From tobacco in the Amazon and why "mi casa es su casa" is not just an expression.

Unexpectedly, on the second day of our trip to the Amazon, we go to David's girlfriend's house, where we will spend New Year's Eve with her family. The four-hour journey there is already a pleasure! We travel over a pass to the other side of the Andes, to a small town called Macas. While on the west side of the Andes the mountains are bare and high, almost everywhere cultivated and farmed, on the east side there is lush, dense forest where hardly a soul can be seen. The trees are covered with lichens and mosses and glow in various shades of green, ferns reach two meters high into the sky, and as we look around, we discover waterfalls rushing down into the valley. The further we drive down, the hotter it gets, although short rain showers do not cool down the air.

When we arrived at the Romano family's house, we were warmly welcomed here too. A lot of food is served and then the host's office is emptied so that we can set up our camp there later. When asked if we should go to a hotel instead to avoid any inconvenience, they just laugh heartily and say with a pat on the shoulder, "mi casa es su casa!". So, we have that clarified as well.

However, the day had more to offer: in the late afternoon, we set off with David, his girlfriend Natalie, and her sister Carolina to a village of the Chuar, who try to maintain their traditional way of life here and financially support it by offering jungle tours and performances for tourists. With two guides, we walked on a trodden path into the rainforest. Past huge palm trees and banana plants, over rickety bridges to a waterfall where we paid our respects to the god of the jungle, Aruba, by having the dubious pleasure of snuffing liquid tobacco. Johannes' cold disappeared immediately - whether Aruba had answered his prayers or the full dose of tobacco had cleared his nose, the reader can decide for themselves.

With still slightly teary eyes, we continued to the next waterfall, which, according to Aruba, works like a fountain of youth for everyone who bathes in it. Since it worked so well for Johnny's cold, of course, we didn't need to be told twice to take a bath there! And indeed, after the cold bath, we felt like newborns in the hot Amazon!