Our trip to the Amazon

A group of us from the spanish school decided to forgo two days of class to take a trip to the Peruvian Amazon. Reputed to be one of the best places in the world to see wildlife we decided the tradeoff would be worth it. It is reported to be the home to 20,000 species of flora and over 1300 species of butterflies and hundreds of other insects. We went with an organized tour through a company called Manu Ecological Adventures (http://www.manuadventures.com/) which turned out to be a very fun way to see the Amazon because it included a white water rafting trip and a zip line canopy tour.

Our group of 15 including Premi and I set off for the jungle at 5am. Surprisingly we somehow all made it out of bed and had an on time departure. The trip to Manu involved about 8 hours of driving on day 1 on some of the scariest roads any of us had ever seen. Nearly all the roads were dirt and there typically was a several thousand feet drop off inches from the edge of the road. Luckily we survived the journey and made it safely into the Manu jungle. We were all very excited to see all of the lush scenery which was a stark contrast to the rather barren cusco landscape. It was also a special treat to be able to breathe unpolluted air that actually had an appropriate amount of oxygen.

Day 1 involved a stop off to see the one of Peru´s most famous birds...the Andean cock of the rock. We had a few sightings of this bird that was very bright reddish orange. Following that we continued partly by foot and then by bus to our first night´s lodge. It turned out to be a very nice accomodation adjacent to a jungle stream. After each getting settled into our rooms we hesitantly headed off with our guides for our first night hike through the selva (jungle in spanish). We were all expecting to encounter 10 ft anacondas along the trail and poisonous jumping spiders to leap out of the darkness onto our faces. Thankfully there were no such encounters and we were all rather comforted to find that there were not that many critters hiding in the jungle. We did see some fairly innocuous spiders, lizards, frogs and various insects...but were somewhat surprised that there was not more to be seen. Apparently we were on the outside edge of the Amazon and to get a true amazon experience, one needs to enter the reserve zone of the jungle which requires 8 days which was more than any of us had to spare.

After coming back to the lodge and enjoying a wonderful authentic peruvian meal of Aji de Gallina which is a chicken dish with a tasty nut/cream sauce. Following dinner we played a few rounds of cards then we somehow suggested trying to play Mafia which turned out to be a big hit and we ended up playing Mafia every night after dinner.

Day 2. We headed by bus to a small town on the upper Madre de Dios river which is a tributary of the Amazon. We set off in two rafts to brave the rapids to make our way to Erika lodge where we would spend the next two nights. The rafting trip was a lot of fun and we were able to take a dip in the river during a calm portion of the river. We were told that there were no piranhas in this portion of the river but somehow one of the students lost two toes while swimming and needed to be flown back to cusco. Actually that never happened, but it sure would have made a good story. Anyway, after a refreshing dip in the river we traveled the rest of the way to the lodge by motor boat. We reached Erika lodge early that afternoon and were very excited to find another great accommadation with hammocks and couches situated with a great view of the river.

After taking some time to descansar (relax) we headed out on a 2 hour hike through the jungle to learn about our new surroundings. We were very excited to be greeted by a group of Cappucin Monkeys that were hanging around in the trees at the entry point to the trail. Deeper into the jungle, we saw huge termite nests and large ant colonies and heard about the incredible symbiotic realtionships between the insects and trees. As it got darker more creatures began to creep out of the jungle and we happened upon a pretty sizeable tarantula that was hanging out on the trail waiting for some dinner.
That night we had yet another wonderful meal which was of course followed by another game of Mafia.

Day 3. This morning after breakfast, we split off into three groups and hiked up to a to the top of the canopy for our zip line adventure. After having gone on zip lines in Costa Rica and in the Caribbean we were considering skipping the trip in order to catch up on some sleep. However, we decided to go and had an absolute blast!! The equipment they used was all very good and it seemed very safe until one student fell from the canopy 150 feet onto the ground. Actually, that didn´t happen either but we all had a great time and worked up a big appetite from lunch.

That afternoon we headed out by boat to a local lake where a few students spotted a baby caiman as it darted off into the water. Our raft for the trip through the lake barely supported our weight and we all ended up in the water several times.

Day 4. This day started by a 5am departure to head off to see the Macaw clay lick. This is an area of land rich in minerals where hundreds of Macaw gather nearly every morning to have their daily multivitamin. After waiting for about 30min the trees began to rustle and hundreds of birds appeared and actually gathered in one spot to all have their go at licking the clay wall. After returning to the lodge by boat we gathered our things and headed back up the river to rejoin our bus to return us all back to Cusco. The water level during the winter is pretty low so the guys intermittently had to get out of the boat to push through a few shallow spots. How´s that for gender equality. The bus ride home was not nearly as scary because we were all fast asleep after a great weekend of wildlife, rafting, ziplining and mafia.

Next on the agenda is Premi´s birthday!

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