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Amazon to Andes- Exploring Peru

By : Erin Correia
Trip Begins October 11, 2012
Trip Ends October 23, 2012

An amazing journey from deep in the jungle in Manu National Park, to the breathtaking ruins of Machu Picchu.

Want to go? Manu Biosphere, Machu Picchu by Train

I went to: Peru, Lima, Costa del Sol, Cusco, Taypikala Hotel Cusco, Manu, Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge, Manu Tented Camp, Manu Wildlife Center, Casa Andina Cusco, Sacred Valley, El Sauce, Machu Picchu, Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo, Amazon, Machu Picchu Ruins, El MaPi
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October 11, 2012
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Off to Peru!

Costa del Sol, Lima

After just a few hours of sleep we headed to the airport for a full day of travel. Everything went well to Denver and then Houston. In Houston, we boarded the biggest and oldest plane I have ever been on and started to taxi. We had to stop for about 20 minutes for a small problem, and then started to taxi again. We stopped again and they announced that there was another mechanical error that needed to be fixed. It ended up taking almost 3 hours!!! We had the option of de-planing and after an hour or so, we decided to head back inside to stretch our legs a bit. As we headed inside, they collected our boarding passes and told us we now had to stay inside until they were ready to take off again...that would have been nice to know before we got off!

Finally, we all waited in line, got our boarding passes back, re-boarded the plane and took our seats. 6 hours later, we were in Peru!! Immigrations were a breeze and we got the green light (literally) at customs. Our hotel was just outside the airport and super convenient. We checked in, put our bags in our room and then went down to the bar to enjoy our complimentary welcome Pisco sour- the official drink of Peru. Because of our delays, it was after 2 AM so we crawled into bed and passed out with our alarms set for only 4 hours later. Little did we know, this was the start of a long week of early mornings!

October 12, 2012
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Is this real life?

Taypikala Hotel Cusco, Cusco

This morning we got up and enjoyed the hotel breakfast (which was great!) before heading back to the airport to check in for our flight to Cusco. The area where we had to wait was the waiting area for about 10 different flights, all heading to Cusco. It was crowded and confusing, but we eventually figured it out. As we were waiting, some Peruvian guys came in and sat down a row away from us. They pulled out instruments (a guitar, a pan flute...) and started to play music and sing. They were practically sitting on top of some American girls who looked like they didn't know what to do with themselves. It really looked like something from a hidden camera show and that these girls were being pranked. Functioning on very little sleep, it was hard to process what was going on without laughing.

Eventually, we recognized our flight number being called and boarded a bus that took us to our plane. The plane was really nice (MUCH nicer than our international flight) and they served us another cold breakfast during the flight. When we arrived in Cusco, we were met by our driver and taken to our hotel - Hotel Taypikala - where we were checked in and helped to our room on the third floor. With no elevator, we were able to feel the altitude on our way up the stairs, and Kepler was grateful for the free coca tea in the lobby.

The hotel was nice and the staff was very friendly. We wanted to set right out to explore the area, but sat down the bed and ended up passing out for a few hours instead. We were glad we did when we woke up an hour into our nap to a big rain/hail storm. We felt a lot less guilty just staying inside and resting!

When the weather cleared, we got directions from the front desk and set out on our own to explore. We walked to the Plaza de Armas and took a ton of photos of the beautiful buildings along the way. We ran into a little parade, saw beautiful churches, did some people watching , went to an ATM, bought water and snacks and then returned to the hotel just in time to meet the guides from Manu who came to the hotel to brief us on our amazon trip. They described the next 6 days to us so we would know what to expect and how to prepare. Afterwards, we went down to the hotel restaurant for dinner. I had alpaca and Kepler had a local typical beef dish. Mine was pretty dry, but Kepler's was delicious! We went back to our room and packed our bags for Manu before settling into bed nice and early.

