Into the Jungle!

Trip Start Sep 28, 2007

Trip End Oct 29, 2007

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Where I stayed

Explorer's Inn Puerto Maldonado

(Puerto Maldonado hotels)

Flag of Peru Puerto Maldonado, Peru
Saturday, October 6, 2007

After a week or so of climbing up the endless stairs of the Incan ruins, we left Cusco and Machu Picchu for the Amazon. We took a 28 minute flight to the town of Puerto Maldonado (it would have been a 15 hour bus ride down from the Andes and along dusty roads through the jungle) and drove down to the banks of the Rio Tambopata at the border of the Tambopata Amazon Jungle Reserve. From here we took a boat along the river about 1.5 hours to reach our ecotourism lodge, the Explorer's Inn. The work this lodge has done is responsible for getting the Tambopata area designated as a protected reserve. There are more species of birds, butterflies and rare mammals packed into this small area than anywhere else in the world. The first night we were there we did a night hike through the jungle and saw grotesquely large insects that gave me nightmares later! The next moring we arose at 4 AM and hiked 3 miles to a small oxbow lake where we observed giant otters (over 2 m long!) and other bird life. Later that day a group of people from the area showed up with supplies for the lodge and after unpacking began a pick-up soccer game on the grounds

Getting on the boat

. Of course, Andrew and I had to join in. Nothing like playing soccer in the Amazon! Our clothes were soaked through, but we had a great time, and the men were impressed that a woman could play soccer, as they never had seen a woman play before! That night we went out on the boat and found several species of Cayman and even the strange Capibarra, the largest rodent in the world, about 80 pounds! Early the next morning we took a boat 3 hours down the river to a spot in the reserve where there is quite a bit of clay mixed into the river bank cliffs. Here hundreds of parrots and macaws come to obtain essential nutrients for their diet. When we arrived, approximately 25 scarlet, blue and yellow and red and green macaws were enjoying a late afternoon snack of clay. We ended up camping about 100 m up river in perhaps the most elaborate campsite ever created. Not only did we have a nice tent, but we also dined by candlelight in a separete screened-in tent. The cook had a full kitchen set up under tarps, and they even brought a commode and created a pit toilet enclosed by tarps! My bravest moment came when we bathed in the river late that night- although they assured us it was safe, I kept envisioning caymans and pirhanas attacking me. Thus my bath lasted approximately 30 seconds! The next morning we went back to the clay lick and there were over 200 parrots of all types crowded along the cliff. As we watched, the macaws moved in and being bigger birds, scared all the parrots off in a swarm of squaking and chaos. Eventually the macaws took their place on the clay lick. We headed back to the lodge after lunch. That night we went on another night hike where we saw night monkeys, a poison dart frog and a coral snake almost a meter long! I nearly peed my pants with fear and later dreamt that Andrew and our guide left me in the middle of the jungle at night without a flashlight! Our sighting of the snake was particularly rare, and all rare sightings go up on a board at the lodge, so we are a part of history for the mean time. We got up early the next morning and flew back to Lima, covered in bug bites but in awe of all that we had seen! We plan to go to Ica, just south of Lima on the coast, on thursday. We are having the time of our lives, but are dead tired from getting up at 4 AM all the time. Outside of Ica is a desert oasis where we plan to sleep in for the first time. Hope all is well at home! Love to all.