Back to the Amazon

---

Today didn't leave until 9 so a bit of a sleep in but again woke at 630.



We went by bus to airport then flew to Puerto Maldonado. The flight was really quick pretty much an up and down like a Sydney / Canberra flight back home. There was no service though. When we landed we met our 2 Amazon guides and then drove to the G adventures office. Here we were handed a duffel bag to pack down. Much easier then packing for the Inca trail as no weight limits and plenty of room in the duffel. We drove around and got a small city tour before picking up a solo traveller from the airport again and headed 45 minutes to the port. The boat ride was then just under 2 hours to the lodge. Along the way they stopped a few times for wildlife. We saw caymans, a howler monkey from a long way away and the giant rodents (Capybara). We had lunch on the boat which was rice chicken and Yuka chips. It was actually really nice for a packed warm lunch.



The Amazon accommodation has 2 rooms under one roof. The roof is open/ not joined at the top so you can hear everything your neighbour is saying or doing. There is no electricity – light is by candle light. There is power in the afternoon for a few hours in the lounge/bar area to charge phones and cameras. Again I was lucky and ended up with my own room with myself on one side Ash on the other. Pretty happy bout not sharing sleeping space. The way the rooms were described I thought we shared a common bathroom and living space however we had our own rooms beds bathrooms.



When I was waiting for Ash to head to the bar I saw some squirrel monkeys jumping from a tree next to our lodge to the trees on the other side of the path. I called Ash out and told him where to look and he got to see a few jump between the trees too.



On the way to the bar we heard locals playing soccer and wanted to join in but were not sure we were allowed. Later Andrés said he couldn't tell us about it as the ground very uneven and easy to get hurt. Julius our Amazon ended up coming back limping as he got injured during the game.



We had a briefing on the lodge and then dinner which was buffet style. Pork rice and pasta.



After dinner we had a night walk. It was very short only like 200 - 300 metres from the lodge. Jenny was terrified as she hated both insects and dark. We saw heaps of spiders. No tarantulas just wolf spiders and orbs. Also heaps of crickets, some bullet ants, some cat like thing in a tree, fire flies, and caterpillars. At the end of the path we turned off torches to look at the sky. Andrés screamed like a girl because a plant touched him so then Jenny screamed thinking shit was going down. Julio kept trying to touch my neck with various things to make me jump but it had no effect on me.



When we got back we hung out for a bit and went to bed. Weather was a lot cooler then the first Amazon area I had been. Apparently the weather has been changing. Whether is global warming or whatever they said that the Amazon is not as warm as it should be in that area and also the rain is not coming as much so that's pretty sad.

---