Blogs from Manu National Park, Cusco, Peru, South America - page 3

Just got back to Cusco from the Manu National Park, in the rainforest. First.... Obama won! Huzzah! Great news, we were nervous in the forest about the elections before we got communication at some point the next day. I had figured it would be crazy in the states, but I´m hearing from friends it was more than I imagined. Moving on.... My group included a Swiss couple, a Spanish couple, and another traveler from San Francisco. It was a good group of people along with our guide and other help. Unfortunately I still know only a little Spanish, while everyone else knew Spanish, Since some didn´t really know English, Spanish was usually the language used. Still, I heard some great stories from these folks and had some practice at least listening to conversation. Everyone had been ... read more

We had an 8-day trip into the Peruvian Amazon, to an area of primary rainforest (untouched by man) called the Manu Reserve zone. On the first day, we met the other three people in our group, and I think it's fair to say it was clear from the outset that we were never going to bond. The first signs came with the rubber boots incident. Simple really. We needed to borrow some rubber boots (aka wellies) for the trip - find a pair in your size, try them on, and bob's your uncle. Except bob wasn't their uncle. You see, they had to have the perfect pair of wellies, and they were so rude to our poor guide (Satu). One of the key things on a trip like this, whilst walking through the rainforest or sailing ... read more

After my week of relaxing in Arequipa I managed to get myself booked onto a Jungle tour with my friends Shelly and James. This was to be a completely different jungle experience from the rescue centre as it was very much geared towards the tourists. Not something I would normally be interested in, but I had four days to use up and was curious to see the amazon from another perspective (plus I fancied a bit of luxury!) We had to fly from Cusco the Puerto Maldonado as the lodge we were staying at was quite deep into the Jungle (15km from the Brazil Boarder) and it took days for buses to make the journey. The flight was only about 1hour and then we had a 2 hour boat journey, in what was essentially a canoe ... read more

Hey guys! I survived the amazon, albeit with many mosquito bites! It was an awesome tour, there were only four of us- a couple from Australia and another canadian girl from ontario. There was alot of traveling involved, the first day I think we were on the road(a very bumpy road) for about 8 hrs and then we took a boat for another 45 min to an hour. We had enough stops along the way though to make it more interesting. We stopped at some old inca tombs- they were actually pre-inca ones that the incas had taken over. We also stopped to do some bird watching- the andean cock of the rocks they´re called, very colourful strange looking birds(they kinda look like muppets to me). When we got to our boat it was pouring rain ... read more

I cant say enough about our amazing 7 day trip up and over the Andes from Cuzco into Manu Biosphere Reserve, one of the many lowland river areas that eventually drains into the Amazon. We went from high altitude grassland to cloud forest and then by boat down the Rio Madre de Dios to the actual park. Our group of 6 had a great guide who grew up along the river. The birds! The plants! The scenery! The bugs!... read more