10/17/14 Trek Day 1: To sign the waiver or to not sign the waiver

Well, it was a pretty easy question to answer because there was no waiver to sign. We started the journey with a sort of debrief of the safety precautions and the importance of following the rules or paying severe consequences. With the sort of extreme circumstances that we were about to face, I kept thinking that they should really have some sort of waiver for participants to not only know the risks of the trek but for them to not be liable for injuries, because apparently they aren't uncommon and aren't minor. Regardless, I would have signed because what we were about to do was going to be epic.
We started the trek with about a two hour bus ride. It was extremely early in the morning so most of us just slept. We drove to the top of a mountain and the first segment of the journey was biking downhill.... extremely fast... through winding country/mountain roads... with 180 degree turns... with oncoming traffic... crazy, honking oncoming traffic (traffic in Peru is already totally bonkers)... with breaks that sound broken and a clicking sound that doesn't sound comforting. After the initial shock and extreme precautions being taken, everyone started relaxing and started to enjoy the ride. We rode over 13 of Peru's rivers that just happen to flow over the road, so it was a wet ride but really enjoyable. Toward the end of the ride, my gears decided to not function... so I was stuck on the easiest gear on flat land. So here I am, peddling my little heart out and not moving anywhere. lol I fell to the end of the train and the van following us had to stop and fix my bike. At this point, I'm very behind the group and am working really hard to catch up so why wouldn't it start down-pouring? Soaked and totally exhausted, I caught up and we hung out while the bikes are put away and we drove another 30 minutes to our lunch spot. Here we are, wet, in the jungle and definitely underestimated the attack of mosquitos. We had the option to go rafting at this point, however, only one other person was doing it and it was raining... so I opted out. Oh yeah, and two people died last week doing it... so that didn't encourage the risk.
After lunch, we start the hike to our first hostel for the trip. Note to self: PACK LESS!! In the jungle, with very moist air, and incredibly steep... like hang on to the tree because my feet can't grip the dirt uphill. The hike was fairly short, approximately 1 hour, but when you feel like you can't breathe with the moist air, are getting eating by mosquitos, are carrying a couple kilos on my back, and haven't worked out in 4 months... I pretty much thought I was going to die and then thinking the entire trip was going to be like that, I was about to cry. I sucked it up and got to the top to this totally amazing view and true feel of being in the jungle with a cutest hostel that is nothing like a stereotypical hostel. It's a little jungle home with a couple extra rooms... with open windows so the tropical bugs of the jungle have a free range dinner while we sleep. After dinner we all took the coldest shower of our lives, so cold it took your breathe away but so refreshing because it's SO hot and we were drenched from the trek so it was well worth it. We went to bed with the paranoia of getting eating alive by bugs and we definitely woke up to have been eaten alive. Wishing I would have packed melatonin, icy hot, and bug spray and nothing else.....