Nature and Culture in Southern Peru

---

Hi, it is Nitzan again (that did not write a long long time)

In Cusco after we did the Machu-Pichu my dad, Omer my brother, and me did Rafting the whole day, it was super fun. The first time Omer and I did Rafting in our life. Now, I am not sure what is funner the boogie and sand boarding or the rafting. After the Rafting there was lunch, showers, and sauna. The sauna was really warm but I was freezing from the water so we took off our wet suits and entered to the sauna with swimming-suit and we were fine.

Now I will write about the trip to 'Manu' that we did 3 weeks ago!
Manu is a jungle national park. It took us a very long time to reach it - about 10 hours from Cusco in the bus. 'Manu' is a very pretty jungle. We stayed there for 8 days.

The first day we arrived, we saw really pretty birds - The Cock of the Rock. It has a red crest and a red chest, and its tail was grey and green. We saw it from a hidden viewpoint, and since they arrive every day at the same hour we were able to see many birds of this kind. Later we saw the Capuchin monkeys, they were so so cute! Then we arrived to our night lodge. I was so tired, so after a quick cold shower and dinner I went straight to bed.

The next morning we did rafting along the Pilcopata river. It was a great fun, we also got to swim in the cold river with our dad. After that, we arrived to Erica Lodge - there we recieved gum-boots and hiked into the jungle not before we saw another kind of monkey - the Dusky Titi, a very small black monkey.

Then, we started walking into the jungle. On the way we saw a big ant that was poisonous. Then we saw a flower that looks like human's lips. It is called the 'Jungle Kiss'. Before we arrived to the platform, it started raining. When we arrived to the platform, rain stopped and we started the zip-line-canopy . We zipped down through high trees 5 different rides, about 20 meters above the ground level. Every ride, was faster then the one before. After that, for the grand finale, we did 'rappel' - snapling, down to earth from the last platform. Then we went back to the lodge for dinner.

The next morning we sailed 6 hours to the reserved zone, here people are not permitted to build houses, hunt or fish, so we were expected to see more animals. We then arrived to the next lodge, had dinner and went to bed early, again.

The next morning we had an early morning snack, and then we hiked through the jungle trail until we arrived to a lagoon, there we took a ride on a catamaran boat and we observed a family of otters in the water, we also observed Cormorants, Caimans (crocodiles), Herons and Hoazins. Hoazin is a strange bird, that is beleived has survived from the era of the Dinosauros.
We then returned to the lodge for yummy pancakes with honey and dulce de leche .

Then we sailed to a native house of the Matzigenka tribe, where we bought 2 native hand made necklaces, and saw their hunting gear. After that we went to an observation point from a high watch-tower. From there we saw turtles and many birds. My brother, Omer saw a Boa snake at the corner of the roof of the tower. Then we did a trail in the jungle and saw the Wooly monkey.
They look like Uran-Gutangs they look fat because they have thick fur.

After 8 days we drove back to Cusco and that was the end of our trip.

My next blog will be about Titika lake (the Peruvian side) and the islands in it.

Nitzan


You can see the photos we took in Manu by clicking on this link: Manu jungle photos

---

Comments

[Orit Cohen]

Great report !
Hi Sapirs, great report Nitzan ! First I read the report and then watched the pictures and so could really get the hang of things that you sow and went through. I was amazed by the trees - their size, the roots and the place they grow. The parrots colors looks unreal. One picture in particular caught my eye - forest mushrooms (as we call them here) I have a great recipe for a salad using these mushrooms and will be more then happy to give it to you. It's very easy and extremely tasty ! So keep on having a great time ! Lots of hugs Orit

[Samy]

FASCINANTE
Hoy (08.11.09), llevamos dos dias maravillados con vuestras aventuras. AYER RECIBIMOS EL LINK DEL BLOG, y es totalmente fascinante y encantador verlos en esos paisajes lejanos que nos traen un poco de nostalgia, y recuerdos por lo similar a nuestras tierras que dejamos ya hace casi 10 anios. Aunque aun pienso que es una aventura descabellada, solo con verles la felicidad en las caras y leer los relatos de todos, estamos seguros que tanto para vosotros los adultos como para los ninios, va a ser una experiencia de madurez, de union, de compenetracion unos con otros, que vuestras vidas van a salir fortificadas, y los frutos de esta "locura" los veran reproducidos en los ninios. Los recordamos siempre con mucho carinio y deseamos seguir disfrutado de las fotos ( TAL next job National Geografic Society ), asi como de los relatos de todos. UN ABRAZO CARNIOSO, ANDREA, CANDELA. SAMY.

[Udi]

Manu
I almost drowned in Manu - really!! The river was up by 1 meter and we tried to cross by canoe, with a 10-yr old driving... everyone survived although people were swept a few 100s of meters. The chicken (=dinner) died... Nevertheless it's spectacular!

[Pam]

I return from a trip to the Dominican Republic and have three travel blogs waiting - lucky me!!! Phenomenal pictures! Who needs National Geographic!!! Keep on Trekking ..beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! Pam