Lago Sandoval and Canopy Walk

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The next day is another 5am wakeup call. It gets easier every time. Alli sleeps in for this one, but Michael, Tricia and I head out after an early breakfast. The day before, we had fitted ourselves with wellington boots, knee high rubber boots, to wear into the jungle. It was quite a comedy trying to find a matching pair that fits. The reason for the boots is that, after a 45 minute peke-peke ride to the dock, there is an hour and a half hike to Lake Sandoval along a muddy trail. Sometimes the mud reaches up to mid-calf, or depending on your height, to your knees.

At first, it seemed quite fun to step into the sticky mud. But after a while, we started to look for the dry paths around or above the mud, or walking on fallen logs. Sometimes though it was best to just wade on through. Of the 6 people on the trip, 4 people fell into the mud. The guide and myself were the only people not to fall. I attribute it to a good sense of balance from dancing, and the fact that I would choose to walk through the mud rather than walk on a precarious and slippery side path. I really didn't want to fall into that sticky red mud! It even had an odor, like the primordial goo from which life was born, I was thinking. Or maybe just the decomposition of many jungle plants.

At some point, we arrived at a creek where some canoes were docked. We found out why the other Inkaterra group had run ahead so fast. They left us with the leaky canoe, and had even taken the plastic barrel used to bail it out. Our guide thought fast and decided we should steal the canoe of the rival jungle lodge. We got ourselves situated in their canoe, and started heading towards the lake, when we got caught red-handed in their canoe. They made us return it to the docks. So into the leaky canoe we go. Michael takes the head to row, and our guide stays in back to steer. Tricia, the English girl, and myself provide support in bailing the canoe out - with the lopped off top of a soda bottle. Tricia also provides valuable canoeing advice for Michael. Eventually, we pull into a gorgeous lake with tall palm trees on all sides, the blue of the lake reflecting the clear sky and the trees on its banks.

The trip mostly involved canoeing along the banks, attempting to spot animals. We saw a orange and black monkey high in a tree, a few endangered turtles, and a huge prehistoric bird called the Coatzin. We also saw the rare giant otters and spent a while chasing them (without getting too close). I don't know how long we would have spent out there, but luckily Tricia spoke up that she needed a ladies' room. I REALLY had to pee but I thought I just had to suck it up til we got back to the lodge. At that point, we turned around and headed back.

When we got out of the canoe, Tricia and I had to wander off into the jungle to pee. First, we had to find a spot, off the path so we couldn't see people, but it's hard to get off the path without a machete. We protected eachother from at least other humans and took turns. We debated whether to use toilet paper or not, and we decided - not, because you can't just throw it away and you don't want to carry it out with you. Sometimes it's just so much easier being a boy, I tell you. Not sure why I'm mentioning this, but sometimes people read these travel journals to get a dose of reality. The reality is - you might have to pee in the jungle.

I forgot to mention that on the way out, we rowed right past a young black caiman. These are pretty rare! We actually got to see it REALLY close. Later our guide told us that he was actually worried that the caiman might have attacked, as they get very skittish. We were so lucky to see a caiman at that range.

In the afternoon siesta period, I got a massage, which was wonderful. It wasn't a very hard massage, mostly it felt like someone was putting body lotion all over my body. Very gentle.

Finally, in the afternoon, we had our canopy tour. Tricia decided to take a nap, so it was just me, Alli, and Michael. It was cool to be so high up, on bridges between giant trees, above the canopy. However, we didn't see much because there were several loud and noisy groups ahead of us, scaring away the animals. i resented that. In a way, I wish I had selected a different excursion. The canopy tour just didnt' end up being very exciting and perhaps the native farm excursion would have been more interesting. Anyway, there was much to do here and I could have spent several days in the jungle going on excursions, but with only two nights, this is what we got.

By the time it finished, it was dark and we had an impromptu night tour of the trail system. That was supposed to be our evening activity anyway. We didn't go on the long version to see the frogs, because we only had two flashlights and some of us started to get scared of the dark, or of tripping on something in the dark. I wasn't that scared strangely enough. I felt at one with the forest. It was as if I could feel the path rather than see it. On our little trip back, we did see a baby tarantula. Good thing Tricia didn't come!

After that, it was a long happy hour followed by our dinner, with our guide and our group for the day. Alli attributes these pisco sours as the source of her impending illness, but I had a few and I was healthy for a while.

The next day, we returned to Puerto Maldonado to fly out to Lima. Again, I was impressed with Inkaterra. They handled our baggage all the way to check-in and even stayed to make sure we got checked-in for our flight. Sadly Aerocondor was late again, this time by three hours. But since it had happened before, we didn't panic - just rested in the airport reading. We ended up arriving so late in Lima that most restaurants had closed for the day and our airport pickup had gone home.

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Photos

3 of us and a tree
The three of our muddy, knee-high booted selves next to a giant tree in the jungle.