Into The Amazon

It's May 21st (we are now 4 months into our South American Journey) and we have just returned from another fantastic experience, 6 days in the Amazon Rainforest.

On Friday we were up early, collected from our hotel and taken to the office of Pantiacolla, the company we chose for our trip. We met with the rest of our group (total of 8 with a guide and a cook) and boarded our freezing cold, rickety bus for an 8 hour journey out of Cusco, over the Andes and down into the Cloud Forest where we stopped for the night. For most of the way the road was completely unmade, very narrow and bumpy with steep drops off the side and constant switchbacks that had our stomachs churning. In many places the road was subsiding and eroding off the edge of the mountain side....a sight we have become quite used to now! Along the way we stopped to observe the magnificent views across the mountains from 3,530m, we visited some ancient pre-Inca burial tombs and stopped for breakfast in the colonial village of Puacartambo (colonial... but still looked like it could be in Egypt). As we descended off the mountains we travelled through many different successional forests starting with the Andean highlands, through the Elfin Forest, the Montane Forest and finishing in the Cloud Forest at an altitude of 1,600m. We stopped at a small wooden observatory to watch the bright red male Andean Cock-of-the-Rock birds perform (competing against each other to attract a female) before walking a few kilometres to our first lodge, the San Pedro Lodge. As we walked we spotted several Woolly monkeys swinging through the trees above us. It was a great welcome! The lodge was rustic but charming and there was no electricity except for a couple of hours during the evening while our dinner was being cooked under a pergola. We had a wood framed cabin with walls that were simply made from mesh to keep the insects out....Bi's concern was that this might not be effective in keeping Jaguars out! Inside were two beds enclosed in the all important mozzie net with a few complimentary resident cockroaches scurrying around. We were lulled to sleep that night by a huge array of sounds from the forest and then the sound of torrential rain!

On our second day, Saturday, we were up at 5am and back on our rickety bus for a two hour journey to the small village of Atalayo (at 650m altitude) where we boarded our motorised canoe and navigated 8 hours down the turbulent Alto Madre De Dios River towards the Manu reserve zone. Along the banks of the river, Caiman sat silently and very slyly watching, turtles lined the logs that protruded all over the place in the river and we saw a vast variety of very colourful birdlife. We reached our lodge, the Yanu Lodge just before dark. It was a series of wood cabins set amongst the trees and hidden from the river bank and lit only by candles which was very atmospheric. In the evening we plastered ourselves in deet, donned our head-torches and went on a night walk with our guide, Darwin who had grown up in the Amazon. We spotted many different bats, frogs and insects which neither of us have seen the likes of before (and perhaps hope not to again!). We were particularly enthralled when our guide found a giant tarantula nest and gently teased it out with a stick.... it wasn't happy at the invasion but we were captivated! Despite the awful humidity we again had the pleasure of falling asleep to the most amazing night sounds. Monkeys, birds, insects and the sound of snapping branches all played part of a very loud chorus.

Early on Sunday morning we headed further downstream into the heart of the Manu Reserve Zone, a strictly protected area. We continued to spot all manner of birdlife, more caiman and more turtles. Just as lunch was being served in the canoe someone spotted something on one of the beaches as we sailed past.... it was a jaguar! The engine was cut, we dropped our plates of food (not that we were enjoying it anyway!) and sat and watched as it casually made its way along the beach, finally disappearing into the jungle behind. It is quite rare to see a jaguar so it was a proper treat! We arrived at our lodge for the next two days in the early afternoon. Again it was very rustic but very charming; something you might expect to see in a Tarzan film. It was also very hot and humid which was not so charming! The humidity hovers constantly at or just below 100% which meant that our clothes and beds became quite damp and would not dry. Within one day our belongings started to smell like mildew.... something we were warned about before we left. Words cannot describe Bi's face as she climbed into a damp sleeping bag or when she had to continually put on her sweaty damp shirt and mildew smelling socks! She has firmly decided that she is not a 'Jungle Jane'!

In the afternoon we donned welly boots and took an extremely sticky and hot walk through virgin forest down to Lake Salvador, one of the beautiful lakes of the Manu basin. The sounds of the forest continued to captivate us whether it was the constant buzzing of the insects around us, the bird noises above or the roar of Howler Monkeys off into the distance.... they sound like a wind tunnel and can be heard up to 5km away! The trees were enormous with massive wide bases and towering 40-50m towards the sky, all competing for their share of the sunlight. At dusk, the group took a catamaran tour of the lake except for Ash who returned to the lodge alone, due to stomach issues (a continuing theme on this trip!). On his way back he jumped out of his skin when he thought he heard a growl close by. Fortunately it turned out to be a strange bird call and not a hungry Jaguar! It is quite dark and dense below the canopy so it is a little unnerving as you don't know what you might stumble across.

Monday was officially 'Monkey Day'. In the morning we were up at 4.30am for another catamaran trip on Lake Salvador to try and spot Giant Otters. There were none to be seen but we did see plenty more caiman, beautiful birds and howler monkeys chilling out high in the trees! We returned to the lodge for breakfast and then filled the rest of the day with numerous walks through the forest and a visit to another Lake called Otorongo where we were treated to an amazing display by Squirrel Monkeys. About 30 of them leapt and swung around the trees about us, with some clambering down the trees to peer at us. They were very inquisitive! We also saw more Spider, Howler, Cappucin and Wooly Monkeys (one of which had a tiny baby clutching it's stomach as it leapt from tree to tree) and we also had a rare siting of a group of Coartis, a type of raccoon that our guide said he sees only every 2-3 years.

On Tuesday, day 5, we began our long two day trip back to Cusco, heading back down the Manu River and back on to the Alto Madre De Dios River. We were originally meant to catch a small plane out of the Amazon from the Boca Manu airstrip but there have been ongoing arguments between the flight operators and the tribe that owns the land that the airstrip is situated on. Consequently there were no flights and we had no option but to return the way we had come and so instead of a 50 minute journey back to Cusco it took us 24 hours by boat and bus. It was quite an arduous journey because it was upstream and uphill and just before arriving back at Atalayo to connect to our bus the canoe became lodged on rocks. Ash and the other blokes had to get out in the middle of the river.. despite caiman and piranha and push push push! They were soaked but Bi reckoned they desperately needed the wash!

Our 6 days in the Amazon was topped off very nicely by a refund for the missing flights and this will now pay for our 4 day Bolivian Salt Flats tour in a few weeks time. Tomorrow we are back on the road again as we head south to Puno near the Bolivian border to visit Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world.