On to the Amazon....

(There is no internet in the jungle, so we were out of touch since Monday morning.)

 

Monday May 11.  The Amazon Rainforest

 

I slowly pull myself out of the haze of sleep to realize it is my iphone alarm playing the marimba. Sudddenly it dawns on me, it is 5:00 and we have to quickly get up, throw the rest of our stuff in our bags, check-out and be ready for our cab at 5:30 am.

Today we head to The Peruvian Amazon.  I am so excited for this adventure. It is truly a bucket list destination, complete with Yellow Fever shots and Malaria pills.

 

We  fly from Lima to Puerto Maldonado on a small regional carrier (Star Peru), where we will be taken by motorized canoe 15 kms down the river to the ecological reserve of Inkaterra Amazonica.  As the map has shown me, it is really the Madre de Dios River that flows into the Amazon, which is in the neighbouring country of Brazil.

 

Landing in Puerto Moldonado, we are greeted by pouring rain. Enough to make me dig out my yellow Paddington Bear rain hat.  But after all it is the rain forest, who can complain about rain.  And I can always pretend its Vancouver!

 

We skim down the river with Julissa and Bryan, two young local Peruvians who are our guides for this part of the trip. Bryan is 24 and speaks passable English. He is friendly and genuine.  We quiz him about his English... "How did you learn to speak English?"    "By listening to English music", he says, and movies and reading books."   "What kind of music", we ask, expecting contemporary pop or rock music. But he surprises us all by answering, "The Beatles." "But," he admits, "my favorite song is "Beyond the Sea", by Bobby Darrin. An unlikely choice for a young man..

 

 
 
Inkaterra is an ecological complex consisting of a large main hall, a hexagonal wooden building with a huge thatched  roof and open to nature all around, with just screen panels for windows. They believe in living in nature, not creating boundaries between nature.

 

 

There is also a gathering place or Eco centre where all the activities and excursions are run out of. And 36 individual cabanas, which are smaller wooden cabins. They also have thatched roofs and are open with screening all around to keep mosquitos and other crawly visitors out. We have cabana #10, a choice location overlooking the river and surrounded by lush green jungle. Inside we have two single beds, each draped in filmy white mosquito netting. A bamboo partition can be pulled across for privacy at night, dividing the sleeping area off from the screened front porch area which has two deep lounge chairs and two hammocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is lunch time, and Peruvians love food and love to eat. Lunch and dinner both consist of full three course meals. A generous sized appetizer  such as avocado and chicken salad or Brazil nut crusted chicken tenders. Follow this with beef tenderloin stirfry or stuffed chicken breast with peppers, and finish it off with desert. Good thing we are going hiking afterward.

Out first activity is a night walk along the jungle trails. Here you have the chance to see wildlife that is nocturnal, such as spiders, tarantulas, night monkeys.  But unfortunately the rain has continued and the weather has become quite cool, so the animals are not coming out to visit. We see a few small spiders, a small lizard and a brightly colored tree snail, but nothing really exotic.  Oh well, perhaps it will clear off for tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't really say we are roughing it here, despite the fact we have been outfitted with sturdy rubber boots, which we find, go really well with a chilled glass of white wine!

 

 

It is pitch black, our cabana lit by kerosene lantern. Power is limited to several hours a day.

We fall asleep with the sound of light rain on the thatched roof and crickets or cicados chirping in the wet grass.