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The Jungle
"it's hot, damn hot. Hot and wet. That's ok if you're with a woman but not in the jungle."
Good Morning Vietnam
After a few days of relaxing, and taking it easy it was time for our first tour. A tour that would include amazing sights, spectacular scenery, monkeys and excruciating pain.
We met our guide Alvaro and our 8 companions for the next 11 days, 3 Aussies, 2 Irish and 3 English. The first day we did a tour of Lima on foot and visited the Franciscan Monastery. The Monastery was very interesting as there were Catacombs underneath the building and we saw thousands of old bones. We also had a Cerveza (beer) in the oldest pub in Lima! We went to a park containing 13 impressive water fountains which held a Guinness world record. That day was finished off by eating a local dish of Ceviche (seafood cooked in lime) which Martyn struggled to finish as it was enormous.
The second day we flew to Puerto Maldonado (the jungle), after shopping in the local market for water and Peru nuts (Brasil nuts to you and I) we hopped on our motor canoe which motored us down the Amazon, past people mining for gold, to our Eco lodge 1.5 hours down the river. The lodge was amazing, with a pool, a dining room and a bar with table tennis, pool and darts - not the "I'm a celebrity get me out of here" set up I had been expecting, and sadly, no Ant and Dec! After a beautiful buffet lunch we set off on our first jungle adventure on Monkey Island. There we saw 4 types on Monkey and were able to feed them bananas. Then, back to the lodge for a swim and tea before setting out again for night time caiman (like mini crocodiles) spotting. It was very peaceful on the river at night, we did not use the motor so as not to alert the Caimans, the star constellations were amazingly clear, it would have been romantic is not for the other 10 people in the canoe.
The next day we woke up to a beautifully warm and sunny day, after breakfast we set off on our jungle walk. Now there are a few things that I hate one of which are leggings, add to that now leggings in the jungle. Needless to say that blistering heat, high humidity and following two mid thirties women in leggings is not something that I wish to repeat. As the group walked deeper and deeper in to the jungle the leggings went deeper and deeper in to their own forest. People will tell you that there are no camels in the jungle, they were wrong that day.
After waking at 5, we set out after breakfast at 6. The scenery during the trek was extremely varied incorporating dense jungle as well as marsh areas, which were crossed via wooden walkways. We saw lots of interesting things including incredibly big trees several meters in diameter and approximately 450 years old, communication trees which echoed throughout the jungle when hit with a stick, the tree of justice in which thousands of ants lived and previously intruders would have been tied to the tree and bitten by ants until death. We saw monkeys, toucans, macaws, caimans, water turtles, butterflies and even a tarantula. We did not see a jaguar but we did see it's paw prints, we also missed spotting an Anaconda which are occasionally seen. After 4 hours we reached an observation tower over the canopy which provided amazing views and through binoculars I saw a couple of vultures, Martyn slept! We then made our way to canoe which would take us back for lunch, the boys had to paddle and Martyn was only spurred on by the thought of the wonderful buffet that would wait him back at the lodge. After 1.5 hours of paddling in the baking heat, to say that Martyn was a bit peed off that there was no buffet that day would be a major understatement! What we did get however was Juanes, a dish served with rice, chicken and veg wrapped in a banana leaf - now I see where the concept of m&s ready meals comes from. After a nap, we spent the afternoon on a shorter trek which ended in botanical gardens were we learnt how the Shamans use the natural produce to make medicine. After several beers and a nights sleep that brought the end of our jungle experience, we travelled back down the river in pouring rain, half wishing we had had some the previous day to cool us on our trek.
We then flew to Cuzco.
- comments
Rubes Loving reading about your travels! Does your arrival in Cusco mean it's time to start aclimatising for Matchu Pitchu? Hope you love it as much as we did! Be prepared for some serious pain!! Oh and there's a lovely outdoor thermal spring in Cusco if you have time to go!! By the way we booked to go back to St Anton - won't be the same without you though! Top tip - keep away from camels x