Post 3
After a 5:30am meet up in hotel reception it was time to depart Lima and head to Porto Maldonado, a small town on the Tambopata River. We used buses, planes and boats to get to our destination. That in itself was quite the trek!

After the flight to Porto Maldonado with a brief stop in Cusco to collect some new passengers, we took a bus to the local markets to pick up a few things for the next day or two ahead. Btw...the cacao covered Brazilian nuts are a winner! We then dropped off most of our luggage at the lodge office before driving an hour to the port, boarding our boat and heading up the river to the Cayman Eco Lodge.

The boat ride was about 2 hours upstream. Lush green trees lined the banks, just beautiful, a very peaceful ride. There was much to see along the way too, in particular red & green Macau's, Capybara's which are basically giant guinea pig's, dusky titi monkey's and a South American Coati - I'm not really sure how to describe that. The guides ability to spot things and point them out is truly remarkable!

Upon arrival at the lodge, we had a 1 hour settling in period which involved a cocktail (maracuya pisco - amazing!) or two and night time jungle walk prep! This was something I wasn't sure about, I know what comes out at night! But off I went all the same. A range of bugs and insects came out to play, of particular interest was the lead bug, or at least, that's exactly what it looked like, pretty cool actually! Of complete disinterest was the wolf spider, I hate spiders!! And it was big, with thick legs and a super hairy body. Argh! No thanks!! A little more into the jungle and our eagle eyed guide Christian spotted some kind of tree snake....and after hoicking it down, I was able to have a play! I much prefer snakes!

And so, our night time jungle walk was a success and I came back alive without seeing a tarantula, thank goodness! What we did do before we left though was turn off the lights and listen to the sounds of the jungle at night - boy is it loud!! Sooo many bugs talking to each other!

After dinner and socialising, I took a quiet moment to enjoy the night sky - and what a view it was! There was no moon and no lights and just a magic array of stars to feast your eyes upon - so clear and bright! It reminded me of being up in the north of WA and out to sea.

Time to retire to my candle lit, mosquito proof bungalow for an early start, a long jungle walk awaits tomorrow!