Less than a week away from being on the Amazon!

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About 5 days to go until I head off to South America. My travel plans are starting to come together -- at least for the first half of the trip. I'll leave Wednesday morning and fly to Miami where I have a four hour layover and before catching a flight to Lima. After arriving at 9:45 pm, going through immigration, baggage, and customs should be done in about an hour. From there I'll head over to the LAN airline counter and check-in for my 4:20 am flight to Iquitos and the rainforest. That means about 4-5 hours waiting in the airport -- probably without sleep. Fortunately, they have a great food court, 24-hour internet access, and an excellent restaurant that looks out over the airport from above.

I've spent the night in the airport a couple of times before. It's not so much the hotel money that I save, but since the airport is in Callao -- the rough, port area of Lima with a very bad reputation as being dangerous -- it's necessary to spend about $20-30 for cab fare and at least an extra hour or so to get to my favorite suburb, Miraflores, where I wouldn't have time to sleep more than a couple of hours before needing to return to the airport. My excitement is usually so great that I won't be able to sleep anyway. Hopefully, I'll be able to catch some zzz's on the plane from Miami.

Once I land in Iquitos, there will be a driver waiting to take me to the hotel. If not, I've made the trip too many times so catching a taxi ride is no big deal. After checking into the hotel, I'll take a shower and head straight to the Yellow Rose of Texas restaurant (where I first met my wife, Mary) to have coffee with the owner, Gerald. His restaurant has always been my "headquarters" while in the jungle and Gerald and his wife, Pamela, have always been good friends to Mary and I. Though we've kept in touch a little, it has been 2½ years since I've seen them.

I have a free day in town on Thursday. I'm not sure what I'll do, but I'll probably stay away from the unsafe area of Belen unless I can find a good "guide" to escort me through. I used to wander freely through this poorest of barrios down on the banks of the Rio Itaya, but, with all the stories of increased crime, I think I'll probably avoid the area. That will probably be the best day to try to connect with my wife's sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins who live there. Since they are very hard to reach and I don't have any addresses, I'm not sure how this will work out, but I definitely want to tell everyone hola while I am there.

Early Friday morning I'll hop a boat for a 2½-hour trip down river to the Explorama Lodge where I'll spend four days in the jungle. It's a little less remote now than it was when I first visited back in 2005 on my first trip to Peru. Though electricity is available only a few hours in the evening to charge batteries, they have wi-fi (through satellites) and even spotty cell phone reception (!) from a new tower about 20 miles up river at the last decent-sized settlement. Mary and I plan to use Skype to keep in touch every day. I also hope to be able to write daily updates here each evening. (The sun sets around 6:00 so there's a lot of time available for stuff like that.) Depending on the power available, I may even have time to edit and upload a simple high-definition videos of the day's activities each day! I plan to do more filming than shooting photos on this trip.

When I return to Iquitos on Monday afternoon, I'll return to the Hotel and settle in for another day or two (maybe more) relaxing in Iquitos and hanging out with friends and in-laws there while doing some sightseeing in the day visiting places like Lago Quistococha (the main fun spot in the region about 45 minutes to the west of town), the Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm (the local animal refuge where there are lots of animals to see including several wild monkeys that are more like pets), and possibly visit one or two of the local indigineous villages as well the outrageous night life along the river. (More on that later...)

After June 17 or 18, I really have no idea what I will do. My flight is scheduled to take me back to Lima on the 21st, but I'll probably leave a few days earlier. Since I fly back to the U.S. on June 28, that leaves me with a lot of time yet to fill.

I definitely won't spend much time in Lima. I've spent so much time there in the past that it's almost like a second home -- and there's really not all that much to do there.

I am leaning towards going to the south and spending a few days in Cusco (with a couple day's trip to Machu Picchu) before catching a bus to Lake Titicaca and experiencing the traditional Andean world there. That's one area where I've never been, but everyone says it is a really interesting experience, especially if I can arrange a night or two staying with one of the local families who live on the islands in the lake. I've heard that can be arranged fairly cheaply and, though it is VERY rustic, the people are warm and friendly and the experience is fabulous.

Lot of planning and preparation left to do!

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