Amazing Amazon
Trip Start
Jun 06, 2008
1
13
39
Trip End
Feb 09, 2009
Puerto Maldonadas,
Peru
Sunday, July 6, 2008
We have to tell you about the incredible animal life we saw in the jungle. There really were monkeys of every description in the trees, some of whom were tame enough to come down and walk with us on the tracks. One particular monkey, who obviously recognises a relative when he sees one, actually jumped from a tree onto Tony´s shoulders, then started trying to dress himself in the clothes that Tony was still wearing. The fun did wear a bit thin, however, when the monkey´s next idea of entertainment was a to play a quick game of strangulation, which caused our guide to intervene and lure the offending monkey into a tree with offerings of food
Clare does all the work
. The pictures accompanying this article tell the story, and Tony does feel very special despite the attempt to kill him.We also say many of the birds that these parts are famous for, including a couple of toucans and dozens of macaws. We had 20 or so sightings of caiman - the South American alligator - more turtles than you could poke a stick at (which we didn´t, of course), and even one of those massive, hairy tarantula spiders. (Photos of these are still to come.) Sadly we did not see any anaconda snakes, which was a big disappointment for one of us anyway.
The exploration of the jungle was undertaken by a variety of means, including some very long hikes, some very long sessions in rowboats, and the occasional longboat cruuise. Somewhere on this page you´ll find Clare doing all the work in the rowboat while Tony kindly takes photos. What a guy!
For those who you who are into geography, our flight from Cusco to the Amazon basin took 30 minutes. Cusco is 3400 metres above sea level, and has never experienced a temperature above 23 degrees. We never really ascended after the aeroplane left Cusco, but began to descend 10 minutes after our departure and continued to descend for the next 20 minutes
Cruising in the Amazon
. Eight minutes after flying alongside the last snow-capped mountain peak, we were experiencing a balmy 34 degrees in the mid-winter tropical jungle, at 184 metres above sea level. It then took a 30 minute bus ride, followed by a 90 minute longboat ride (downstream) to arrive at our destination. We could not have felt further from Peru, yet we were still in the middle of it. What an amazing country. In Argentina we plan to visit the Iguazu Falls and perhaps put our passports through their paces by crossing the border into Uraguay as well. We have booked nothing apart from the first two nights accommodation, so being spontaneous will be the order of the day. We have 10 days there before relocating to Mexico and the northern hemisphere. Of course we will attempt to maximise your viewing pleasure by keeping you posted.
Tony y Clare
Comments
wow!
Hi Clare and Tony. That was a brilliant blog entry. Thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It does seem like an amazingly varied country. So happy you didn't put a pic up of the tarantula! The other pics were great though, good ones of the 2 monkeys - oops, Tony and one monkey!! What a trip you had to do to get to the Amazon. Keep up the good work with the entries and keep safe.
Love Mum and Mark (Julie and Mark)