Need gear suggestions for Peru/The Amazon Jungle

ROCK6 said:
A technique we used was to wear the boots in the shower (use a towel on the tub floor so you don't mark it up); get them good and soaked. Wear the boots for as long as you can, the wet leather will stretch out a bit and form to your feet.

ROCK6
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Did 2.5 miles tonight with wet boots. I wore cotton socks like I used to in the old days of hiking. I haven't felt that sloshy feeling since the boundary waters. It brought back a lot of memories.

Initial impressions: Altama boots are much more comfortable on the foot wet than dry. After the initial 2.5 miles, no hot spots. Planning to dry out overnight and repeat in the AM.

Most impressive: my fatass Boston Terrier made the trek and didn't pull her usual trick of laying down to cool off halfway. She'll sleep well tonight. We're doing a bare minimum of 50 miles by the time I leave.

Any suggestions for a good jungle sock? Obviously the cotton socks I wore tonight won't cut it.
 
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^ I think any of the higher end merino socks would be a good choice- Smartwool, Darn Tough, etc

I wore my Darn Tough socks on a trip to the Gila in New Mexico where we made 50+ creek crossing in two days, feet were wet all day hiking for two days and they held up fine (and no blisters!)

one product that might be worth looking into (my first go w/ the stuff was the trip above) is Hydropel- apply a very light coating to your feet and it helps prevent blisters when your feet are going to get wet, I now swear by the stuff :)
 
averageiowaguy said:
Any suggestions for a good jungle sock? Obviously the cotton socks I wore tonight won't cut it.
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This guy lives in Malaysia, so the jungle there isn't the same as the Amazon, but I imagine it's close enough. He's a sharp guy, so you may want to check out his other vids as well:

[video=youtube;WIXG1-Oy2fs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIXG1-Oy2fs&feature=related[/video]
 
bladerique said:
This guy lives in Malaysia, so the jungle there isn't the same as the Amazon, but I imagine it's close enough. He's a sharp guy, so you may want to check out his other vids as well:

[video=youtube;WIXG1-Oy2fs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIXG1-Oy2fs&feature=related[/video]
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Wow that is quite a channel. Does anyone know if leeches are as big of a concern in the Peruvian portion of the Amazon as they seem to be in Malaysia? I hadn't considered that aspect. I guess in Malaysia there is always plenty of bait around. LOL.
 
ROCK6 said:
A technique we used was to wear the boots in the shower (use a towel on the tub floor so you don't mark it up); get them good and soaked. Wear the boots for as long as you can, the wet leather will stretch out a bit and form to your feet.

ROCK6
Click to expand...

You might want to look into what boot manufacturers and custom boot makers have to say on the subject. Not too much hot, soapy water in nature. http://www.altama.com/boot-care
 
bladerique said:
I'm going to google:

http://www.peruviantimes.com/16/tyrant-leech-king-found-in-perus-amazonia/5768/

:eek:
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OH CRAP! Another thing to worry about. At least it was a dog's nose and not a person's. I also read about this fish that supposedly swims into your urethra if you pee while you're in the water, but its mainly in Brazil and there is only one documented case where a surgeon has removed the fish. I think I'm going to stop reading about these things. It should make for some interesting video if any of this stuff happens on the trip. LOL.
 
Thomas Linton said:
You might want to look into what boot manufacturers and custom boot makers have to say on the subject. Not too much hot, soapy water in nature. http://www.altama.com/boot-care
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Thanks for the link! Helpful information. Usually when I have a new pair of boots I just wear them for a while each day until they are comfortable. Thats what I have been doing although I did get them wet and walk in them just to see what they felt like. They are getting more comfy every day.
 
averageiowaguy said:
Thanks for the replies. Basically what you guys said was later confirmed straight from the horse's mouth. I ordered the Altima Jungle boots, panama sole, without the metal plate. I'll start breaking them in the moment they arrive. For machete, it was suggested that I just buy one in country and I'm gonna do that. For mosquito netting I talked to my cousin who is a cameraman for OLN and spends ~9 months a year in Africa and ASIA. He suggested and I ordered this. For headnet, I ordered this. If you read the description carefully you'll notice that she comes along with you and just swats the mosquitos for you.

