DAY 80 - 82: 2nd October - 4th October: Amazon, Peru

On the morning we left for the amazon I was not feeling very well at all - I think I had eaten something bad. We headed to the airport to get our flight to Puerto Maldonado in the amazon. Puerto Maldonado is a city in Southeastern Peru in the Amazon forest 55 kilometres (34 mi) west of the Bolivian border on the confluence of the Tambopata and Madre de Dios River, a tributary of the Amazon River. It is the capital of the Madre de Dios Region.

Nearby are the Manú National Park, Tambopata National Reserve, and Bahuaja-Sonene National Park. These are some of the most pristine primary rain forests in the world, which include several oxbow lakes and clay licks, where hundreds of birds including macaws feed on clay. As soon as we got of the plane the heat hit me, it was so much warmer than Cusco. We went on a short bus journey to the river edge then got a boat to go down the River. It was exactly how you imagine the Amazon would be with families washing themselves and their clothes. That afternoon/ evening we went up a man- made tower to watch sunset and then went on an evening walk through the amazon. We saw lots of wildlife: Tarantulas, monkeys, birds and a coral snake. That evening we had dinner and got an early night as we had to be up at 4am. The rooms were amazing - they were open so all the wild life could get in. We were given a safe to put our stuff in so that monkeys and other creatures did not take it away in the night.

The next morning our guide Luis woke us up for breakfast and told us the plan for the day. We were going to visit an Oxbow lake and go Paraná fishing - the whole of the lake was full of Paraná's but I managed to catch what looked like a goldfish! We then left and went walking through the amazon some more before heading back down the river to the lodge for snack time. After our fresh juice and some fruit we headed through the amazon to a hide by a clay slick where we should have seen some Macaws - but they did not arrive, so we headed back for lunch and naptime. That afternoon I felt really ill but tried to keep going, so I boarded the boat to go to some botanical gardens but I didn't make it around the tour, and ended up sleeping on a bench. That evening we had dinner and I went to bed, as I really didn't feel well.

It was our last morning in the amazon so we woke up at 7am and headed back to the hide to see if we could see some Macaws, and we did about 12 turned up and they were amazing. After that we went back to the lodge to collect our things to head back to the airport to get back to Cusco. Overall, I think the amazon was my highlight of my whole time in South America, I wish I felt ok and that I was there for a longer period of time. That evening I had to get my clothes washed, as the next morning I was leaving to go to the scared valley to spend the night in Ollantaytambo before heading on the Inca trail.