The Amazon jungle

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We meet the other members of the tour yesterday evening a mix of Austrailian, Irish, Scottish, Canadian, English, one Belgiun and one German. There is 16 in the group, mainly female (seven men) with more people joining later. We are briefed and take an awkward getting to know each other walk around Lima. Later we have a meal and a few drinks and predictably everyone loosens up a bit.


LloydsTSB keep on blocking my cards despite me informing them of my traval plans before leaving the UK. I have now had to call them three times and answer an automated security text. It´s quite annoying and a bit of a stress when your card is declined. No problems with the Nationwide accout so I think I´ll be transfering money over to that one.

We take a flight to Cusco then on to Porto De Mardo flying past the Andies. We land in humid sticky heat and take a windowless bus that has wooden benches for seats (no seat belts) to the tour office where we leave our bags and look around a local market before taking a boat down the Rio Bajo Madre De Dios to the Eco Lodge where we are staying.

The Eco Lodge is beautiful comprising of a series of wooden huts linked by walk ways. Hammocks over look the river.

There is no rest we take a tour of Monkey Island which is a sanctuary for monkeys who´s mothers have been killed by hunters. They swing down from the trees for pieces of banana and a photo opportunity. Then it´s back for lunch and a swim followed by a night trip down the river camen spotting.

The Camen trip
The river is a slick errie black. A quarter moon shines dull through dark clouds. The guide points a lamp at the bank searching for the reflective glow of reptillian eye. Fishing bats swoop down through the light grabbing fish from the surface. The noise of insects and other creatures is increadible. We see a few small camen they are very timied and dive for the sanctuary of the water when they hear us having been hunted for their skins to horribly low numbers. We drift back down the river in silence listening to the Amazon jungle. Lightning flashes in the distance over Bolivia. I feel perfectly calm and in ore of this beautiful place.

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