October 13, 2012
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The long and winding road

Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge, Manu

We woke up early today and used the shower that was located right in the bedroom literally next to the bed (very odd...), enjoyed another great buffet breakfast and then packed up to meet Cesar for our trip to Manu.

We joined 9 others on the small bus and then stopped at the airport to pick up 2 more people on the way out of town. We started the drive through a much less visited area of Cusco. It looked super run down and a little sad. The drive took us 11 hours total, but with lots of stops along the way. It showed us a side of Peru that many travelers never see. I found it fascinating to see people in their native dress (and not doing it for the tourists), going about their everyday lives. Woman in super colorful, layered clothing sitting in the fields keeping watch over the alpacas, sheep, cows and pigs. Women and children with giant vats of juice on every street corner, selling cups to the local men. Men working hard creating bricks to finish building their homes.

The houses were all covered in symbols that had been painted on - squares with some sort of symbol painted in the middle, some with crosses through them. We were told this is how politicians advertise- they go across the country and paint their symbols on rural houses. There were also crosses on most rooftops with a little ladder leaning against them and a statue of a cow on each side. We asked our guide about them and he explained that they are for good luck and fertility.

Our first stop along the road was at a lake to check out some local birds...this is when we realized we were with a birding crowd on a birding trip (...and we are NOT birders). Everyone was very excited to see these birds (the teals), but when we got off the bus, we realized they were essentially just ducks. The others on the trip were busy excitedly checking birds off their lists, but we just enjoyed the nice stroll along the lake and giggled to ourselves about how this would be our "big year".

At the highest point on the drive, we got a flat tire. This is fairly common since none of the roads outside of Cusco were paved or even close to being smooth. The driver and his 8 year old son worked on changing the tire while we took advantage of the break and just started walking along the road to our next stop instead.

As we walked along the road, some local girls who were watching animals in the fields came running up the hill to examine the gringos. They don't see tourists very often and were very curious. One went running ahead to warn the other kids in the town below that we were coming. Finally, the bus pulled up behind us and we hopped back on until we reached our next stop.

We visited two sets of ruins. The first was just the outlines of the old walls of buildings. The second was a bunch of tiny stone huts that looked like brick ovens. Apparently, they were used as burial chambers when mummifying their dead. While we were exploring the second set of ruins, the group of children that had been warned of our arrival came running up the hill and tried to sell us woven bracelets. They were only 2 soles each (less than $1), but they were very aggressive about begging people to buy them. 'Comprame' (Buy from me) they kept saying while looking very sad. They would clump up and gang up on the weak, and they knew who in the group would give in easily. They would surround them and all try to get their bracelets as close to the face of the prospective buyer as possible. I simply said "No, gracias" very firmly to the first couple, and Kepler and I were then left alone to watch these shenanigans with bemusement. Most people in the group ended up buying one or two.

Next, we stopped at the town of XXXXXX to use the bathroom. The town was tiny and we had to go through an open air butcher shop to get to the pay-per-use bathroom. We walked across one of the oldest bridges in the area to the town square. They were having a singing contest and the first contestant was pretty dreadful! The locals all seemed to be snickering along with us as this woman screeched her way through the song.

We hopped back on the bus where we enjoyed our box lunches while the driver and his son patched the flat tire. (The box lunches for this whole trip were not what I expected, and were quite amazing! They always had WAY more than we could eat and included some sort of fabulous typical local dish along with local sides, fruits, vegetables, chocolates and snacks to save for later.)

The road for the rest of the trip was pretty crazy. There was no pavement after the first hour and it was all pretty much one very small lane (though traffic going both directions used it). After a few hours (and lots of napping on my part), we saw the end of the dry, dead landscape and began to descend into the cloudforest. We crossed into the Manu Buffer Zone and it instantly changed from sunny and dry to cloudy, thick air. The dry, dusty hillsides turned into lush, dense rainforest and the roadside became close and thick. We drove on this insanely tiny road the rest of the way, past (and through) waterfalls, over (and through) streams and through the lush vegetation. There were times when one side of the van had vines coming in the windows while passengers on the other side could look straight down a giant drop-off on the mountainside.

