cooks were in residence. (whew)

Back to the pools after a little gold panning (found dust and learned a lot... Michelle , you would love it here!), Boy the cool water felt good on our sweaty bodies. Shane & Adam shot the rapids in to the pool. The currant swirls you around when you enter & you go for the rope to haul you out before the last tumble over the edge. You don´t want to miss the rope!

Here`s where we come to the title for the blog....
Adam grabbed what he thought was a leaf just before it tumbled over the falls. The leaf turned out to be a large praying mantis. Still alive, his water filled lungs pumped in death throws. This was the perfect specimine for Jim`s bug collection. As we prepared to leave Adam grabbed the bug`s leaflike wings. It clung to the earth so hard a chunk came with him. He survived without mouth to mouth! Though it´s head was down & it seemed near death, it had survived. Guess praying does help! This determined specimine suirvived life in a ziplock bag sweating along the trail back to the vehicle. Here, for reasons of humanity, Jim put the bag over the exhaust. The deed was done.... or so we thought. About 30 minutes in to the commute we realized he was alive. Tried a second time, longer to make sure.
The deed was done .... he will look great pin mounted. Stopped for a cold beer in a small town... back in the car Adam noticed he was alive. He now lives in a 5 liter water jug with holes in it. His name is JC (after Jean Claude Vandam & his movie ... hard to kill or Never Die or something like that)
What a day. Met dreaded Columbians with the biggest smiles you`ve ever seen and were even greated by a parade upon our return to Tena. It was Tena Days. At 447 years old it looks pretty good. Great fun watching the 2 hour parade of culture and craziness. What more could you ask for.
It had been an amazing day. We were so exhauisted it was all we could do to shower and flop in to bed.
Tomorrow we go gold mining