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Becca, Zoe and Katy's Peruvian Adventure
Hello!
As you can probably see from the photo (which unfortunately is not one that we took ourselves!), we went to the jungle!! We booked a 4 day trip to a part of the Amazon Jungle. The day before we were all very excited, packing our mosquito repellant, Indiana Jones style hats and every other item that we thought an experienced explorer should always have handy! Unfortunatley none of us could find a whip in time!!
We got up very early in the morning as we had to be at Cusco airport for 7.30am in time for our flight at 9.30. Airports are always quite exciting, so the 5 of us were rather excitable in the departure lounge, with Zoe getting a little carried away, and buying a rather fetching baseball cap with a guinea pig on it. I thought this was in rather poor taste, considering she had eaten one only a few weeks previously!
The flight was only half an hour long, and then we landed in the town of Puerto Maldonado. It was quite a temeperature shock when we got off the plane, as we were all quite used to a chilly Cusco, and the jungle was just a little warmer!! In the 30s and with over 90% humidity! My hair was an attractive sight in those kind of conditions!! We boarded a minibus, where the driver was actuallly mental, and shouted at himself the whole journey, and talked on his mobile phone! We had a short tour of the local town which was not that exciting, and went to a pretty spot where we could see the river and the jungle really well.
The other people on our tour were rather interesting Australians, who could not speak quieter than a shout, and were so annoying! After a couple of hours driving we arrived at a small harbour in the jungle where we boarded a boat and had to don some rather fetching life jackets for an hour and a half journey up the river to our lodge. We were provided with a lunch box (very cute), and the journey up river was beautiful. We saw lots of birds and some turtles, and the scenery was just stunning with the jungle all around.
We arrived at our lodge at about 3pm, and we were met by the barman and a cold drink! Much appreciated! The lodge was in the middle of the reserve, completely surrounded by jungle and the noises of the jungle. There were parrots and tropical birds in abundance, and the lodge also had there own pet macaw, which took an instant disliking to me, and tried on numerous occassions to attack!! All I wanted to do was stroke it!!
We all settled into our rooms, which had no electricity and no hot water!! However, they did have leopard print bed linen and mosquito nets, so I was happy. After we had dumped our stuff, we were taken to a place called Sunset Point where you get to see the sun set over the river. The view was lovely, and on the way back in the dark we got to see lots of fire flies which was really fun! It was a bit like a fairy tale, with fairies flying around!
That evening we also had a talk about caimans, accompanied by the best fried bananas ever. After the talk, we split into 2 groups, and headed out onto the river. It was pitch black, and the objective was to find caimans by shining torch light onto the river banks, and looking out for their eyes glowing back. Unfortunately we only saw 2 babies, although they were quite cute, and a couple of sets of eyes and snouts in the water. It was really exciting though, and the boat stopped for about 5 minutes in the middle of the river so we could just listen to the night sounds of the jungle. When we returned, we had dinner with everyone in the main lodge, and then decided to have an early night, as our guide Ricardo decided it was a good idea to get up at 4.30 the next morning for our trek through the jungle.
The next morning, after a good nights sleep under the mosquito nets, we got up VERY early, had breakfast (not a huge fan of papaya!), and set off on a 5km trek through the jungle to a lake where we were told that we may see giant otters. The walk was tiring and sticky in the heat, although it was quite funny to see our guide stop every 5 minutes to see if he could hear or see anything of interest. Every time he stopped, because of a falling leaf, or something equally exciting, we pretty much piled into him, as he stopped so suddenly! Unfortunatley we did not see any large mammals, or any mammals for that matter, but we did see lots of bugs, such as Army ants, Fire ants and Leaf Cutter ants and parrots. Katy was particularly disappointed about not seeing an anaconda!
We got to the lake at about 8am, and we had the most relaxing hour on the lake ever. First of all we went into the hide, where we watched piranas thrashing about in the water, and where, with binoculars, Ricardo convinced us we could see giants otters on the other side of the lake. I must admit, it just looked like a shadow in the water, but I trust our guide!! We then got into these little dug out canoes, where he rowed us around the lake for an hour. It was so relaxing, not talking and just watching the birds around the lake, and listening to the jungle noises. Sian and Helen actually fell asleep! However, the silence was shattered when after about 45 minutes, the Australians and their guide turned up, and made a racket!! We soon left sharpish, and began the 5km walk back to the lodge. By this time, the weather was a lot hotter and stickier, and I do not think that any of us were relishing the idea of walking back to the lodge. However, we did have fun in a giant tree called a stranglar tree that we all climbed into, and our guide also gave us a leaf to chew that numbed our tongues, which was also good fun, although I think at first Katy was a bit dubious about what he had just pulled off a bush and told us to chew!!