We kept stopping along the way when the guides spotted unique birds. We wound our way through the jungle making crazy manuevers anytime we faced an oncoming car or truck. We got out a walked a few times to get a better look at birds and butterflies. As we got closer to the lodge, we stopped and entered a special blocked off part of the forest where we climbed to an observation platform and were able to see about 6 of the national bird of Peru- the Cock of the Rock.

The Cock of the Rock is a bright orange bird with a giant round crest over the top of its head. The birds were really beautiful and were trying to display for the females, which was really interesting to watch (okay, we aren't birders, but we are suckers for anything that is really unique and beautiful, especially if it is that colorful!).

After watching them for about 30 minutes or so, we continued on to Cock of the Rock Lodge. The lodge was a cute little set of about 20 individual bungalows. Each one had a tiny balcony and its own bathroom. The were stark and simple with thatched roofs and no electricity. The bed had a giant mosquito net to protect against bugs. There was a main lodge taht was the dining hall, guide rooms and a tiny bar all in one. They had open windows all down both sides of the lodge that had screens we could drop down at dinner time.

Most of the night, our rooms and the main lodge were lit by candles, but for 2 hours at dinner, they turned on a generator so that the main lodge had power. While the food was fabulous, the screens didn't protect much from the bugs, and the bugs went crazy when the power was turned on. I spent the entire meal fishing critters out of my food and drink...but we were in the amazon so I just figured this is how it would be (...it didn't end up being like this any of the rest of the nights in the jungle, phew!).

After dinner, we all headed to our rooms to go to bed. When we got to our room, we found out that roaches had invaded. Roaches are my biggest phobia and I had spent the past few months mentally preparing myself for this very moment. While I didn't totally freak out, I did make Kepler kill them all (which I think is against the rules) while I spotted them with my headlamp. Once the bodies were disposed of, we quickly jumped into bed, with all our luggage piled around us, and tucked the bed nets securely around the mattresses. I had a little trouble sleeping imagining the roaches creeping back in...

October 14, 2012
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Finally, monkeys!

Boca Manu

We woke up at 4:40 AM today and met the group at 5:10 for a walk to spot wildlife. Most of the time we were spotting small birds in trees quite a ways away. I've mentioned how much Kepler and I love birds, so you can image how excited we were to be up this early for these types of sightings. We went to another area where you can usually spot dozens of cocks of the rock. There were only 2 there, so it wasn't very exciting compared to the display the night before.

We kept walking and Kep saw some movement in the trees across the canyon. While it took really good binoculars to make out the brown specks, it turned out to be wooly monkeys! Cesar, our guide, said that it was a rare find and a good spotting! This made me nervous that we would not be seeing good wildlife on this tour and I was feeling a little disheartened.

We walked back to the lodge for breakfast and then had just enough time for a quick shower before getting back on the bus. It was another morning of curvy jungle roads along sheer cliffs and over waterfalls. We got stuck in a couple of waterfalls and the driver had to get out and stack rocks in front of the tire to be able to drive over.

We stopped at one town along the way to use the bathroom and saw a giant tree of the tiny peppers I grow at home! At one point along the drive, the cook shouted 'Mono', which means monkey in spanish, and the driver stopped. All of the birders slowly started to get up, so I jumped up and ran off the bus and sprinted back with the guides. A group of 3 wooly monkeys were jumping across the road using the tree limbs just above our heads. I got there just in time to see one of them about 5 feet from me!! By the time the rest of the group got here, they were already way up in the canopy. I was SO excited to get to see them so close!

Further along the way, we stopped at a coca plantation. They showed us how they grow and harvest coca leaves for the production of coca tea and coca candies, and just for chewing too. They also showed us how little of the leaf is actually used to produce cocaine, and how many thousands of leaves it would take to make enough cocaine to even be worth anything. The plantation had a pet macaw that was a blue and yellow macaw and liked to speak Spanish!

