Even though we had the chance of a lie in we were first into breakfast - we had everything packed - John did his normal huffing and puffing but everything went in. When we got to the airport we were well under the 23kg at 19.5kg - others were touching 27kgs and had to pay excess baggage!
We were quickly through security, the only place to perch was at the coffee bar where we felt duty bound to imbibe a really hot cappuccino - the best outside Starbucks!
The plane was late leaving but as the flight was only 40 minutes we arrived in Puerto Maldonado just after 1pm - we were collected by our Rainforest Expeditions guides, Frank and Jakson, and taken to the office to repack our jungle clothes into a small duffle bag - leaving our big cases at the office for our return. A refreshing towel and cold drink later and we were all on the bus - made for Peruvians as any one with more than a 20inch inside leg measurement was cramped - for a 45 minute trip to the river. Our attention was distracted by a snack box containing brazil nuts in sugar, a banana and lovely fried and salted plantain......all locally made - this was only topped by a fried rice lunch served on the boat and eaten out of a really strong traditional leaf wrap with a spoon.
The boat journey was another 45 minutes - not a lot of wildlife except for circling black and yellow headed vultures that said it was fun whizzing down a tributary of the Amazon on a narrow boat, built for these waters, with people carefully positioned around the boat sides for balance! We alighted 2 by 2 and headed up lots of steps for another cold drink and welcome by the manager Christian. During the briefing we were all distracted by the resident dusky titi monkeys crossing above the raised walkway - later we also saw smaller marmosets in the trees near the dining area. The posada is a 70/30 venture between the community and a company with profits ploughed back into the business and community either individually or collectively eg one recent investment was the development of a local football pitch.
They did have electricity and wifi for a few hours a day but the wifi speed was slow so I didn't really bother!
Our rooms were open but really nice and with the obligatory mosquito net which was lowered while we had dinner - besides two beds,again made for rather shorter Peruvians - we had a hammock - which only a few of us did!
At 4pm we headed out to the canopy tower 120 feet up and giving a view of the forest above tree level - these are never easy to climb and as I was ascending I could feel my feet tingling - as it would only take 7 at a time we loitered half way and acclimatised waiting for the others to come down. We arrived just as the sun was setting which was nice - and we saw macaws fly past, chestnut cheeked aracaris (today's photo), white chested toucans, oripendular and caciques before descending which was easier and quicker than ascending.
After dinner we were all early to bed as we have a 4am wake up call tomorrow!