The Amazon is Not QUIET

My first night in the Amazon was on June 20th and the sounds of things splashing in the river woke me oh, so many times. Where they sounds of things coming out of the water or going in? I had images of navy seals coming out of the water and bombarding my bungalo...or kapibari, which are HUGE, crazy looking rats! Yes, they are the largest member of the rodent family in the world & a big ol family of them lived on the river right in front of my bungalo.

I arrived in Puerto Maldonado at noonish on the 20th and we boarded a boat down the river to the lodge. There were a handful of us in all...a couple girls from Quebec and three older folks from the Netherlands. There was already a big ole family of mormons from Utah at the lodge from the morning flight. After a FANTASTIC lunch (the chefs at the lodge were amazing!) we went on a guided hike through the jungle behind the lodge, looking at native plants. We had two guides - Johan, a local from the area who had lived their all his life and was going to school to be a professional guide, and Jeremy, a French student volunteer in his 20s who served as a translator for the Quebec girls. Both guides were great! That night after sunset we went for a night boat ride along the amazon to find caiman, kapibara and other night water dwellers.

The next day started early. 6am we met to walk to a {colpa de loros} or a parrot clay lick, where the parrots of the area go every morning to eat some clay. They do this because it neutralizes the toxins in the berries that they eat. Hundreds of this guys swarmed the place and the sound was deafening. After having a bit of breakfast, we went on a boat ride to the tambopata rainforest reserve area for a 5 hour hike. This is where I got pictures of monkies, macaws, birds, caiman, and a beautiful sunset.

No sure if I mentioned before, but I somehow forgot my camera battery charger in the states. It was impossible to find a replacement charger in the towns I visited so I was more than a little worried. By this point in the trip my camera was down to 1 bar of battery charge. Luckily, one of the dutch ladies had the same camera as me and I was able to use her charger. Disaster averted!

There are so many more pictures than these---I am sure that I will bombard you all with them at home. For now, enjoy! NOTE -- if you click on the picture, you can get a much bigger version to see better.

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