It’s raining in the early morning. In our quarters with a view of the mountains, we had a good first night in the jungle. Despite the rain, the oropendolas, black birds with yellow tail feathers, fly steadily from their nests hanging from the palm trees. The rain subsides and wisps of cloud move across the jungle canopy.

There are many caves not far from where we stayed for the night. We visit the cave of Guami.

A guide takes us through the jungle and shows us the most fascinating plants, fruits and animals. Huge ants, wild grapes, flowers with fragrant water coming out of their heads to wash your hands with. We see wild cacao growing, wild plants that we know from the garden shed, lime trees full of fruit, climbing figs and more.

The cave itself lies in a depression that is so overgrown with moss and climbing plants that the place has not been called the “enchanted forest” for nothing. We explore the entrance of the cave, but since it is under water we don’t go further inside. You can swim through the water in the dark up to a depth of three hundred meters until you can go no further.

An adventure that I will have with Leon in a few years.

Our guide covers us with plenty of fruit that we have never seen in life.

It’s already midday, although we haven’t gotten very far. We find a restaurant off the street. There is not only fish to eat but also a lot to see there. Little monkeys hop in the trees and we are shown a small hole in a clay wall in which a giant tarantula is sitting.

Then we continue east and towards the Colombian border, which we want to cross the next day. This time we can’t find such a nice place to stay, but we’re not too picky.

Close to the Colombian border, safety is our top priority as there are many ugly stories about drug smugglers in the area that are not to be trifled with. The increased police and military presence around Nueva Loja underscores our need for a sheltered place to sleep.

We found what we were looking for at the city fire department. There we are allowed to stand next to the emergency vehicles. The next morning we go to the border.