Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Dan and Claire go worldwide
Well, what an adventure!! We decided to head into the Peruvian side of the rainforest for a joint birthday treat, and it was an experience neither of us will forget for a long time!
Once arriving at the rainforest town Puerto Maldonado we travelled to our lodge an hour down the Madre de Dois river via a motorised canoe. The heat was far more penetrating than that of what we were used to in cuzco-in the mountains- but it was even less bearable the day after where claire burnt, again!
The lodge was great, clean, great food, and a bungalow of our own. We were however the only ones there apart from one other French lady, so we ended up having our own personal guide in the form of Klaus. Our bad luck struck again however on the first day when the heavens opened and it absolutely belted down with rain when we were preparing to go on our first jungle trek....and its not rain like you guys get in England!! When it finally finished we put on our wellies and proceeded to be chased through the jungle by LOADS of mozzies and creepy crawlies!! That evening, Dan went to lie down and relax on one of the hammocks in the lounge, and very quickly jumped up as he realised a Tarantula was infact sitting on the roof above him...you should have seen his face!! The night ended with a tour on the river where we went Cayman spotting (similar to crocodiles). After spotting some red eyes glowing in the river we pulled over to the shore where our crazy tour guide leaped out of the boat with the driver (AKA the chef) and caught a baby one and brought it into the canoe! We had a little stroke whilst it hissed at us before they released it back into the water, but not before the chef tried keep it to cook it for dinner!! Yuck!! An anxious and sleepless night was spent crammed on a single bed under not one but two mozzie nets as we listened to the sounds of the jungle in pitch black........ I have to say, at that point i was ready to head back home!!
The next day we had a very early start at 3.40am. In the darkness we again headed down the river to watch the Parrots and Macaws feed of the clay cliffs, apparently hundreds gather there really early. After a two hour ride, we eventually arrived at dawn, but managed to spectacularly crash land on shore and scare all the birds away that were there!! we waited for about an hour, and Parrots came and went, altough we sadly never saw the amazing display of birds that we were hoping for. We headed back for brekkie, and afterwards we went for a 'nice'trek again through a different part of the jungle in search of the national park, Sandoval Lake. The path was completely muddy, and i mean wet, slushy mud up to your knees in places, slipping and sliding our way along in our good old wellies!! There were some very close moments when we could have ended up on our butts like pigs in the mud!! Very entertaining, if not hard work! We saw some amazing wildlife on the walk though, including a snake, big electric blue butterflies, Macaws, termite nests and lots of creepy crawlies!! and again, sheep, believe it or not in the amazon forest! crazy! We finally arrived at the Sandoval Lake which was absolutely stunning, and went and paddled our way around in a canoe in search of the endangered giant otters. We saw lots of beautiful birds on the way around and wildlife, (the lake had piranas in too!) and just as we were about to leave our guide spotted an otter in the distance entering the lake....so we quickly and quietly headed over to them only to find that the whole family of 11 were there and surrounded our canoe! It was absoultely amazing, they swam around us and kept poking there heads out at us and hissing, and the babies started calling there mum- we were so pleased we had found them as our guide hadnt even seen them for two months, so for once we were incredibly lucky! They leapt up and down in the water and we saw thwm catch fish before we headed back along the mud again.
That afternoon we headed to monkey island, where we went in search of the monkeys in the trees. Our guide called out their names and we followed there noises calling back and we found them in a patch of the forest where I fed them some apple and they came down the trees onto the ground to see you. As everyone who knows me will know, i was so excited and it totally made my day! We headed back to the lodge after a long day and watched the beautiful sunset on the river, before an early night where we slept a lot better!!
On the way back to the airport the next morning we went to the local market in Puerto Maldonado and the butterfly farm which was really interesting, although we raced for our flight which we very nearly missed as the guide had got the wrong time! A close call!
All in all, an adventurous couple of days and a unique experience. At the time of writing we are waiting for a bus to the border of Bolivia to Lake Titicaca for a couple of days.
Much love to you all, as always. Miss you all lots. xx
Dan here, thankyou for all the birthday messages i have recieved, it both made us a little homesick!
More photos off claire's camera to follow too from the jungle and Machu Picchu...so watch this space!
xxx
- comments