The walk back was quite uneventful, and we were all quite relieved to get back to the lodge where cold drinks and cold showers were waiting for us! The afternoon was ours to spend as we pleased, so we enjoyed sitting on our balconies in the sun, watching the birds, and having an afternoon nap. Our guide came to get us mid afternoon, as there were some monkeys near the lodge that we could go and see. They were red howler monkeys, and it was quite exciting to see them in the wild!
A bit later in the afternoon, Ricardo took us on a 5 minute walk through the jungle again, to a spot where we can occassionally see toucans. We were quite lucky and we heard a few making a noise in the trees, and then we saw one fly overhead. Although it was not that close, the shape was quite distinctive, and we were pleased that we had seen one in the wild, although Zoe would have been happier with a puffin! We also saw some squirrel mokeys and some marmosets.
That evening we were treated to a concert by our guide, who was an aspiring guitar artist. He played us quite a few songs on our balcony by candle light, and we were all sitting there with our beers enjoying the warmth of the evening and the music, even if his renditions of Coldplay and Red Hot Chilli Peppers were a little different!! We had another early night that evening, as we were told that we would have to be up at 5.30am the following morning for our trip to the Clay Lick.
The next morning we all woke early and were taken across the river in the boat to a small area of clay where we were told that parrots and macaws go to, to eat the clay to help their digestions. We all crept into a hide with our binoculars, where for a while nothing happened. Zoe was particularly disappointed when she could not see the lake that everyone had been talking about. It took a while to explain that it was a lick not a lake!! Suddenly out of nowhere, tens of parrots and a few macaws came flying into the area all around the hide. I got a little excited with my video camera, and the others all had binoculars stuck to their eyes for the next hour or so. The noise was quite amazing, with all the birds squawking around us, and sitting on the trees, and the sheer number of birds was quite amazing. After a while, the numbers began to dwindle, and we headed back to the lodge for our breakfast.
After breakfast, we then headed across the river again, to where a local family live. We were shown there small "farm" where they have avocado, orange and cocoa trees, and lots of chickens. It was quite eye opening to see how they lived in barely a shed with no walls, and a tent a small distance away that they use for a bathroom. The man of the family was 92, and his wife was not much younger, so how they manage all year round is astounding. They were lovely people who welcomed us into their home, and were happy for us to spend quite a while walking through their land. We saw some more monkeys in the trees around their land, and a few more exotic birds. We spent quite awhile at the farm speaking with the family, but evetually we had to leave to get back in time for lunch.
Again we had the afternoon to ourselves, and as it was our last day at the lodge, we used it to take lots of photos, visit the medicine garden (always working us medical students!), and for Zoe and Sian to play in the hammocks all afternoon. We also sampled the local drinks (piña colada etc!), and generally just lazed around. When it got dark we went for a night walk through the jungle. It lasted for abut 45 minutes, and it was pitch black. We managed to see some more fire flies and 2 tarantulas which was quite exciting, but other than that, it was quite uneventful. Everyone felt a little nervous in the dark, and when we got back to the lodge we were grateful for light! That evening we had our last supper, and were hassled for awhile by our guide to go and have a "private" party at Sunset Point. We politely declined and after a few more drinks from the rather attentive barman, we headed off to bed for our last night under the mosquito nets. As you may have guessed, I enjoyed sleeping under them! They made me feel safe!!
The next morning, we got up at 6 (a lie in!), before being taken by boat and then bus back to the airport for our flight back to Cusco. Zoe, yet again got over excited in the departure lounge, and bought a rather fetching red jacket! She says it is just for wearing around the house, but I must say, that I am not so convinced that we will not be seeing it around West Quay shopping centre in Southampton in the not too distant future!
The flight back finished our jungle tour, that we all thoroughly enjoyed, although I am not sure any of us will miss the mosquitoes or the humidity, or having to put on Deet every few hours to stop being bitten!
We can not believe that this amazing trip is coming to a close. It feels like we have been here forever, but at the same time, the weeks are flying past.
The next entries from Bolivia will be soon.
Lots of love us all
xxxxx
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