We made our way to the town of XXXXXXX where we parted ways with the bus and half of our group. Those of us heading to the tent camp got into one boat, while those skipping camp and heading straight to the wildlife center got into another. The boats were motorized canoes with roofs and about a dozen individual seats.

The other group went about 5 minutes upstream and stopped at their lodge for the night. Our group continued for another 5 hours by boat down the Madre de Dios River to the tiny town of Boca Manu. The trip was hot and took forever, but most of us had a hard time keeping our eyes open for more than 2 minutes.

Partway through the journey, we stopped at a tiny local village to pick up more fuel. Thomas and Wilson, brothers who were our boatmen for the whole trip, were from this town, and their families met them at the riverbank to bring them home cooked food and fresh laundry while they loaded up the extra barrel of fuel. We pushed off and continued on our way.

We stopped in Boca Manu to buy beer, water and gatorade to hold us over for the next few nights. the town had a few small buildings surrounding a big field where it seemed like most of the town was out playing soccer. One porch had a macaw and a parrot sitting on it!

Once we had our drinks, we hopped back in the boat and continued another 5-10 minutes to Yina Lodge. It was already dusk when we arrived, so we quickly made our way to our individual thatch-roofed bungalows. They were cute and had a screened porch. There were shared bathrooms and showers in a building just up the path from the bungalows. They were okay, but a little dirty and really buggy.

They turned on the generator in the main dining lodge for a couple of hours so we could all charge our batteries really quickly. Claudia and Mike, other travelers in our group, were late to dinner because they found a bat in their room and had to be moved to a new bungalow!

We had a delicious dinner together. Thomas, had made his own aji (hot sauce) and it was amazing in our soup!! At dinner, Claudia spotted a giant spider on one of the walls. Cesar told us it was a wolf spider. I had heard wolf spiders were terribly aggressive and asked Cesar about it. He proved this was true by putting a rolled up napkin in front of the spider so we could watch it attack it! That's what you want to see before walking back, in the dark, to your bungalow!

When we headed to our bungalows for the night, we found them all FULL of roaches! They were the biggest roaches I have ever seen (and I've lived in Florida), and poor Kepler had to clear them out while I stood outside frozen with fear! These roaches were very colorful (yellow, purple) and some were as big as my hand! Ted yelled over to our bungalow that they were all over his stuff and in his suitcase, so I was grateful that we only found them on our walls. Once I got the all clear, I dashed into the bungalow and we quickly tucked ourselves into our bug netting and fell asleep.

October 15, 2012
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'Good luck! Emperor Monkeys!'

Manu Tented Camp, Manu

We had breakfast before dawn today (my stomach was having trouble with that concept) and then set off for a long ride on the river to the Manu Wildlife Tent Camp.

It was a little less than an hour to the Manu National Park checkpoint. There, we had to get out and sign in to the National Park as visitors. From there is was another 5+ hours to get to camp.

Along the way, we stopped to spot a ton of birds, a white caiman, a snake, turtles and a group of squirrel and brown cappuchin monkeys! (things were looking up!) When we finally got to camp, it felt so good to get out of the boat. I wasn't sure about how the accommodations would be, but it ended up being my favorite place we stayed in the jungle!

Camp was great! There was a main dining hall, a bathroom/shower hut and then individual 'tents'. The tents were wood platforms with a thatched or metal roof and then the walls and ceiling were a giant box of mosquito netting. Essentially, we were staying in a giant bug net! Inside, there was a desk, a couple luggage stands and two beds, both with individual mosquito nets as well. The bottom of the walls had a little bit of canvas, so the rooms weren't completely see through. There was no electricity at the entire camp, but we had a little solar powered lamp in our room and the bathrooms and dining lodge were all lit by a very clever candle system. The set up was pretty fabulous, and the bathrooms were immaculate!!

