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Friday 31st August
We fly to Puerto Maldonado today which is in the amazon basin and only takes around 45 mins from Cuzco. Then it's an hours drive to the port which isn't really a port. It's more of the banks of the amazon river with two motorised canoes waiting for us in the middle of nowhere. We're given fried rice wrapped in banana leaves to eat which is delicious. We're also given Brazil nuts which are grown in Peru. Apparently the peruvians are none too happy about the fact the brazilians named them but Brazil does export around 90% of the worlds total.
An hour later and we arrive at the jungle lodge. We're welcomed by red howler monkeys up in the trees which are apparently a rare sight. The lodge is beautiful and the rooms are completely open to the jungle on one side, each with two large beds, mosquito nets and a hammock. We're told to put all food and medicines in the wooden boxes provided and lock them as the monkeys can get a little curious. How exciting.
We go on our first jungle walk and before we even get out of the camp area we see a very long snak who comically sticks his head up from the bushes to look at us then slithers off. We hike to a lookout tower which goes 120ft up into the air. The view over the rainforest canopy is amazing.
Back down on the ground our guide tells us about the walking plam trees which move around 10-15cm a year using their leg like root systems to follow the sunlight. We see numerous small colourful birds and watch macaws and parrots fly over.
Dinner is fantastic and we all prop up the bar before getting an early night as it's a 5.30am start tomorrow.
Saturday 1st September
No need to worry about an alarm call as the howler monkeys wake us up at 4am. I light my candles and sit and listen to the noises of the jungle. It's amazing here.
We head further up the river on a motorised raft after breakfast and punt around a lake to see a range of birds and a cayman (like an alligator) floating by. We fish for pirahna's which are much smaller than I'd imagined. Apparently a school of them can strip a cow in 20 mins though! After catching a pirahna the guide put a leaf in it's mouth so we can see it's teeth and the power of its' jaw. It bites the most perfect semi-circle I've ever seen and literally sits in his hand gnashing it's teeth for more just like in the cartoons!
As we walk back through the jungle we're shown termite mounds and we're invited to eat them. There's a tree that smells of garlic which apparently has medicinal properties. Some trees are covered in ants but they live symbiotically together. The ants make sure that none of the parasitic plants or bugs attack the tree and in turn they live within the trees bark. As punishment for crimes the natives used to tie people to the tree as being bitten more than 7 times by the ants induces a fever, not to mention the pain of the bites!
We see leaf cutter ants walking across the path and a tarantula hole which the guide proceeds to poke a stick around in! But nothing comes out so it's uninhabited at the moment. Oh dear - what a shame!
In the afternoon we go to a bird look-out and watch macaws landing on the cliff face to eat the soil. It has an alkalie in it which helps settle their stomachs after eating fruit. They have to do this once a day.
Then it's off to see the Shaman but he's out of town so we settle for his assistant. He guides us around his large garden and explains about the plants and their medicinal qualities. There's one's for impotence, colds, rheumatism and the early stages of cancer. They also paint our faces with dye, mine more so than the others. Hee hee.
After dinner we head out on a night walk where we see several poisonous spiders including one which I swipe off Genevive's back. We go up into the canopy tower again and watch the stars and listen to the sounds the jungle makes.
Sunday 2nd September
It's up again at 5am to watch the parrots on the same cliff face the macaws ate from the previous day. There are so many varieties of all different colours. I walk back for the last time through the jungle and am sad to leave. Genevive and Jenny are staying for another 3 days and goign to the research centre so we say our good-bye's.
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