lost city FOUND

eliza and i just got back from a 5 day treck in the jungle which was easily the most physically excerting thing that i have ever done. for one it was in the 80s every day with 90% humidity. secondly we were sleeping in tents which was more comfortable than i thought it would be but not the best sleep that i have ever had. third i am covered with flea, tick, misquito and chigger bites, blisters, a diaper rash and a sunburn.
despite all these things it was an impossibly wonderful experience. i think it was about 34 kilometers in and we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. we could drink directly from the rivers. we saw indigenous folk and, on the flip side, got coca cola 3 days in. we saw mating butterflies that were neon green. bottle caps figured pretty largely in some of the cement work in the more populated areas, which my mom will get a kick out of. it was unlike anything that i have ever done.
the entire staff supposedly spoke no english and we were with a group of 13 other people from new zealand, london, ireland, autralia, france, spain and sweden. it was hard to communicate with the people who were guiding us- nonetheless they were really great. when we got to the city on the 4th day it was really surreal. there were helicopters all of a sudden in a place where we hadnt had access to electricity for two days. and the ruins were phenomenal. the stonework was amazing, there were huge maps carved into large boulders, there were mortars and pestles all over the place. the last inhabitant lived there only 150 years ago so some of the history was passed down to a man who died in the 70s at the age of 116! just everything about it was fantastical and out of this world.
it was also wonderful because i got to share something with eliza that i know she has been looking forward to for a long time. trecks really arent my thing but her excitment and determination about this trip made me do it, every last painful step of it, with little complaining. speaking of which i need to go soak my feet. ha.