I wasn't going to take any chances with roaches, so as soon as we got into our tents, I put all of my luggage on my bed and tucked in the bed net. That way, I knew I was coming back to at least a safe bed!

Right as we were settling into our tents, Ted called us out and showed us a big family of red howler monkeys resting in the tree right above our tents!! I stood outside and watched them for quite a while.

We left in the early evening for Cocha Salvador, an oxbow lake just upstream from camp. We took a 3 minute boat ride to the trail, and then hiked for about 25 minutes to the lake. Along the trail, we saw a family of spider monkeys playing in the trees!

At the lake, we boarded a catamaran which was comprised of 2 dugout canoes with 2 wooden platforms over them and a couple of wooden benches nailed to the top. Thomas and Wilson came along to paddle for us.

On the water, we saw a ton of birds and a family of giant river otters. The family came out and swam around us curiously. We got to watch them catch and eat a bunch of fish! They were adorable, despite their slightly ugly faces! As we continued to float, there was a bunch of movement in one of the trees. We looked up and Cesar shouted 'Good luck! Emperor Monkeys!' (The first day of the trip, I told Cesar that is what I was most excited to see, and he told me that I would not get to see them, they were very rare). They are little monkeys with big white mustaches, they look similar to the Lorax, but as a small monkey! Cesar has been guiding there for 3 years and has never seen one before- we were very lucky!! They were jumping around with saddle-back tamarins, putting us up to 7 kinds of monkeys we had seen, and making it 8 in my life!

We continued to float around the lake until almost dusk and then returned to camp. We had time for a quick shower before another delicious dinner. After dinner we all went back to our tents to turn in for the night. Guess what? Our tents were roach-free!!! Kepler and I each climbed into our netted beds and I attempted to journal for a while. The problem was, the light was drawing every bug in the nearby forest and they all kept flying at the side of the netting. I could only handle this for a few minutes before giving up and shutting off the light. I fell asleep to the sounds of the jungle!

October 16, 2012
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The heat catches up....

Manu Tented Camp, Manu

Today was the first day we didn't have to move to a new location- one full day and night in the same camp! We set out this morning by canoe for Cocha Otorongo, an oxbow lake near camp. We docked on the sandy shore and set off on a hike through the rainforest to the oxbow lake. Along the way, we saw some Brown Capuchin monkeys playing in the trees and some really funky looking mushrooms. We stepped over giant groups of ants and fought our way through black clouds of mosquitos. I was thankful for the thick layer of deet I had applied and the treatment we put on our clothing before the trip (we actually made it through the entire amazon experience mosquito bite free!).

After a decent hike, we arrived at Cocha Otorongo. There was a jetty sticking out over the water where we could stand and observe the lake. The plants around the jetty were thick and full of really beautiful tropical flowers. As we walked down the jetty, small bats flew out from underneath us, darting about and then returning back to their dark home under the planks.

After Cesar taught us more about the plants we were seeing, we set off for the canopy tour and jetty at the other end of the lake. As we were walking, we heard a rustling noise in the plants next to us and then all of a sudden, two rodents about as big as a rabbit came running out of the brush chasing each other. One ran right between Mike's legs, and then the second one ran right into him! He let out a pretty great scream as he jumped into the air! It gave us all a really good laugh!

On our way back to the beach, we saw some really neat trees. Lots of trees along the way were covered in vines that had cut into them. Cesar said their were strangle vines, which seemed like a well suited name! We also saw monkey puzzle trees that have a million big, thick thorns or spikes growing out of them. These are supposed to prevent monkeys from being able to climb the tree and eat the fruit! Finally, we saw a giant ceiba tree. When I say giant, I mean GIANT- it would give most of the redwoods a run for their money!

