“What the hell was that noise?”  -the foggy thought my brain conjures up after being jarred awake inside a cramped net hammock suspended 30” above the jungle floor.  It’s not the screeching, hacking, screaming sounds emitted by myriad birds high in the canopy that worries me, nor is it the incessant hum from the cloud of malaria vectors bouncing off the netting, inches from my skin.  The sound that wakes me so abruptly is the soft crunching of jungle duff very near my humble shelter site.  Horrific images of man-eating jungle cats stalk through my psyche.  I am forced to recall a lesson learned earlier in the day:  Everything in the jungle is trying to kill you…  Luckily, my imagination is much more active than the jungle cat on this night.  I am relieved as one of my comrades mumbles something through my bug net as he stumbles back from nature’s call.  Needless to say, my first night in the jungle is not a restful one. Continue reading So, You Want to be John Rambo? Part I →