In the jungle

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After a day back in Cuzco to recover we then got a plane, a bus and a boat to the the Amazon basin jungle. On arrival we had a quick lunch (chicken and rice wrapped in a big leaf) before heading to monkey island. It lived up to its billing with hundreds of monkeys, as well as some impressive jungle vegetation and a great sunset.

After dinner our Spanish failed us and we followed our group into a boat not knowing what we were doing. The Italian next to us informed us it was a search for alligators so it was with both excitment and trepidation that we set off in a flimsy looking boat in pitch black in search of creatures known to prey on man. The trip was a double success - we saw alligators and were not attacked, returning to our cabin to fall asleep to the sounds of the jungle.

The next day it was up at 5am for a jungle walk. This was amazing with sights of birds, monkeys, alligators, anacondas and turtles as well as more of that vegetation. Then, about 5hrs in, it got interesting. We got on a boat in a swamp expertly gondaliered by the Italian and travelled for about half an hour before grounding it. The group of nine spent half an hour desperately trying to release it but eventually it became clear that the only option was to abandon ship. We clambored ashore and then looked to our guide Pedro to find us a way out of the aforementioned dense jungle vegetation. Fortunately he´d brought a machete with him and after half an hour of hacking we emerged onto a path 4kms from out lodge and we returned tired and dirty but enthused by our adventure 7 hrs after setting off.

The rest of the trip was less eventful but we saw plently more animals including a tapir and some parrots before the boat, bus and plane back to Cuzco. Tomorrow we head onto Puno and Lake Titicaca including a few days in Bolivia.

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Photos

Pedro and machete
the machete was to come in very useful

Guiding us through the swamp
at this point all was well...