Welcome to the jungle...

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We left Cusco after an amazing stay and boarded a 12 seater Cessna for Manu Wildlife Center, which is located 45 minutes east of Cusco by air in the Peruvian Amazon. The landing strip was a patch of grass...that´s when we knew we weren´t in Kansas anymore. The ¨airport¨ was an open air thatched building near the runway and the baggage claim was a wheel barrel. We were welcomed by a pale winged trumpeter, one of the many hundreds of birds we would see in the days ahead.
Our bungalow was located 2 hours away from the airport by boat. It was a beautiful place, however no electricity, which meant we were eating, brushing our teeth and showering by candlelight...very romantic! The walls of the bungalow were screened so at night as we lay in bed we could hear all the sounds of the jungle...and we mean ALL...birds, insects, monkeys, cicadas...it was a orchestra of nature.
Our days existed of waking up each day at 5am to watch the wildlife...it was like being on National Geographics. We saw so many different animals...5 types of monkeys (spider, squirrel, capucin, saddleback tamarin and howler), toucans, macaws, wild pigs (peccaries) and the highlight...the tapir....the largest land mammal in south america. We´ve never seen anything like it. It is a cross between an anteater and a horse....although they say it comes from the horse family. See pictures and judge for yourself. We set off to see it one night with our head lamps and mosquito netting...we waited and waited for two hours and it finally appeared at the clay lick. The clay lick is a place where many of the animals go to eat clay so that they neutralize the toxins in their stomach. We saw a mother and a baby. However, the next night there was a tapir roaming around our bungalow. We were very lucky to see it twice!

We also saw such a diversity of spiders and insects, that Kasia realized that spider webs are her friends since they´re anti-septic...atleast that´s what she kept repeating to herself every time she walked into one. Spiders in Calgary are nothing compared to the spider-scorpion hybrid we saw! Being here we realized how intricate and integrated the ecosystems are and how much each animal, insect and tree rely on each other. We can only hope that one day our children and our childrens children will be able to see this. On a side note, we didn´t really get along with the 3 cockroaches in our bathroom....
Currently we are in Lima enjoying our stay in a beautiful bed and breakfast, that is more like an art gallery than a hotel. The artist is still alive and constantly adding art work to his home. Next stop in Buenos Aires, where we hope to master the art of the tango.
xox
Kasia and Ian

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Photos

Adelante Ciencianos....
On Sunday we headed to the Lima vs. Cusco soccer game. The guards at the gate weren´t allowing bottled water inside but they let the fans in with mini explosives which they would set off periodically.

Welcome to the jungle
Our plane on the landing strip...

Welcome to the jungle continued...
The pale winged trumpeter that welcomed us. We have practically become bird experts, but thankfully still have no plans to retire as bird watchers..

Tree hoppers...
We have grass hoppers, Peru has tree hoppers...

Strangled tree
This was an unusual site...the tree shown strangled the previous tree until it died, hence the open hole in the center.

Coral snake that we saw on our night walk.
Marlene, our guide and caiman hunter, was amazing. She was so knowledgeable. We´ve never met anyone that is able to do as many bird calls and monkey calls!

Dawn in the rainforest.
Every day we would wake up at 5am, to take the boat down the river to watch some wildlife.

A peruvian caiman
Caimans are like the alligators of South America.

Caterpillar
We have never seen some many wild looking caterpillars before...many of which are poisonous.

The South American tapir
Horse, anteater or pig?

Aerial shot of Pisac Inca site
On the way back from Manu we saw many Inca sites from the plane...Here you can clearly see how important the agricultural sector was for the Incas.

Comments

[Grandma and Mom]

"I'm Breathless -I can't believe all this." said Grandma. We are loving your blog and are very happy that the spiders are in SA and not here in the basement. "I'm glad to hear about the places you have been - sure miss you." Lots of love Grandma and Mom

[Dick the Dad]

Its nice to read that you wish that your progeny will have the opportunity to experience what you have but what about your old man? Looks and reads absolutely fantastic! Great commentary, excellent pics. I want to watch when you and Tom drink that beer.