My First Visit to the Rain Forest

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20 Mayo - Manu
Manu was awesome. I felt so at home there. Not scared or out of place at all, rather the contrary. I felt completely at home. I was able to answer some questions about the place and was able to pick some things out that the others thought were interesting…or maybe they were just acting like they were interested.
We took a long, dusty (too dusty) bus ride to get there, but it afforded us the opportunity to stop at Tres Cruces, which is a part of the Bosque Nublado (Cloud Forest) and is the high point looking down to the Amazon Basin and the rain forest. It was beautiful, definitely Cloud Forest as we could not see 50 feet in front of us in the middle of the day. In a couple of months, the clouds are supposed to clear and you can watch the sun rise from underneath the clouds down below. It is supposed to be incredible and I was looking forward to it. Oh well, next time.
We finished our first day and stayed at a lodge halfway down the mountains to the jungle. We had great meals the entire time and had our first one that night, followed by hot showers and red wine on the porch. The stars were out in full force and we all slept like babies.
We were roused early, early the next morning, took a short hike up the road to a place where you can see the "Gallito de las Rocas" (The Cock of the Rock), Peru's national bird. They fly into these trees not 30 feet from you and sing out their mating call, trying to call in a female. We didn't see any females, as was expected since this is the nesting period, but saw plenty of males. They are about a foot tall or more and brilliant orangish-red. It was low light condition so I didn't get any good pictures, but I had my binoculars with me and got some great views of the guys in action.
We headed back for a great breakfast, packed up, and jumped on some mountain bikes for a 3-hour decent into the jungle. Three of the four of us hit the deck at some point, and I still have the scabs to prove it. I'm hoping they turn into scars so I will remember the trip forever! Great ride altogether and along the way I was able to see a couple of Scarlet Macaws and a group of Blue and Yellow Macaws. They are all magnificent birds, the Scarlets especially, growing up to a meter long from tip of tail to tip of beak and colored dark scarlet and blue. Wow. Next time I'm going to need a good camera and a telephoto lens. The road was scattered with plenty of tropical flowers, including lots and lots orchids and some sweet-smelling ginger.
Immediately following the bikes, we ate lunch and then jumped into a raft for some river rafting. It wasn't too turbid, but we did lose Thomas at one point. We also enjoyed a brisk swim that afforded a good contrast to the increasing heat, and I got up enough nerve to try a cliff dive, twice.
From the raft, we took a short bus trip and got on a longboat. That longboat took us to Erika Lodge where we would stay the next couple of days. Over those next couple of days we were unsuccessful at spotting any of the wildlife that we attempted to, including the White Caiman, the hordes of parrots and macaws congregating at the Clay Lick (too foggy for them to feel safe there), or the tarantula (another guide was being protective of his secret spot!). But we did get to zip-line through the treetops, which reminded me of some of the high-ropes challenge courses that I've been on. We took a night walk through the jungle, and saw some amazing birds in the slack water area where we heard, but did not see, the elusive White Caiman. We also saw a troop of Army Ants and swung like Tarzan from some dangling vines.

For more pictures, check out my Kodak site:
Manu

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