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Published: September 25th 2005
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The Andes
from the plane between Lima and Iquitos We had an interesing last 2 days in Lima. We got up at the crack of dawn and got a taxi to the airport, only to find that our ticket had the wrong time printed on and the flight to Iquitos had already left! We had previously called the airline to try and reconfirm the flights but were told that it wasn´t neccessary. Anyway, they said we could get the later flight at 4pm (bearing in mind it´s now 6am) so we had a long, long wait in Lima airport, spending our time reading, playing pocket draughts (Guy is the current champ!), drinking lots of tea and coffee and trying (but failing) to see the bright side of our situation; at least we'd get to Iquitos today. Or so we thought...
...It was about 3.30pm and we were just about to board the 4pm flight when our names were called out. Upon aproaching the gate we were told that the flight was overbooked and that we could´nt board the plane. Despite our complaints to the gate staff we were unsuccessful in getting on the 4pm flight and they told us to go to the Lan Peru ticket counter and they
would book us on tomorrow´s flight at 6am. Needless to say we were slightly perturbed. Fair enough, the flight was overbooked, but after nearly a 10 hour wait in an airport with only 2 shops and an internet cafe, we´d had enough (although we managed to get a spot of emailing done as some of you will already know!)
After the farce of trying to get from the gate back to the main terminal area (nobody could understand what we were doing or where we were trying to get to) we confronted the Lan Peru desk with guns blazing. After almost an hour of heated discussion (between the airline staff and us and the airline staff and themselves) they produced our bags and gave us a voucher to stay at the same hotel we´d been at for the last 3 nights! They taxi´d us back there and we checked in and went to the bar for some much needed beers & Pisco Sour! (the rather cheeky Peruvian cocktail of choice - bit like a margerita but creamier) By the end of the night our mood had softened and we got up the next morning and flew to Iquitos. The
Cheeky Monkey
Get orf my bananas! flight was delayed for an hour though!
We were pleased to see a desk in the arrivals hall for the tour company who were taking us into the Amazon. They took us from the airport to the dock and we boarded a boat for the hour or so journey down the Amazon to our first lodge. The lodge was right in the jungle, with no electricity or hot water, not that this was a problem as it was extremely hot and very humid. We went to a local village and then to a tribe who performed a dance for us (and then with us!) before offering thier homemade wares for sale. We also had a go on their blowgun, which was nice! We visited a local shaman (not at all what we expected) who showed ud the healing qualities of many jungle plants and made us drink a rather strange concoction that made our tummies feel nice and warm. In the evening we did a hike though the jungle in the dark soptting spiders and frogs, amongst other creatures.
Next morning we went on another boat and saw some pink river dolphins which were incredible. This was followed
Boat people
Our Amazonian transportation by a 30 minute hike, followed by yet another boat and another (short) hike to our second lodge, this time much deeper into the jungle - as you may have ascertained by all that boating and hiking! The rest of the morning we went on a walk through the rainforest before going back to the lodge and a much needed lunch and hammock rest for a few hours.
We then went out ona small boat to fish for Piranhas. Rachel caught 3 whilst Guy managed a measly 2! After the fishing we boated downriver and as it got dark we saw more birds and animals, including an aligator. Supper back at the lodge included the Piranhas we´d caught earlier - delicious!
The next day we went on antother jungle trek, this time to a lagoon which we canoed across to see lots of parrots and other exotic birds. In the afternoon we went upriver looking for sloths (didn´t see any) and did some more fishing (no piranhas this time). We had an early night and slept rather well despite the opressive heat and jungle noise that really needs to be heard to be beleived. The next morning we had
Back in the classroom
There´s a new teacher in the local school! to get up at 6 for our boat/hike/boat/boat back to Iquitos which is where we are at the moment. It´s incredibly humid and hot here (38c) but a bit cooler in the internet cafe! Tried to get tickets for tonight´s football game; Turkey v China in the U17's World Cup but it´s a sell out! Today we have been to Laguna Quistacocha which is a half hour motocarre (bit like a tuk-tuk) ride from our hostel. We saw some animals and swam in the lagoon to cool off. A cheeky monkey jumped up Guy´s arm and sat on his head for a while before being thrown off! Just been for a nice lunch (plenty of vegetarian options) and were just having a siesta in the internet cafe! We fly to Cusco via Lima tomorrow morning............... hopefully.
Hope this blog finds you all in the rudest of good health,
Pip pip,
Guy and Rachel
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