Day 18:18/7/12
Our first full day in the jungle!
Got a wake-up call at about 4:50am and then had breakfast- fried eggs and toast! Not too jungly!
Headed off hiking at about 5:30am. It was bright enough to see without a torch. We walked for two hours through the jungle and then got to a lake and spent some time there looking for creatures and then walked for two hours back to the lodge! The guide was stepping it out fairly quickly so it wasn't a case of strolling around looking at stuff! We had to keep looking at the ground in case we tripped over tree roots. Every so often the guide would just pull up and motion to us to be quiet and you would be wondering what the hell was coming!!
We saw three types of monkeys- brown capochin, red howler and saddle-back tamarins. We saw some kind of a squirrel. We saw lots of butterflies and saw the biggest one they have here- the blue morpho butterfly. We saw something like a wild boar (it was called a white lipped peccary) you could hear it chomping on something!! Then they all ran away because the smelt us .
On the lake the first thing we saw was a black caiman. His scaly skin was all green and black and you could see its eyes sticking up! Apparently we were lucky to see them. Also we saw giant otters. We could see them swimming and fishing in the distance. Then the guide rowed the boat closer and they got angry and came right over to us with their heads stuck up roaring at us! We saw about 15 bats stuck onto a tree sleeping. We saw lots of birds- hoatzin (stinky birds!!-prehistoric bird with spiky hair and blue scaly skin around its eyes) kingfishers, cormorants and blue and yellow macaws.
On the way The guide also showed us some special trees. We saw a rubber tree and felt a little bit of rubber- surprisingly it feels exactly like a rubber! We saw a brazil nut tree- brazil nuts come in a bigger nut like a coconut. They fall off the tree and when you open them there are 12-15 nuts inside. We saw a tree with fire ants living inside to protect it. There were lots of ants along the way- you could see them carrying leaves to the colony. We saw a really old tree with massive roots. I think it was more of a parasite than a tree. It is called something like a strangle ficus and it grows around other trees and kills them. You could see that there had been another tree inside it. Also we saw a tree that grows spiky legs and walks towards the sun! Then there was another tree that sheds the skin of its bark to protect itself.
Then we had lunch- got a three course meal again. We are spoiled rotten here!
After lunch we went To the canopy tower- we saw tamarins on the way. The tower is 42m high. It is for viewing the canopy but there also instruments at the top that are continuously measuring and recording. At the top you could see the trees for miles around. You could see the mountains from Puno in the distance with the clouds. There are so many differfent types of trees, all with different greens! The bark of the trees at the top is really white looking, not brown at all! In a tree nearby there were red howler monkeys with a baby. We could see them clearly and through the guides binoculars it was like something you would see on the television! Muireann got up three flights of stairs out of about twenty!
After the canopy tour we had a kick-around in the field outside the lodge. Gaa at its best in the jungle. You'll be happy to know we haven't lost our football skills- need to work on the left peg a bit though!!
Then we had a Night trek. This one was more a stroll than a trek- felt like walking around the back garden. We headed off with torches into the forest. If the guide saw anything he would shine a light on it. Its amazing how he finds them- he seems to sense that something is there. Right outside the lodge on a tree we saw a pink toed tarantula. We saw a lizard practically camouflaged onto the stalk of a plant, a cricket camouflaged like a leaf, a stick insect hanging off a leaf, a mouse running along a branch right in front of us, sleeping moths (wings open), a sleeping butterfly (wings closed)a caterpillar that will soon change into a Butterfly, lots of big spiders and a tiny frog called a leaf frog. At one stage the guide stopped suddenly and we all had to be really quiet. He heard a noise in the distance and followed it along to the path. It was a nine-banded armadillo. It is one of the rare species around here! Apparently the guide thought it was a snake first, thank God it wasn't!
Back in the lodge they have a board where they record the most recent sightings of rare animals. So we got to write our name on the board for seeing that rare breed of armadillo.
It's much colder than normal here- they have cool winds that blow over a few times in this season and it lasts about five or six days. Many animals don't come out when the weather is like this so we are really lucky to have seen anything.
Had a yuka for Dinner which looks a bit like a parsnip but tastes like a hard dry potato.
Our guide is called Lucho/Luis. In the group there are five of us- us two geniuses, a British couple called roger and becky and a Canadian called Emanuel. Roger and becky were very British with very strong accents and both very enthusiastic about the jungle. They were easy to get on with. Emanuel was a strange fish. He was very quiet and seemed terrified of the jungle. When he'd see anything interesting or strange he would go "mmmm- hmmmm". Muir will need to do sound effects for you! Of course we were taking him off!!