Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Trying to get on the bus in the first place proved a challenge. After eventually loading onto the bus once it was established 2hours after the bus was schuduled to leave, that no-one else wanted tickets, wqe were on our way. The bus was again not up to the Argentinian standards but we were excited about the jungle so it didn´t bother us too much. A few hours into the journey we had slept a little but the road became very very rough and the bus rattled uncontrolably keeping us well and truley awake.
Anyway as time went on we were winding our way up and down mountain sides and coming very close to the edge of what can only be called cliff edges. Carrie dind´t seem too worried about this untill she turned to Laura and noticed that Laura was white and looking rather blank, the words that follow went along the lines of....."there is no ******* way i am getting this bus back, we are flying!!" After this comment Carrie returned to looking out the window and decided that maybe Laura was right, the road was particularly dangerous, even for her standards and a flight back was probably the best option. Really the bus with ridculously high suspension and heavy duty tyres should have been a warning!!
At about 11pm we come to a holt after struggling to pass numerous big american dumper trucks full of rocks on very thin and unpassable roads. With the small bits of Spanish was could catch and Carrie assuming the rest, we established that there had been a land slide that had wiped out the road and it was as we sat, being ´re built´. Two hours later after sitting in the dark on the side of a mountain, we were allowed to pass. Esentially it was like off roading in a bus on the side of a mountain.
Finally the death journey was over, we were 3hrs late, Laura was back to normal colour, we had our bags (which had been strapped to the roof) and we went to meet our guide. He was not there.......we were harrassed by taxi drivers and Carrie ended up ringing the travel agent back in Cusco to establish where the guide was. All was sorted out with little hassle and we were sat on a mini bus on our way to the port. At the port we loading into a very unstable but very tradistional long wooden boat. After a 30min journey up river we came to out loadge.
The lodge was Au Naturale but we did have a private room and bathroom, it was just that there was no partition between us and the neighbours once you got to head level. There were also no windows, they were nets so it was a little chilly to say the least.
The food was amazing and we had plenty, we couldn´t quite get to grips with the lack of electricity though. It was turned on at 6pm and off at 9.30. Everything after that we did by candle light. That includes Carrie trying to chase a Possom out of the room which she mistook originally for a rat which scared the living daylights out of Laura who spent the follow 20minutes stood on a chair. Laura was then cocooned into her mosi net in the hope that if the Posom came back, it would not be able to get to her.
As for the wildlife......we went for a night time walk on our first evening and saw a lot of interesting things. We saw a palm tree that grows roots like legs so that it can literally walk to where the light is. A baby Tarantula that was coaxed out of its hole by our guide. Various frogs and and Armadilo.
The following day we did another walk to a protected lake where we again saw many things. The highlight for us both was seeing our very own sloth. It was so cool and so ridiculously slow. We also saw a massive Caimen just cilling out in the middle of the lake and our little guide Alberto paddled us in a canoe all the way around this lake and was absolutley knackered but would not let us help.
We visited monkey island which turned out to be a bit of a let down as we were expecting to be surrounded by monkeys and that Laura would be able to hold one. However, Alberto kept telling us that these cute little monkeys were very dangerous and would not let us go anywhere the massive number of 3 that acxtually came to see us.
We went on a canopy walk which took as 90metres into the canopy of some of the biggest trees in the rainforest and then saw a number of animals that were in captivitey becuase they had been poached or injured. This was probably one of the best parts as we came face to face with a Lepord call Precious. Laura was able to shake hands with a spider monkey and we both spent ages feeding tiny monkeys.
We left at 5am the final morning and headed up river for about 1 1/2hrs to see hundreds of parots feed from a clay wall that apparently is full of minerals. Unfortunately, although we saw a lot of the birds and it was amazing how quickly they could fly, we were unable to see them feed as there was a bird of prey flying around scaring them away.
We finished off the trip with a visit to a snake sanctuary where we both held a 6month old Boa Constictor and saw various other reptiles before taking our nice safe flight back to Cusco.
- comments