My Reminder to Have Faith in People

I left my backpack with the staff for safekeeping while visiting a jungle lodge 25 miles downriver from the Amazon city of Iquitos. When I got it back with my wallet and camera gone, it was hard not to draw conclusions.

Not wanting to accuse the employees, I ransacked my room before notifying my tour guide, Cliver. I vowed I’d keep the “missing” valuables a secret if they mysteriously resurfaced.

Cliver looked horrified and swore not even a coin had ever been stolen on the property. He looked behind the bar where bags were usually stored, reached into a locked box, and (voila!) pulled out my stuff.

Apparently, the guy working the previous shift removed them because the resident pet kinkajou—a marsupial resembling a racoon with a long tail—has a habit of going through guests’ bags and stockpiling goodies.

“The kinkajou has expensive taste,” said Amanda. Sure enough, I noticed my leather wallet was littered with teeth marks just as the little beast wrapped its tail around my ankle and nibbled on my pants. Only in Peru would a marsupial, not a person, be responsible for thievery. Sometimes real life is wilder than fiction.
HCC