Blogs from Amazonas, Peru, South America - page 12

15th Sept... Bye Cusco!!! We head to the airport for our flight to Puerto Macdonaldo, where we will start our trek through the amazon! I'm at boiling point with GG (Group Geek) but put it down to Monday morning blues, wow it still happens overseas!! The hot air sweeps over us as we step off the plane ahhhhh its so good to feel sunrays again! A short bus ride takes us to our motorised canoe and we start the ride up the river that leads us into the amazon jungle. It feels great to speeding up the river, sunshine beating down and dense jungle either side of you. Birds fly out above the palms and my eyes spin around everywhere hoping to catch a glimpse of something in the trees, maybe a lost inca? :) After ... read more

After Vilcabamba we wanted to head to Chachapoyas in Peru, because we´d heard that the surrounding area had some impressively jungly ruins to explore. The main border crossing is notoriously grim and dangerous, associated with much hassling and theivary and the like. Because of this, because it´s the fastest way to get to Chacha, and because I am difficult, we decided to go to this really remote border town and do the crossing there. The other, smaller crossings have only been open a few years because aparently there has been a long running border dispute between Ecuador and Peru, including a minor war about 10 years ago, and they only very recently signed a peace treaty. There´s the sort of information I probably should have been aware of before coming here, wars and stuff. Never mind. ... read more

We are writing this a few days after leaving Iquitos and the Amazon jungle area, but this is the first time we have been on the computers. The whole Amazon experience was far beyond our expectations and absolutely amazing. We visited a village close to our lodge and met many of the native people who are very friendly and fascinating. They depend on the amazong for everything, washing themselves, their clothing and providing food and drinking water. Our lodge was 80 km north of Iquitos on the Amazon River. It was very rustic, with no electricity or hot water and three walls for the bedroom. We had very full days of activity - visiting the local village, piranna fishing (!) - which we ate later..., hiking through the jungle and walking the rainforest canopy walkway, where ... read more

Our Amazing Amazon Adventures! We had to fly from Lima to Iquitos as Iquitos is the Worlds Largest city that can’t be reached by road. However, on arrival we were so surprised at the traffic in the town. Most of the vehicles were 3 wheeler motorcycle taxis, making an astonishingly loud noise and pollution. The vegetation and climate reminded us of the Philippines; it was so very hot and tropical here, a complete contrast to Lima! Our stay in the Amazon was an hour and a half away by car from Iquitos and another hour on a wooden boat. Only us, the tour guide, the boat driver and a few food reserves, we motored down river. It was a relaxing journey, absorbing the landscape of muddy banks and luscious tropical vegetation. We were excited to be ... read more

When we stepped off the little plane that took us from Lima to Puerto Maldonado in the Amazon Basin, it finally hit us that we are no longer in England. The heat, that we hadn´t had in Lima, the heavy humidity and the vibrancy of the trees and sky created a different world. We took a motorised canoe down the Madre De Dios river, where we were given our lunch in a leaf, and then trekked three very sweaty miles through the jungle. It was on this hike that we had our first real taste of the Amazon; The thick canopy overhead let in streams of sunlight and through the leaves of the banana and fig trees we were able to spot monkeys, blue and red macaws and various lizards. Probably the most memorable of the ... read more