We made it to the beach where our boat was waiting and we were all given rubber boots to wear as we crossed the water-logged sand. My boots were about 5 sizes too big, but I didn't speak up about it because we only had to walk about 20 feet to get to the boat. Big mistake! About halfway across the beach, I hit what I can only describe as muddy quick-sand. My boot sunk completely into the mud, just about up to the rim. I couldn't pull, because my foot would just come out of the oversized boot, and every time I tried to move I just sunk in further! I was screaming and laughing so hard that I could barely be helped! Finally, Cesar and my husband made it over to me and were able to pull me to freedom.

We boarded the boat and made our way back to camp. Along the way, we saw more squirrel and Capuchin monkeys. It is so neat how they travel together. The squirrel monkeys are small, so they are able to reach fruit more easily than the Capuchin monkeys, and the Capuchin monkeys are able to offer protection for the little squirrel monkeys! When we arrived back at camp, we had enough time to grab more water and use the bathroom before heading out on our next excursion.

We went to visit a native camp up the river. The locals use this camp to teach visitors about their way of life. Unfortunately, the locals were all off hunting when we arrived. Cesar, Thomas and Wilson decide to do demonstrations for us instead. They shot small bows and arrows and then made fire by rubbing sticks together. It took all three of them trying and quite a lot of effort before they finally had a flame, but it was very entertaining to watch.

By this point, the sun was directly overhead and it was miserably hot. I am someone who likes a blanket on me when it is 90 degrees out, but this was beyond what I could handle. We were wearing long sleeves and long pants to keep the bugs away, and every inch of our bodies was covered in sweat. We cowered in any small bit of shade we could find, and only got relief when we were riding on the boat and had some breeze- we all started to refer to this as our air conditioning. I could feel my body starting to shut down from the heat, and it was not good.

We went back to camp for lunch and I could barely eat anything. We had an hour before our next excursion, so I went to my bed, took off any extra layers I could, and just laid in my own sweat while chewing the air. It had to be well over 100 and the humidity was off the charts. Growing up in Michigan and living in dry-as-a-bone, cold Montana did not prepare me for this.

I tried to drink as much water as I could, and then we made our way to the boat to head back to Cocha Salvador for another visit. We took a new trail through the jungle and then boarded the catamaran. There was absolutely no shade on the river, so Cesar gave me an umbrella to sit under, which helped quite a bit. We floated along the lake and saw White Capuchin, squirrel and howler monkeys. We saw a ton of birds, some new to us and some we had seen before. Every few minutes a pair of macaws would fly far overhead squawking as they went. It was super peaceful and relaxing- if it wasn't for the crazy heat, it would have been perfect.

We returned to camp for dinner, but I couldn't eat anything. I took a shower instead in an attempt to cool off. While I was in the bathroom, something big kept running into me over and over. I screamed, but there is not much you can do in that situation. I finally got my headlamp on and realized it was just a giant tree frog. It was actually pretty beautiful!

A new group joined us at camp, but they mostly kept to themselves. For the first time ever, there were bugs covering everything at camp! They had not been a problem the night before, but it was like these little flying termites had completely taken over. Cesar said it meant the rain was coming, and boy was he right! We were all tucked away in bed by 8PM and that is when the storms started. It was a huge crazy storm with really close thunder and lightening and it lasted through most of the night. Being separated by the storm by just a screen made me feel like I was right in the middle of it; it was really amazing! It also meant we got VERY little sleep!

October 17, 2012
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Things that go bump in the night

Manu Wildlife Center, Manu

Ted really wanted to see jaguars, and was very upset that we had not. To give us the best chance of spotting them, we agreed to leave before dawn. We got up around 4 AM for breakfast (though I still felt too sick to eat), and were in the boat and heading back down the river by 5 AM. Sadly, we saw no jaguars.

We spent 7 hours on the river- 5 back to the national park check-point where we signed out, and 2 more to the Manu Wildlife Center where we met back up with the group from the beginning of the trip. It rained for the entire ride, so we went from being too hot, to being wet and cold. At least most of us were able to nap for a good portion of the ride, so it didn't feel horrible.

