Braving the monsoon at La Cangreja

By Emma Lewis

Three weeks living in the jungle. Many emotions flooded through my mind: excitement, nervousness, curiousity… Little did I realize that this was going to be the most challenging yet rewarding experience of my life. The PMs did a good job of painting pictures of sunny afternoons playing in the waterfalls to reward us for our hard day’s work. Unfortunately this was not to be.

We arrived at La Cangreja and were warmly greeted by the rangers, we viewed our new home for the next three weeks. A romantic setting of a jungle clearing next to a beautiful river, suitable for swimming; what could go wrong? The next few days were spent constructing our camp; cutting down fresh bamboo with machetes to make our basha beds, digging long drop loos and trying out or best to waterproof the camp. We soon found out when the monsoon storm arrived in our first afternoon at camp, that our cosy camp was not to be. Water seeped into our beds, soaking our belongings, bedding and selves. Inexpertly constructed basha beds, gave way. We sought protection from the menacing rain with layers of plastic upon plastic and we eventually managed to reach a standard of living that could possibly be described as bearable.

The mornings were spent building the mirador and planting trees in the vivero, which although hard work, pick-axing soil and shoveling it into a wheel barrow to be pushed up a hill to be used for the foundation was actually very rewarding. The difficulty of this was enhanced by the torrential rain which we endured every day, all day. Our camp soon turned into a muddy river flooding out belongings and rendering us incapable of much else but huddling under a tarp to try and remain as dry as possible. But the “wet dog” smell only continued to grow.

The afternoons not spent huddled under shelter, we washed in the river and waterfalls which were insanely beautiful and an experience that not many can say they’ve had.

The work carried on, the rain got harder, with occasional visits from snakes and tarantulas. Termite nests caused beds to break, we smelt like “wet dogs” but it was all worth it after the difference we made and the appreciation we received from the rangers.

In my interview with Don Bolivar, the first thing that became very apparent was his passion for the National Park. The work for him is hard, he gains no economic advantages but his desire as a very young boy, to undo the damage to the wildlife that had already been done, has driven him to dedicate his life to this valuable cause. 

It was very clear that the conditions are adverse. They have few resources, a small work force and poor means of communication and barely any funds to ameliorate this situation. Despite the massive obstacles, he refuses to give up. He aims to get a grant to improve infrastructure and make the national park bigger and better for more animal species to survive. Much of the work done by Raleigh has made it possible for Don Bolivar to overcome at least some of the obstacles and he describes Raleigh as a “godfather”. Despite the difficult conditions, the difference and impact that we have had has made this one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.