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Hola,
I think it´s going to be another epic folks....sorry!! OK, so the amazon. We got picked up from our hostel in Cusco at ridiculous OK and taken to the aiport. The flight to Puerto Maldonado which is a town on the edge of the Amazon was really cool. We took off from Cusco Airport which is surrounded completely by the Andes Mountains and all you could see was gorgeous mountain scenery. 40 minutes later, we landed at Puerto Maldonado.As we were landing,all you could see was millions of trees and dense thick jungle. You literally couldn´t see the runway until about 1 second before we landed on it!!!
When we got to the airport,we met up with the rest of the group. We had booked our Amazon trip through Tucan so it was part of an organised tour. The group leader was a guy from Manchester called Chris. Most of the group were Australian but there was 1 English couple and a woman called Kate from Ireland. Our transport was the Eco Amazonia bus, a very brightly coloured bus with animals painted up the side. First stop was Puerto Maldonado market to get last minute supplies (me a ridiculous looking hat!) and then it was off to the port to get our motorised canoe to the lodge.
It took 90 minutes to get to the lodge and we all had life jackets which was a bit scary. I just kept thinking, tonight we´ll probably be pirhana fishing in this very river. We arrived and the lodge was really cool. A big reception, a swimming pool and loads of little wooden cabins. I was sharing with Kirsty and we had a really cute cabin. Bathroom, bedroom and a little porch with 2 hammocks for relaxing. We were given an hour to chill before a buffet lunch. Then it was off to Monkey Island which is an island just across the river owned by the lodge with about 14 species of monkey. I was really excited until the guide (a really sweet little guy called Elmer who ha da huge machete!) started giving us a briefig and saying, if any jump on your head, keep still otherwise they might bite you. Hmm....not what I wanted to hear. Me and this Australian girl called Nadia stuck very closely together after that jumping every time we saw a leaf!! :-)
The monkeys were cute though (from a distance) and a few people including Gemma had one on their shoulders. It was good fun but soooo hot. 45 degrees and 90% humidity and because of all the mozzys and insects, we had to be covered up. So imagine that heat and wearing black trousers, walking boots with thick socks and a long sleeved top and hat. Not pleasant.
As soon as we got back,we all went into the swimming pool. It was freezing cold but for once in my life, I didn´t care. It was just so nice to cool down. We had dinner and then a night trip down the river looking for Caiman. (Small Aligator type things). It was really cool. The guide cut the engine of the boat so we could just listen to the sounds of the jungle at night and he spotted loads of animals too. We went back to the lodge and stayed in the bar till lights out because we are such party animals. (Did I mention lights out was 10pm?!) Back in our cabin, we did a full sweep for insects - didn´t find any. But then again, I had sprayed so much mozzy stuff that Kirsty said I was more likely to die from Deet poisoning than get bitten by a mosquito.
Next day, our guide knocked on our door at 5AM!!!!!! Argh.....going back to a 9 - 5 job is going to seem a doddle. We had breakfast and then set off on a 9km walk in the crazy heat. Saw loads of animals though. We saw some monkeys but these one´s weren´t tame like the one´s on monkey island. They expressed their dissaproval by pooing on us from the trees. (Well, I say on us....we all managed to jump out of the waY)
Shell and Amy, I apologise in advance but we also saw a Tarantula. Apparently it´s called a chicken tarantula because it´s so small. Yeah right!!! I was quite proud of myself though as I got quite close to take a picture. Some of the group were about a mile down the road. We then had to go through a swamp so spent 1 hour 30 minutes in a little wooden canoe. Talk about bum ache!!! But our little guide Elmer was a little hero and rowed all 13 of us for the whole time and manged to spot every bird, butterfly, turtle etc on the way.
We then walked to a clearing with a huge tree with wooden steps around it. At the top was a huge viewing plaform. You could only go up 4 at a time so Lisa, Gemma, me and Kate went first. It was actually quite scary but worth it at the top. YOu could see for miles and everyone on the ground looked like little dots. I did keep thinking on the way down, what would happen if I saw a tarantula. I think i´d have thrown myself off so it´s a good job I didn´t see one!!!
It was a really good morning and I think we all coped with the heat pretty well considering. Didn´t even feel like 9km but maybe that´s because we were only 200 metres above sea level and we were used to climbing at ridiculous altitudes.
After lunch, we went to visit a local family that live on land owned by the lodge. They grow their own banana´s, cocoa, avocado etc. It was really interesting and they had the cutest little girl in the world!!! Even the lads in the group were fussing round her and trying to take pictures. The guide put her on my knee for a while and she lasted all of 5 seconds without crying but I blame all the camera flashes. Was weird seeing how they live, so different to us but even though they all drink the dirty river water that I wouldn´t even put my hand in and the woman was carrying the 3 wk old baby like it was a bag of potatoes - they seemed happy. We even had a go on their home made archery board. (As you Lonsdale people know - archery is my speciality but I didn´t want to show the rest of the group up!!!)
Then it was back to the lodge for dinner and we managed to stay up till 10pm yet again.
Next morning we got the boat back to Puerto Maldonado and flew back to Cusco. All in all, the amazon was an amazing experience. It was surreal when at school you always hear about the rainforest and then we were in it. I finally put my pics on a cd - jkust need to find an internet cafe with a cd drive so I can put them on here. It was amazing and not at all as scary as I thought and i´d definitely reccommend it. (Maybe not for Shell/Amy or Aunty Shirley actually).
Back in Cusco, we had a sleep as we had got up at 5am 3 mornings on the trot and then went for dinner and drinks with our group which was really nice.
Currently at Aguas Calientes - the town at the bottom of Maccu Piccu so will update you on MP......next time!!!
Thanks again for all your messages and emails.
Lisa
xx
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