http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Peru , Madre de Dios en-us Fri, 01 Jan 2010 06:34:46 +0000 Fri, 01 Jan 2010 06:34:46 +0000 Am Samstag 29. November sind wir von Cusco nach Puerto Maldonado geflogen. Von 3300 Meter Hhe auf ca. Tausend Meter in einer Stunde. Als wir aus dem dem Flugzeug ausstiegen SCHOCK 32 Grad heiss wars da Wir wurden von Sue Brannon abgehohlt und durften bei ihr und ihrem Mann Jim wohnen. Sie sind Missionare aus den USA die bereits 9 Jahre in Peru leben. Den Kontakt zu ihnen bekamen wir durch D http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/blog-463115.html Due to messing up the dates of our flight from Puerto Maldanado to Cusco we ended up staying in this extremely humid rainforest town for two painful yet comical nights. Luckily or so we thought we ended up in a pretty nice lodge set on the river called Wasaii lodge. We were promised great views and best of all.... air conditioningAir conditioning was one of the first disasters we had. Our room http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/blog-447913.html When they say the roar of the jungle I now understand what they mean. We slept for 3 nights in a lodge set deep in the rainforest right on the banks of Lake Sandoval called Sandoval Lake Lodge. During these nights we were aided to sleep by the many fascinating and sometimes quite disturbing noises of the rainforest. You would not believe what sounds can come out of such tiny insects fragile l http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/Amazon-Rainforest/blog-447897.html 5 pm the gold mining town and jungle port of Puerto Maldonado. Tucked inside the Amazon basin the heat here is stifling. Sat on a bed one eye on the TV watching Rocky V one eye out of the window taking in the mighty rio Madre de Dios. Wersquove just spent 3 days and nights in the jungle and reflecting upon it I seem to have mixed feelings about this particular excursion.Entering the jungl http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/Amazon-Rainforest/blog-447602.html The Amazon TripTuesday 13thLeft Cuzco at 6am to fly to Puerto Maldonaldo and then our group of 16 enjoyed a 3.5 hour motorised canoe trip up the Amazon to the Libertador Tambopata Eco Lodge. The scenery along the banks of the river was great with palm trees and banana trees plus lots of other tropical vegetation. We spotted caiman heron the largest rodents in the world canrsquot remember its http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/Amazon-Rainforest/blog-446787.html Buenos Nochas Blog ReadersSo this is our final blog of this incredible journey. Weve found a really nice hostel in Lima just down the road from the Stop and Drop Inn but a hundred times better. Weve just found out that the airport charges a 92 Soles tax on anybody going on international flights so to save us having to withdraw any money from an ATM which costs about 5 a time were saving http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/Amazon-Rainforest/blog-439776.html Jaime bashed on our door at 5am the first morning and nearly gave us a heartattack. As it happened I had been awake for the previous 30minutes listening intently to some sort of animal loudly munching the grass at the back of our lodge. I figured it had finally decided to attack...Breakfast was at 5.30 and after picking up our rubber boots we left in a motorcanoe at 6am. Jaime advised us to b http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/Ecoamazonia/blog-417965.html The Health Office official was also thinking better safe than sorry as he handed us face masks and demanded our tour operator information. He then disappeared into the back and made a flurry of phonecalls.When he emerged we had found our luggage and were wearing the facemasks willing to do whatever he instructed. All we wanted to do was get to see a doctor. When we met our tour guide he didn' http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/Ecoamazonia/blog-417797.html It started raining as I sat on the sofa in the lodge waiting for my group to leave. It wasnrsquot just any rain either it was a torrential downpour reminiscent of the rainy season and I wasnrsquot really all that happy to see it. As I sat and talked to the three tourists that would be making the journey up river with me my mind wandered to my lonely backpack the one that I had left leanin http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/Amazon-Rainforest/blog-416182.html The French girls who jump at anything that move had been screaming to Isabel that there was a mouse in their room... or a rat.... and it developed to become a pacarana huge rodents that we had at the center which escaped last week. Happens periodically... theyre crafty. Shouting La pacarana es aqu has become commonplace.Or rather had... the French girls myself and the other Laura http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/blog-415126.html Thought Id write one more update today and will also attempt to load pictures although Ive tried twice and the connection seems to be too slow... because I woke up earlier than some people and am done eating breakfast free buffet in the hotel. Todays plan is buying juice for the week at Cijmey the supermercado lunch with the group at the Peruvian spot we went to last weekend perhaps s http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/blog-413104.html Looking forward this afternoon to the first warm shower Ill have had since June 6 first hot shower not shower in general... theres a big group at the hotel this weekend and one room is bound to have one. Lets see... backtracking to last weekend had quite a good time at Amazon Shelter which was about a 25 minute drive from Puerto Maldonado it was pretty strange to be riding in a car agai http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/blog-412866.html By my fifth week living at Posada Amazonas I was ready for a break. The eight to ten hours I was spending on the trail every day while immensely enjoyable were taking their toll on my body. To make things worse the lumpy sagging mattress I had been sleeping on had resurrected an old pelvis injury which I had earned in a fit of stupidity during a mountaineering trip in Yosemite many years be http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/Amazon-Rainforest/blog-411462.html I added some photos to the earlier posts. Check itI was sad to leave the Amazon Center today. Everyone there has been really great and helpful and I feel like Ive made some really good friends in a very short time. My Spanish has really gotten better as well. At least I am able to understand a lot. I still have trouble conjugating some verbs... because I never really learned them.Anyway the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/blog-410591.html Can't find the accent mark on the keyboard for the title it's too worn down in places.Whew. Where to begin... Last weekend was excellent. Spent Saturday wandering the market for a bit had a nap went out for lunch with some people to a great spot overlooking the Rio Madre de Dios and I had a local dish... can't remember the name of it offhand but it was basically plantain stuffing with this http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/blog-410527.html For those of you who have been following my blog you will notice a large gap. I have decided to start writing about my current travels but I will fill in the gaps as quickly as I can so stay tuned and enjoy.A quick glance through the window revealed a seemingly endless blanket of green where a few minutes before there had been huge snowcapped peaks. Just below us a wide ribbon of muddy ora http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/Amazon-Rainforest/blog-408782.html This week has been really busy.. not sure if I can remember all thats happened. The people here at the Center are really great. We talk a lot with Manuel who is from Puerto Maldonado and is helping out here until he goes to work for a petroleum company to make money to help support his mother and to build his own house. He doesnt speak any English but I am able to understand him with help from http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/blog-408305.html Probably but not noticeable. I'm referring to the spider monkey that jumped on my head on Monday and started looking for bugs. Hope he didn't find any. I'll put up pictures later but I forgot my camera in the hotel room for now. The trip here was uneventful the long layover in NY was interesting as the terminal was full of people going to the Middle East South America and Ireland. LAN air http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/blog-408140.html Greetings from Puerto Maldonado We had a very brief stay in Lima. The hostel seemed very nice though we didnt spend much time there.. arrived about 11pm and left at 8am to catch our flight to Puerto Maldonado. They served us breakfast very good eggs We met two other travelers from the US two guys who work for Motorola in New York. Adi was originally from India and Miroslav from Yugoslavia I http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/Amazon-Rainforest/blog-406010.html Hi allJust to let you know that we are both still very wellon the day we published the last blog post on the jaguar we returned to the lodge and saw him again on the way up This time we got half decent photos so here are some more as well as the most recent pick.Aside from that yesterday we had a very exciting morning following a herd of white lipped peccaries wild pig type things. We wa http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Madre-de-Dios/Puerto-Maldonado/Amazon-Rainforest/blog-403563.html