Now for the fun part. What knife to bring? I'm only bringing one. Likely candidates at this point are an ESEE-3, ESEE-4, Busse Badger, Busse Boss Jack, Mora Classic Original 1, Mora 2000. I have all of those knives so I don't need to buy anything. I've listed them in the order of my preference. What would your order be?
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I'd just flip flop the 3 and 4.
 
imaginefj said:
I'd just flip flop the 3 and 4.
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Thanks for your advice. I'm gonna be out with both over the next few weeks and then make a decision. I really like the 3 and I'm leaning towards it. Reason being that I'll have a machete. Maybe my thinking is daft on this? Like I said I have no experience with those conditions or that environment and I'm soliciting advice.

In other news, I got my yellow fever shot and a hep A booster today. I was in Haiti in January last year for medical relief purposes so I already had typhoid, tetanus, the first hep A dose. I had Hep B from med school so I was good there. My infectious disease guy says that the malaria where I'm going is chloroquine resistant and gave me an Rx for malarone instead. The chloroquine did me just fine for Haiti. I also took cipro when I was down there and I ate like a Billy goat. I ate something that had a paw on it. No ill effects GI-wise but I have a cast iron stomach. My ID guy says to expect some flu-like symptoms over the weekend but no ill effects yet. Wish me luck on that front.

I'm hoping to get out and experiment with how to set up a mosquito net with a poncho shelter over the top this weekend but it is raining and windy as all get out here this weekend. We'll see.
 
I've got a thread floating around w/ different pitches w/ a poncho/tarp- mine all are shown w/ trekking poles, but they can be all re-created w/ poles/trees/etc

what would be handy is a few of loops (3-4) on the inside of the tarp and some corresponding loops on your netting- pitch the tarp and the you could clip the netting into it
 
mtwarden said:
I've got a thread floating around w/ different pitches w/ a poncho/tarp- mine all are shown w/ trekking poles, but they can be all re-created w/ poles/trees/etc

what would be handy is a few of loops (3-4) on the inside of the tarp and some corresponding loops on your netting- pitch the tarp and the you could clip the netting into it
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Could you point me in a direction of these threads? I'm still trying to figure out the search and other forum functions. Thanks!
 
Thomas Linton said:
You might want to look into what boot manufacturers and custom boot makers have to say on the subject. Not too much hot, soapy water in nature. http://www.altama.com/boot-care
Click to expand...

I haven't done it with the new suede boots...it was really a techique used on old-school full leather and jungle boots. You wouldn't believe what some did including removing the steel shank, heel and top cap!. Breaking in hard leather boots takes time; the hot water method was used for the first time just to soften the leather if you needed to break them in faster...never used soap, but you did have to keep plenty of Sno-Seal or Kiwi to keep the leather protected and make sure they dried thoroughly but not in the open sun or extreme heat (I prefered the Sno-Seal as it allowed the leather breath better). I've heard of using Pledge before but never used it...pretty interesting!

Newer boots really don't need the extensive break in, but it's still advisable to break in over time at short periods which is what was advised...very much agree. My OTB Jungle boots are some of the most comfortable "out the box" military boots I've tried (compared to all the issued boots...Bates, Cocoran, Belleville, even Danners).

The Altima boots should hold up just fine and went through two deployments before retiring mine (desert jungles)...the seems blew before the tread which surprised me!

ROCK6
 
ROCK6 said:
I haven't done it with the new suede boots...it was really a techique used on old-school full leather and jungle boots. You wouldn't believe what some did including removing the steel shank, heel and top cap!. Breaking in hard leather boots takes time; the hot water method was used for the first time just to soften the leather if you needed to break them in faster...never used soap, but you did have to keep plenty of Sno-Seal or Kiwi to keep the leather protected and make sure they dried thoroughly but not in the open sun or extreme heat (I prefered the Sno-Seal as it allowed the leather breath better). I've heard of using Pledge before but never used it...pretty interesting!

Newer boots really don't need the extensive break in, but it's still advisable to break in over time at short periods which is what was advised...very much agree. My OTB Jungle boots are some of the most comfortable "out the box" military boots I've tried (compared to all the issued boots...Bates, Cocoran, Belleville, even Danners).

The Altima boots should hold up just fine and went through two deployments before retiring mine (desert jungles)...the seems blew before the tread which surprised me!

ROCK6
Click to expand...

I've got 10 miles on the new Altama's so far + daily use for a few days. They're starting to get real comfortable. My goal is 50 miles before they hit the jungle and that should be no problem. There is one hot spot left where the ankle support strap hits the medial side of the laces, but that is only when I am squatting. Otherwise no binds and very comfortable.
 
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