Amazon Jungle

Tue 25 Dec 2001

Feliz Navidad!

We say goodbye to Yo today, as we fly off to Puerto Maldonaldo. We saw some of the local medicinal herbs in the market, and then spent 3.5 hours in a motorised canoe heading to our lodge in the Amazon jungle!!

On arrival at the lodge, we went to a nearby farm, and saw some of those medicinal herbs being grown. We also bought some hand fans from the children at the farm. A very valuable investment.

After dinner, we coasted up and down the Tambopata River, looking for caimans, South American crocodilians, the largest of which can grow to about 6 meters. It is fortunate that the one we found was a baby, for one of the guides, Theo, decided to reach out of the boat and catch it so we could get a closer look.

Wed 26 Dec 2001

Today we went for a relatively flat walk in the jungle. Remeber what relatively flat means in the Andes? Well in contrast, in the Amazon it means that there's a few decent sized logs to step over, and there may event be a gradual climb to the staggering height of 5 meters from the river surface. Personally I prefer the Amazon definition. I can't say I'm enjoying the weather. 35 degrees and 90% humidity (or thereabouts) was not pleasant - and it varied little overnight. Still, I think I prefer walking in those conditions than with the lack of oxygen at 4000m.

Our destination was an oxbow lake, where we climbed into some small, rather unstable boats, and went fishing. Shortly after setting off from the shore, our guide explained that this was a favourite home of black caiman (the largest of the species in the area), anaconda (two which had been seen in the lake recently were 8m and 10m long), and of course the pirahna which we were fishing for. People on our boat managed to catch a rather impressive piece of wood, and left some well fed pirahnas near us. Tone, on the other boat, caught a few pirahnas, but we didn't get to see them.

Throughout the day, we saw several animals, but of those I managed to snap shots of, not many turned out well. I´m rather disapointed that I forgot to photograph the large millipede I spotted.

That evening, I went on a night walk, on which we saw a snake, a tarantula, and some sort of possum (it was hard to identify, high up in a tree).

Thu 27 Dec 2001

Only 2.5 hours to Puerto Maldonaldo when you are going downstream. Then a short bus trip to the International Airport (a tin shed with just enough flat ground to land a 727 on), and a flight back to Cusco.