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Published: June 10th 2014
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http://www.pantiacolla.com/tours/manus-reserved-zone-7-days Leaving Cusco before dawn, we began an 8-hour journey over the Andes by van. Turned out it was just Phil and I for the few couple of days of our trip, Jose would be our guide, Hugo our cook and driver. Traveling Peruvian roadways are always an adventure, rock slides just around the blind corner, not to mention the possibility of a head-on collision. We stopped at a pre-Inca ruin where you can see the small stone towers constructed to entomb the mummified bodies of prominent community people. Saw the remnant of a house which had a raise hearth for cooking and bench with voids in the stone work supporting it, for housing the resident guinea pigs, which ran free in the homes. We stopped for breakfast at the beautiful colonial village of Paucartambo. Interestingly, as we entered the town there were people lined up outside of the bank. Jose pointed out that they were all women. The gov't now will only issue the monthly financial aid money to women...men previously, wasted the money at the nearest tavern. We strolled the village to see their market, a bakery, and residential area.
Continuing, we climb to the highpoint of
the Manu Biosphere at about 4000 m before descending to the cloud forest. Stopping at the entry to the Manu Reservve for a few photos and a presentation in front of a reserve map. As I found on the Inca Trail, immediately after starting down from the pass, the cloud forest provided an amazing climate for wildflowers. Jose proved to be a great birding guide, With the road having almost no traffic, we stopped often, letting the van drive on as we walked the gravel road taking in the flowers and birds. After arriving at our rustic lodge Posada San Pedro, we unpacked and went on a hike to look for the Peruvian nation bird..the incredible Cock-of-the-Rock. The observation platform had seen its better days, but fortunately we saw the noisy bird, then another and then another. Needless to say we were lucky.
Back to the lodge for dinner. We were encouraged to take a shower as this would be the last hot shower for the next several days.
At daybreak we continue in the van to the tropical lowland rainforest, stopping often to walk the road. At one point we came across a "mixed flock" of birds
and must have seen a dozen different tanagers...gorgeous colors. Finally we arrived at the small village of Atalaya. Here we changed into a motorized canoe to navigate some 5 hours down the turbulent Alto Madre de Dios River. After about 2 hours, we stopped at a hot springs to take a swim. Here we met the sisters Jerri and Stephanie and a couple Jo and Simon, all from the UK, from a nine day tour and Michel, our guide for the remainder of the trip. We spent the night at Yine Lodge -a small eco-lodge which is part of a project of Pantiacolla with the Yine, native Peruvians.
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