After the places we stayed the past few days, the Wildlife Center looked like a luxurious tropical paradise. The grounds were landscaped with fascinating tropical plants and gorgeous flowers. We were led straight to the main lodge for lunch. The lodge was huge and had a big dining area and another social area. The social area had a bar in middle of it with several sections of comfy furniture on one side and rows of hammocks overlooking the jungle on the other side. There were big coffee, tea, juice and fruit tables where you could help yourself, and then we were served a delicious gourmet lunch that was topped off by an amazing cake for dessert. I was glad my appetite was starting to come back!

The manager came and welcomed us and then showed us to our cabanas. Kepler and I were in the Capybara cabana. It was absolutely beautiful! It had a giant bed, a sitting area, a table and chairs, and a bathroom (a bathroom in our room!!!). On our bed, our towels had been formed into a giant peacock with big tropical flowers between each crease.

We wandered the grounds exploring and taking pictures until it was time to meet back up with the group. We were going to be heading out on two excursions and would possibly not get back until late, so we picked up sack dinners to bring with us.

Our first excursion was to the macaw clay lick. I was about a mile away through the jungle. It was a really cool journey through the forest that required crossing over bridges made from old logs. Ted was very upset about this (he didn't like any excursions that required walking), but Kepler and I thought it was really neat! We passed trails of leaf cutter ants carrying little bits of leaves. It looked like a moving mosaic of green passing over the trail. We tried to take photos, but they didn't turn out well.

We made it to the clay lick just before the first macaw arrived. The wildlife center built a tower so that we could sit up closer to the lick to observe. After a few minutes, the macaws started to arrive. The clay neutralizes a poison that is in the food they eat, so they need to come and feed on it every day. There were mostly scarlet macaws, but there was one blue and yellow that joined the group as well. They squawked at each other as they picked at the clay and we all snapped away with our cameras.

After about half an hour of observing them, we headed off through the woods for a couple more miles to the tapir clay lick - our whole reason for picking this trip. There was a 90%+ chance of seeing a Tapir and they could come at any time after dusk. The last group saw one around 5 PM, so we were hopeful that we would see one and be back at the center in time to enjoy our first cold drink in almost a week.

The trail to the tapir lick was over stumps and fallen trees, around big holes, and over old logs used as bridges. Knowing that we would be returning on this trail at night made me a little nervous, but it was worth it to see the tapirs. As we approached the observation platform, we removed our shoes and walked along a long elevated pathway that was lined with rubber to muffle the sound of our feet. At the end of the pathway was a long, narrow observation platform. The platform was lined with mattresses, each with a pillow, blanket, and its own mosquito net, sort of like little forts. We each climbed into our own fort and were told to wait or rest silently, and Cesar would wake us when the first tapir arrived. It could be 15 minutes, it could be several hours. We all curled up and immediately passed out. When I woke again, it was pitch black out. Kepler kept snoring, so I would occasionally try to poke him through the netting to keep him quiet while we waited, and I continued to drift in and out.

We waited on the platform until 9 PM when Ted had a fit about having to wait, and Cesar told us that we needed to head back to camp. It was SO disappointing to have a 90% chance of seeing these unique creatures only to have them not show up...I guess that is how it goes with wildlife though!

We started the trek back through the dark jungle and my heart was pounding. I don't like to admit this, but I am terrified of the dark. I have mini panic attacks for no good reason whatsoever when I can’t see my surroundings. As we headed back, I was keeping up a good front, despite the creepy crawly creatures we spotted along the way. My headlamp seemed to be attracting bugs to my face, so I decided to hold it in my hand instead. I was watching Kepler’s feet in front of me so I wouldn't step on anything. I watched him step, and then something big scurried behind his feet. I shined my light on it and called Cesar over. It was a scorpion spider! It was bigger than my hand and looked like a scorpion with spider legs. It was super creepy! As we continued along, we saw more scorpion spiders, actual scorpions, roaches, wolf spiders and toads.

