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The Selva
Our adventure to the rainforest began at 5 am last Monday when everyone met in the Plaza de Amistad to board the bus. My mama peruana packed me a lovely breakfast of two bologna sandwiches with mustard and a massive bottle of juice. Apparently she thought I was going to start before ever reaching the selva. She also assumed that I would have phone service and would be able to charge my mobile and call her every day… right, in a place that doesn’t regularly use electricity and we’re camping all week? She also kept insisting that we couldn’t possibly be going to Qeros but definitely Tambopata. Ah the joys of stubborn people speaking quickly in a language that I don’t always understand…
Anyway, we boarded the busses and drove ALL DAY LONG. We were on a course to drive directly over the top of the Andes and down the other side into the different levels of rainforest. We left Cusco and basically traveled straight up the sides of mountains, zig-zagging and doubling back all the way. After leaving the city, we spent the majority of our drive on a one lane road. Imagine mountain driving in Colorado but cut the width of the road in half, make the drop-off about double the distance and double the speed at which you would usually take the U-turn corners. It wasn’t as scary as it sounds actually—at least not when we were driving uphill. Also, apparently the horns on the vehicles here have magical powers that keep other cars from rounding the corner at the same time. You just honk and everything is dandy.
On a serious note, though, it really was amazing to see the change in landscape. From Cusco the plants got smaller and smaller until the only things left were various kinds of grass and a lot of rocks. I slipped off for a quick nap and woke up to blinding white. We had actually reached the snowcap! We took a few minutes to get out and stretch our legs near a small town. The little adobe houses were perfectly covered in about 5 inches of show. It surprisingly wasn’t all that cold so we had some fun throwing snowballs and I made a snow angel. After the quick rest in the snow, however, we had to get back on the road. Within an hour and a half or so we were out of the snow and the plant variety was starting to return. We wound down through the mountains again, through the cloud forest and down into the true rainforest.
The rainforest was absolutely gorgeous. All along the road you could see trickles of water coming down the mountainside and the most amazing range of plans. Beautiful butterflies flitted all around but I’m guessing they have a sixth sense for cameras because as soon as you reach for yours to take their picture they’re off in a flash. We eventually ended up in Pilcopata and eventually a bridge. We crossed the bridge on foot and on the other side we boarded our new form of transport: a large flatbed Ford. We all piled our luggage and supplies for the week on the back and eventually found a place to put ourselves. The ride through the selva to Qeros was hot and bumpy and you constantly had to what your head for low branches. We “forded” two rivers on the trusty wooden planks of our Ford and only stalled out in the middle of one of them. Eventually, 12 hours after starting this little adventure, we made it into Qeros.
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