It’s my first time in the Peruvian Amazon, on an eco-adventure with Natural Habitat Adventures. I was expecting a climate similar to Costa Rica, and I was right – it’s dripping hot wet today at 90 degrees and 100% humidity. So I’m surprised when everyone in my group shows up for our first jungle hike wearing long sleeves and long pants.
I’m sporting a micro-fiber tank top with a built-in shelf bra, Patagonia knickers, and my Keen shoes. I’ve got sunscreen and even bug spray on—which I feel is a bit of overkill since malaria is not common in Peru. Now compare my get-up to Michael’s from Florida: he’s wearing ankle-high hiking books, a wide-brimmed hat, a long sleeved button-down shirt with a safari-style multi-pocket vest over top, and full-length cargo pants. His wife Carolyn is dressed about the same, minus the vest but with the addition of a mosquito net attached to the brim of her hat that pulls down over her face like mini-blinds.
Glancing at the eight other members of our group, I decide I’ve never seen so much khaki, and so little skin, in the rainforest. Last time I was in Costa Rica, for example, we tromped around the forest in bikini tops and teeny board shorts. The guys went topless. We climbed trees, rappelled down ravines, and hawked monkeys. What was up with Peru?
“Have you ever heard of a botfly?” Michael asks, eyeing my attire.
No.
According to Michael, the female bites you to deposit her eggs. Your body heat hatches them almost immediately and the larvae live under your skin, as worms about one-centimeter in length. “You can actually see them wiggling around under there,” he says.
As if that wasn’t enough to make me shudder, he went on to say that you can suffocate them by covering the initial bite with Vaseline, then yank them out when they start to back out. Problem is, they have razor-like hooks that they fan out as soon as you start to pull, making for an ugly, messy extraction.
Sunscreen and bug spray don’t protect against botflies. Or things like ticks, for that matter. The travel section of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website is a good source for information on bug-born illnesses, and wisely states that wearing long sleeves and pants is the best way to protect against insect bites.
Noted.
Running back to my cabin to grab knee socks and change out of my tank top, I decided that full-length khaki is much sexier than parasites.
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Jayme Otto is a travel blogger and contributing editor for Women’s Adventure and a freelancer at large. Look for her regular blogs on www.womensadventuremagazine.com.
Hi Jaymie,
We made it back to Florida without any “hitch-hikers”. I hope Valerie and Sheila will use the 100% DEET spray we left with them for their Costa Rica trek. It does work.
Once again we really enjoyed our time with you and the others in the Amazon and Machu Picchu.
Next year we are planning for China. The great wall, Terra Cotta army and three days in the Bilengxiao (I think that’s right) sanctuary to observe The Great Panda in it’s natural habitat.