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Arrived in hot and humid Puerto Maldonado this morning at 12:30 - the airport consisted of a runway, a wall-less pavilion, and a dirt parking area, all surrounded by forest and connected to the rest of the town by one small road. To get to the hotel I got a motorcar, which is basically a motorbike with a wooden seat and fabric roof somehow attacked to it. The streets are full of people and stray dogs and fast motorbikes, with little organization, so it was kind of scary! The research team I'll be working with is taking a few days off in PM to do laundry, buy food and supplies, and take a break. I was very glad of this because I would have hated to navigate the town by myself! I got to my hostel and two members of the research team were here, and we left to meet the four others for lunch (rice, 2 eggs, and 2 delicious fried plantains for about $2.60, or 7 nuevo soles ;) and we got ice cream which is amazing here, it's basically all fruit flavored, many of them fruits I've never heard of that grow here - I got the starfruit flavor and don't remember the Spanish word for it but it was delicious!
We saw most of the town just walking around for a few minutes. It's very small but there are quite a few criss-crossing streets. It's an extremely rural area, very poor and there are no "normal" types of stores like grocery stores or recognizable restaurants, even near where tourists stay. The shops and restaurants are all lined edge to edge along the streets and mostly don't have front doors, they're just open to the front. Afterwards I finally got to take my first nap but woke up again for dinner which was delicious pizza and fresh papaya juice (the fresh fruit juices here are amazing!!) Also, during dinner we watched a small protest marching right down the middle of the street - they were university students who wanted their dean to be fired, and the students leading in front were holding up a large coffin with the dean's name on the side!!! Very weird.
Except for the 2 hour nap earlier, I'm pushing like 45 hours without a decent sleep so I'm off to bed. Going to the mercado with the rest of the group tomorrow to get some more supplies then to CICRA, the research station, on Friday!
Ooh just as I finished writing this I saw a fast little gecko or lizard or something scurrying across my wall. It's very cute but hiding behind the tv
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