14th Dec On another bus tour to visit a lake. The lake is nestled between some magnificent snow-capped mountains. Very spectacular. The drive wasn't too bad. This time we are in a Toyota Van. One of the stops is in a village called Yungay. Its not till we get back to our hotel and search the net we discover why we stopped here. . The whole town was wiped out in 1974 by an earthquake which triggered a massive earth slide. The village was buried in under 4 minutes, with an estimated 20,000 people dead. Google Yungay Peru if you want to know more. Lunch was in a quaint little roadside house with stunning views of the valley below. The drive back was a little boring and the seats were getting very uncomfortable. Something really funny happened on the way back. It seems that nearly all Peruvians fall asleep as soon as they sit down in a bus, plane or train seat. Well as we are driving along the young girl next to Alan has gone into a deep sleep. Now the road is not very straight and the next left hand sweeper we came across, off the seat she goes. She slams into the door of the van, and only wakes up when the guide helps her back into the seat. Man she must have been tired. We arrive back into town and find this really nice chinese food place. Yes chinese fast food in the middle if South America. And the food was ever so good. 15th Dec We visit the markets this morning, which is bustling with people. Its crazy. The fruit market is where we buy some mangoes for 30 cents each. Next we buy some honey straight from the hive for 30 cents. This will make for a good breakfast tomorrow. The meat market is a sight to see. There they sell every part of the animal, and I mean every part. The animals range from chickens, ducks, goat, sheep, beef, and last but not least guinea pigs. Yes you can even get roasted guinea pigs in restaurants. So for lunch we find something different. This little place has a few different combinations on offer. So for a whole $2 each we get the following. A hamburger, a cup of coffee and a large glass of fresh mango juice. The markets are a great place to try so many different foods. What a great day. 16th Dec Now we are off to the airport at 8am. Our flight is with LC Peru. A small company with a nice little Dash 8 prop plane. It departs on time and we head to Lima. The flight path is very close to the snow-capped mountains, the view is breath taking.. We arrive in Lima with a few hours to spare. Our next flight is with LAN. It is running 1 hour behind schedule. Anyway we arrive in Iquitos and our ride is waiting. So we have gone from a mild 18 degrees to a whopping 32 degrees with 100% humidity. What a shock. Iquitos is the largest city in the world that is not connected by road. The only way in is by boat or plane. Now this is one very different city. There are nearly no cars. All vehicles are 3 wheeled motorbikes powered by 125cc engines. Similar to the ones in Asia. Our guide tells us there are over 80,000 of them on the road. We arrive at our apartment for the night, and it is ok. The air conditioner works well. After a short walk we grab some chicken and chips. It seems this is what most places are offering. 17th At 9am our guide from Muyuna Lodge picks us up and we are taken to our boat for the 140km ride up the Amazon to the lodge. Well the boat is rather small, and the stated 3 hour ride takes more like 4.5 hours. There are 2 other guests in the boat, and we are all happy to disembark at the lodge. Its now around 2.30pm, and they serve us lunch. Stewed pork, rice, vegetables followed by rice pudding for desert. Man that was good. The other guests are from Ireland, and boy do they have strong accents. After lunch we are taken on a short boat ride down stream and upstream to do some wildlife spotting. There are so many birds. I cannot name them, but we would have seen 20 different species. We come across a Sloth hanging in a tree. Fish are jumping out of the water. We see people from the small remote villages catching fish. A huge storm is brewing, and the lightning and thunder are putting on a great show for us. Its 7pm and we are having dinner. It starts to rain very lightly. The lightning is so intense it is turning night into day. The thunder is getting louder. We finish tea and our guide wants us to go on a short boat ride to see the nocturnal animals. We grab our Ponchos and off we go. We would have only been on the water for 5 minutes when the rain turns into a torrential downpour. It is so heavy you cannot see the front of the boat which is light up by a spot light. I am soaked through, as the poncho has a few holes in it. The boat turns back. When we arrive back at the landing we all agree that what we just experienced was fantastic. Torrential rain, huge lightning and the loudest thunder. What a ride! 18th I cannot believe how well we both slept. Considering the noises from the jungle, the thunder and the lightning and rain, it was a good sleep. We are up at 6am ready to go for a short walk with our guide. Only 5 minutes into the walk and Alan tells me he is going back to the lodge. He looks very pale, and has a bout of the runs. I continue on and see many monkeys. I get back to the lodge to find Alan is ok. We indulge in breakfast, and while eating we are treated to the loudest thunder i have ever heard. It is so loud the ground shakes. After lunch we are taken by boat to a huge lake to do some fishing. In total we catch about 12 Piranha. Boy do they have sharp teeth. After the fishing we spot some pink dolphins jumping out of the water. What a sight. The clouds have gone and we are back to blue skies. In the last 24 hours we have seen so much wildlife. We were very lucky to see 2 macaws (blue and yellow macaws) in full flight. Weather wise we have gone from blue skies to a massive tropical storm and back to blue skies, all in 24 hours. The chef cooked the Piranha up for tea, and I can say it is very tasty. After tea we jump in the boat and we are looking for Cayman (small alligator) in the massive lake. Our guide has at least 10 attempt to catch one, but no good. On his last try for the night he grabs one from the water and pulls it aboard. Only a little fella, just under 2 foot long. We now head back to the lodge. 19th Today we had breakfast on the boat in the main part of the Amazon river. While eating breakfast we were entertained by a pod of Pink dolphins, and the occasional grey dolphin. When breakfast is finished we are taken further up the Amazon river for a swim. When we find a suitable stop the boat stops, and our guide asks who is going in. I am the first to put up may hand, the others are not sure. Alan is not sure either. So our guide jumps in, and I follow him. The water is beautiful, but the current is strong, so we are thrown some life jackets. Next in is Alan, followed by the rest except 1 girl, who chose not to swim. After lunch our Irish friends are heading back to Iquitos. Their stay has come to an end. We have only known them for less than 2 days, but saying goodbye was a little emotional, as we got to know them quite well. After a few big hugs they depart. A new group of guests is arriving shortly. If they didn't arrive it would only be Alan and myself at the lodge. Turns out there is a family of 5 with 3 kids, and 2 Asian people. We spend the rest of the afternoon on a short walk into the Jungle. We head down to the dining room to meet our new guests. All is good, and dinner is fantastic. After tea we do a nocturnal jungle walk. We see frogs, ghecko's, bats, and last but not least, TARANTULA's. These spiders are huge. We are lucky to see 2 different types, both as scary as each other. This brings the night activities to an end. Another early start tomorrow, 6.15am. Its our last day, and we will be leaving around 1.30pm back to Iquitos.