We had to cross back over the same path we took on the way in, which meant going back over all of the log bridges in the dark. Kepler was crossing one when the log on the end snapped in half and collapsed. Luckily, he only had one foot on this log and when he fell, he landed on the bridge and didn’t go off the side! Cesar quickly told us to try to stick to the middle of the bridges to be safe. We were getting closer to camp when all of a sudden, something dropped out of the trees onto my arm. I stopped keeping it together at this point. I started screaming like I was on fire and shaking my arm frantically. Finally, someone shined their flashlight on me and we discovered it was only a grasshopper. Cesar warned me to stay still if this happened again, since flailing about like that could cause the creature to bite, and it may not be just a grasshopper next time. I could not wait to get off this trail!

We made it to the final bridge of the walk and stopped to get directions for the morning. While on the bridge, we saw a black caiman in the water! Then, just as we were about to finish the walk, Claudia got stung in the neck by a big wasp! What a night!

We headed back to our cabana and found a giant grasshopper shaped like a leaf on our wall…and a few roaches. Kepler cleared them out for me and we crawled into bed.

October 18, 2012
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Buses, Taxis, Boats and Planes!

Casa Andina Cusco, Cusco

Our alarm went off at 3:50 this morning and we put our bags outside our cabana and headed to breakfast. My stomach was still not back to normal, so I wasn’t able to eat much. We all headed down to the dock and piled into canoes where our luggage was waiting for us – there were about 30 of us leaving the lodge today. We made our way down the Madre de Dios river in the direction of Puerto Maldonado. The boat ride took about 2.5 hours. Along the way, one of the guides spotted a small family of capybara and we got a quick photo of them before they disappeared into the jungle!

After the canoe ride, we had a quick bathroom break and then loaded into taxis to head down a crazy road for about an hour. There were places where we were just driving over 2 planks of wood over a creek!

Next, we loaded into tiny little water taxis for a 5 minute ride across a little river. Locals were using the taxis too and we had a mom and daughter playing at the back of the boat. Water kept splashing up over the side and getting us all wet!

On the other side of the river we piled into tight little buses for another 2.5 hours to the airport. It was the first air conditioning we had felt since arriving in the jungle and it felt pretty heavenly!

Finally, after over 6 hours of transfers, we made it to the Puerto Maldonado airport. It was a tiny little airport with only a couple of gates. I forgot about my brand new industrial strength bug spray in my back pack and it was taken from me and added to the giant ‘tub of shame’ containing hundreds of bottles of forbidden substances. We bought some snacks and waited for our flight. I bought local banana chips that tasted just like potato chips! We lucked out with bulk head seats and passed out for the whole flight.

Our new guide, Ayul, met us at the Cusco airport and took us to our hotel. We stopped at Taypikala along the way to pick up our bag we had left behind. Our new hotel was Casa Andina San Blas and it was nice. We grabbed some coca tea in the lobby, dropped our bags off in our room, and changed out of our filthy jungle clothes. We walked back to Taypikala with Ayul, where we met Richard and Sandy, the couple that were joining us for the rest of the tour.

We did a quick orientation walk with Ayul, Rich and Sandy and learned about architecture of the Quechua. We split up in the plaza de armas and made a plan to meet up again the next morning. Kepler and I dropped some things off back at our hotel and then went back to the main plaza for dinner. We realized we had not really eaten since 4 AM and we were hungry! We were looking at one of the touristy places when a street vendor pulled us aside and told us it was over-priced and not very good. He recommended another restaurant and we decided to give it a shot. They gave us an amazing table on the second floor. We were right in the front windows overlooking the whole plaza! The food was really good…and there was a ton of it! I ordered a steak and they brought me two! After dinner, we walked back to our hotel, crawled into bed and immediately passed out!

1-5 of 381 imagesMy Travel Photo Album


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