Peruvian Amazon

Many things have shocked me on our travels, but our trip to the Amazon was stunning, for a few reasons. First, we had just come from Cuzco and Machu Picchu, where the climate was cool and crisp. So the heat of the jungle was shocking at first. I'm not one to do very well in hot weather. My crew coach in college once gasped at how I had sweated through a sweater on a run, to give you an idea.

Second, the days before we reached the Amazon, we were immersed in Peruvian culture. From the Larres Trek, where we met local people living on the mountainside, to Cuzco, where we saw many Incan and Spanish sites, to Macchu Picchu, one of the best preserved Incan villages. Peru had thus been an educational experience. I will be the first to admit that before going, I had little interest in Incan history. So, going to the Amazon, I expected to be an extension of our Incan learning. How wrong was I?

Third, I just didn't realize what we would encounter.

We flew from Cuzco to Puerto Maldanado where we met our tour group and traveled by bus to the boat. We had to travel 3 hours down the Rio Tambopata to our destination.

Here is the river and the boat we traveled on:



We walked through parts of the jungle before reaching the lodge around dusk. Both Jack and I were excited to stay there, because it was an eco-friendly lodge, basically that meant no hot water or electricity most of the time. For me, this brought another surprise though, as our room didn't have either an actual door, or windows. Instead it opened up to the jungle. This meant that bugs of all sorts visited us. They did provide us with mosquito nets however. We were warned not to leave anything with a scent out, because opossums frequented the rooms.

On the first night, on my way to dinner, I spotted a really bizarre animal outside the room. It looked like a opossum in the face, but was bright yellow and had spikes all over its body, making it a porcupine or something. I called for Jack, and he came out too. So there was a witness! But our guide, Diego and the others claimed they had no idea what it was when I described it and said they had never heard of such an animal. Who knows, maybe I discovered a rare Amazonian species?

The second day, it rained; so our activities consisted of an afternoon walk. The jungle alone was simply breathtaking. We were suppose to go to a huge salt lick, where tons and tons of macaws go in the mornings, but it rained. We went to a lookout tower which was awesome, and high. We were swarmed by bees and wasps at the very top, but no stings. Instead we saw tropical birds, Macaws, and other weird birds. Again, I'm not big into birds.

Here is the view from the top of the lookout tower and the canopy view:






That night, we took a boat ride in the river to see the Caymans. They are related to alligators and crocks, but much much smaller. They live all along the river. It was very cool.

On the third day we got an early start and went for the whole morning to some small lakes. The walk there was about an hour long, then we got in a long canoe and headed across the lake. The sun was blistering hot. Once we crossed, we walked a ways and got into another canoe. This one had issues. You see, it did not have a paddle. Our guide said some local must have stolen it. Our group consisted of about 12 people, all in one canoe, so we desperately needed a paddle. One of the people, Smit as we called him, got out a pocket knife and handed it to the guides. They then proceeded to cut down a small tree to use as a paddle to cross the lake. Two men, at either end of the boat, used these stick like things to move all of us along the lake. I thought we were crossing it, but after a few hours of apparent bird watching, I realized that it was not the case. We went up a part of the lake and got stuck, where our guide pointed out the grass growing all around us to show that it was nature's way of making new paths for the water and filling in the rest with swampy marshes. I thought an explanation would have sufficed, but whatever. We then backtracked, all of us grabbing the grass to pull us out, and finally reached the shore. Meanwhile, the whole time, the guy in front of me had noticed a leak in the canoe when we first started. He was hauling water out with a small bucket the entire time!

So, we were in a canoe with no oars, with a leak, in water where piranhas live! It was quite the experience. We survived though.

Here is Jack fishing for pirahnas:





That afternoon, we went to an organic farm. The owner was taught to farm organically by a NGO, ProNatura (www.pronatura.org). Although only one of four farmers in the region to take part in the program, Don Manuel is the only one that profited from the change. The farm was small, but well organized. One of the main crops, that will be profitable in many years, are mahogany trees. Apparently mahogany was over cut, and is now is extremely short supply. So the NGO showed Don Manuel how to intersperse the trees among the crops. Besides growing fruit, such as starfruit, bananas, papayas, mangoes, hybrid fruit etc. he had coffee, sugarcane, chicken, and much more.
It was really fascinating to see.

The whole trip was fantastic. We agreed we would go back if we could later in life. The Amazon is certainly stunning. And hot. If you want more information on the group we took the tours with, Rainforest Expeditions (amazing because of how eco-conscious they are) go to www.perunature.com