That morning we tried to leave early to see if we could spot jaguars down by the river.
We woke up late and did not see any jaguars...but we DID see a howler monkey!!
Ross tries to contact the outside world.
Cocha Cashu port!
Cold water never tasted so good.
I remember thinking, "This better be worth it." What made this place worth spending three entire days of travel to get to? Even from the port (which looked like any other part of the river. We never would have found it if we had to travel alone), the station was another half a mile inland. We formed an assembly line and slowly but surely took everything out of the boats. Delirious from the trip and happy to finally arrive, we couldn't help but get the giggles, which didn't help the unloading process and definitely didn't minimize the number of sandflies that flew into our mouths.
Cocha Cashu is the real deal. We were in the jungle, 3 days away from any sort of civilization. The closest contact we had to other humans was probably "los incontactados" who most likely want to be left alone.. There is more to be discovered here than has ever been found. There were squirrel monkeys climbing on the fig tree that stood by our tents. There are caimans and giant river otters (they can weigh as much as a jaguar) in the lake. There are other researchers here doing serious work, including John Terborgh, a professor at Duke University who has gone back and forth from the states to Cocha Cashu since the 70s. I also remember thinking, "I hope I deserve to be here."