Don Carlos Puerto Maldonado

... Stückchen Heimat und ein kleines Paradies. Die Anaconda Lodge liegt direkt neben Stadt und Flughafen und wir von einem Schweizer und seiner Frau geführt. Trotz Lage ist die Lodge unglaublich ruhig und für Botaniker ein Eldorado. Wir verbrachten die Nacht in einem thailändischen Bungalow, während sich vor der Tür zahme Affen tummelten.

... raised 5 feet off the ground and a roof. There are no walls, doors or windows with the building being fully open to the forest. It was the same story with our room which only had a partition between our neighbour and a somewhat flimsy curtain that served as the door. There was no aircon, the bed had a simple but effective mosquito net, instead of lights there were kerosene lamps and candles, the shower had only cold water (but very refreshing) and we shared our bathroom with 3 or 4 ...

... grass roof, lighting is by kerosene lamp and our outdoor shower is a drum of water and a jug. <br>Milan is extremely knowledgeable about the plants and their medicinal uses, he also knows where to find all the scariest looking insects for photos. After dark on our first evening he took us tarantula spotting and from then on everything that happens to brush against us in the night is surely a hairy tarantula... <br>During daylight, we also saw ...

... into town. We stopped at the office of the Amazon lodge so people could repack their luggage. They were only allowed to bring 1 small piece of luggage. This is where travelling light comes in handy. I had left one of our backpacks back in Cusco and we only brought the small one. Besides we wouldn't be wearing that much clothing in this heat.<br><br>More people arrived at the office. Definitely the international crowd as we had had ...

***I want to appologize in advance for these next few entries. There is just no way to be able to devote the time and detail to each entry that each one deserves right now. These are rather straightforward entries meant to keep you informed, we need to sit and talk about this stuff. There's so much to talk about, so much more to these stories ...

Took a plane down to the edge of the jungle then got into a very dusty bus for our journey to the river then into a boat for the final 3 hours of our journey to the lodge where they had really cute pets; 2 macaws, a dozen howler monkeys, a few ...

... state only evident after the episode was over. Like, whoa, I was messed up. Worn down without a doubt, but what else was going on... I will be happy to leave that a mystery. <br><br><br>The two weeks was painful, to say the least, luckily, I met a resident who quickly became a very close friend. We talked about his travels in his youth over lunch everyday, and in the evenings I taught his girlfiend english while she relentlessly corrected me on my wreckless ...

... They kept giving them, "20 minutes". To kill time, they drove us down the street to an open air market and starting informing us about brazil nuts as if the market was part of the trip. "These are brazil nuts. Come and try." Sir, I have seen brazil nuts. You find them everywhere in the states. Can you just please tell us what's going on? So eventually we go back to the office, wait some more and finally more people showed up. Were we waiting ...

3 July 2009<br><br>After the exertions of the Inca Trail and the celebrations the night before, today was a free day in Cusco - which to be honest I spent most of updating this damn thing thanks to the slowness of photo uploads onthe Pewthur and of course to the amount of pics I put up. Incidentally I've hundreds more but won't bore you with more than is absolutely necessary.<br><br>Since I'm coming back to Cusco (tomorrow in fact as I'm writing this ...

... room. I'm literally cut off from<br>communication with only pure wilderness around.<br><br>The next day, we<br>awake at 4:30 in the morning and board the boat for a drive up the<br>river to see the Mccaw clay lick. It is so dark and the river ride is<br>very rough, it also starts to rain and I get scared not knowing how our<br>captain can navigate this curving river in the dark with so many tree<br>trunks and debris floating around. One wrong move ...