The Amazon... no place for a girl?
Ever since announcing I was leaving to live in the jungle for six months, I was met with comments such as “You? In the jungle? Are you sure you can cope? Girls aren’t usually very good at that sort of thing.” And “Wow, you’re gonna be, like, REALLY dirty. And smelly. ALL the time.” Not forgetting of course: “What?? In the jungle?! Think about all the tarantulas! And snakes! You’ll never last – rather you than me!”Initially, I brushed these remarks off – I’ve always been independent, relatively hardy, not too squeamish – I definitely wouldn’t class myself as a ‘girly girl’. Me, in the jungle? Piece of cake...
But then doubt started to set in – what if...I couldn’t cope with the jungle critters...without my ho
me comforts? I couldn’t honestly say that if I found a ten inch tarantula in my bed that I wouldn’t run screaming out of camp, never to be seen again. I figured I’d have to wait and see...
So, eight weeks into my GVI Amazon internship, and how am I coping? Well, so far I’ve had giant katydids stuck in my hair, had wild tamarins jump all over me, had a two foot earthworm slithering around my neck, been chased by swarms of wasps, seen a coral snake next to the toilets, dodged a fer-de-lance outside our dor
ms, walked head first into about 1000 spider webs, had ants in my pants (literally), dodged hairy caterpillars on toilet seats, face planted muddy trails numerous times, macheted my way through dense forest, and scaled ravines - all whilst being extremely dirty, smelly and sweaty. No tarantulas in my bed to date yet, but I’m sure if it happens, I’ll cope. Hell, I might even pick it up and play with it...
And you know what? I’m loving every minute of it. So to all those who said I couldn’t do it: I’d rather me than you too. Bring on more jungle times!
Laura Jones - GVI Amazon intern, Jan-June 2010
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