Before you make your first walk into the Amazon Rain Forest follow these simple rules:
* In the morning, first give your back to the river, look to the jungle, then look where the sun is
if the sun is shining on your neck that means the sun is in the East (sunrise) and you are going to walk to the West.
After some hours your guide may tell you, "Sir I am sorry but we are losted!".
Then you can smile and remember where the sun was,
Put your back to the sun and walk East to get back to the river.
In case it's cloudy or raining please follow my Amazon Jungle Survival Course.
AMAZON JUNGLE SURVIVAL COURSE
1.0 If you are sure that are lost you must relax. To control your panic breath deep for 10 minutes, with closed eyes.
2.0 After that get a walking stick, like weapon and pull some strings or thin vines.
3.0 Climb a tree to try to listen for any strange sounds that do not belong to the jungle.
4.0 Get black mud and cover your body against mosquitoe bites, do this only for overnight.
5.0 To spend the night, tie your body like 4 yards from the ground, always holding your stick.
6.0 Next day look for a termite's nest, stick your hands inside until your hand is full of termites, then smash them and cover your body, it's very good against mosquitoe bites.
7.0 If you can not find termites, look for yellow flowers, like bells, smash them also and cover your body.
8.0 The jungle "super market" will give to you all you need.
8.1 If you see monkeys eating a fruit that means that you can eat it also.
9.0 Look for bird's eggs, lizzard tails, frog's legs, jungle brown rats, green grass (uppers), white, green and yellow butterflys, to eat and survival.
10.0 To get fish, get termites alive and put into the water inside your pants or shirt, to catch them, like net.
11.0 To get larves who are inside old palm trees, you must look for them using your stick, and eat them alive, without the head.
12.0 Look for a sweath green bamboo and inside you can get pure water for drinking.
13.0 Look for a thick vine that has nuckles every 12 inches more or less, cut like one yard and you can drink that water.
14.0 Look for a white tree with horizontal lines every 5 inches, and you will see that the roots are outside, cut the roots and from them you can drink good water.
15.0 If you see a big tree with big leafs with green fruits, you can eat that, also the seed is the bread fruits, that means that you are in secondary jungle and are near the river's side.
16.0 If you see fruits like potatoe color it's possible to eat them, they are the air potatoes.
17.0 Don't touch the worms like the hairy caterpillars with beautiful colors because they are poisonous.
18.0 You can eat worms, the kind you use for fish bait, they live under the ground.
19.0 Don't remove old logs or sit on logs with green moss, there are snakes that live there.
20.0 Don't make strange noises or try to scare animals away, they might come!
21.0 If you see a boa constrictor or any snake, let them pass!
22.0 If you see a jaguar coming at you, keep your stick horizontal and poke at them, never side to side or up and down.
23.0 To walk straigth be behind the tree and see two or three in the same line, and you will not be walking in circles.
24.0 If you find several longer nest that belong to the oropendula birds, they are black and yellow.
25.0 When you find a creek follow it, it will take you to another bigger creek.
26.0 If the creek goes to a lake, walk around the lake to find another creek.
27.0 Walk along the river-side about 7 meters from the edge, because alligators, anacondas and poison snakes live in that area.
28.0 If the creek is big try to make a raft with four logs, and tie them with vines and your walking stick, you can use it like paddle.
29.0 You should travel only in the day time, it is not recomended to travel by night, it is dangerous.
30.0 If you are walking in the jungle and find a trail, follow it and if you see a house, look first, if they are not terrorists, drug dealers or some thing like that.
31.0 After you are sure that they are local people you are saved. They can help you and direct back to civilization!
32.0 If you don't want to use these recomendations in the middle the jungle, then call 911!
Juan N. Maldonado Romero is a licensed Tour Guide, in "La Casa Del Guia"
Juan can be contacted by e mail at: amazonjuan2000@yahoo.com