Guest post from Peter - originally spelling included for authenticity:
The day started with a beautifully sunny breakfast on a rooftop terrace overlooking central Cusco. The fine weather a lovely surprise given the heavy rain the night before.
After breakfast we promptly headed to the airport and our flight to Puerto Maldonado. Arriving in Puerto Maldonado we were picked up by Jonathan from the jungle lodge we were to be staying in and headed through Puerto Maldonado to the port. The town itself looked glorious in the baking heat. Somehow a load of sunshine, bright coloured houses, and vivid green tropical trees and bushes can make any kind of architecture look splendid, even if it is just cubes of reinforced concrete!
At the port we were provided ice cold water, an early clue that this would be by far the most luxurious part of our trip. We boarded our boat and headed down the Madre de Dios River to our lodge, Hacienda Conception, a former research station on the edge of the Tambopata national park. We were greater with a cold towel and a light fruity refreshment, definitely a far cry from the hostels and tents we are used to!
After a lunch we sat down to admire the jungle the other side of the mosquito netted 'windows' and spotted some of the staff looking in a tree. Venturing outside without bug spray we found about 3 red howler monkeys hanging out in the trees. After watching them go about their business it was back inside to apply the suncream and bug spray for the afternoons activity, a short 40 minute orientation walk around the grounds of the lodge to see what we could find. This walk mostly involved learning about the different types of tree, the tall iron tree, the rubber tree, the walking tree (which walks half a metre a year to find better soil) and the strangling fig tree, which starts as a vine climbing one tree, but grows fast and quickly takes over the host tree kills it, steeling its spot in the canopy.
Back at the lodge we had more time to chill and listen to the sounds of the jungle before our twighlight excursion via motorised canoe on the river at 6pm.
Sitting in complete darkness, except for our guide with a spotlight scanning the river we watched the darkness hopefully. We were waiting for the retinas of nocturnal animals to reflect back the light. The guide spotted a couple of red points and we moved closer to discover a white caimen resting on the bank. A couple of photos later we moved on, discovering 2 more white caimen (one on the bank one in the water) and 2 families of capibara, the largest rodent in the world munching on grass.
Back at the lodge dinner was served and included a mango tart made from mangos from the grounds (there must be 1000 of mangos within a 10m radius of the lodge) and then bedtime ready for tomorrow's early start to Lago (lake) Sandavol.
The day started with a beautifully sunny breakfast on a rooftop terrace overlooking central Cusco. The fine weather a lovely surprise given the heavy rain the night before.
After breakfast we promptly headed to the airport and our flight to Puerto Maldonado. Arriving in Puerto Maldonado we were picked up by Jonathan from the jungle lodge we were to be staying in and headed through Puerto Maldonado to the port. The town itself looked glorious in the baking heat. Somehow a load of sunshine, bright coloured houses, and vivid green tropical trees and bushes can make any kind of architecture look splendid, even if it is just cubes of reinforced concrete!
At the port we were provided ice cold water, an early clue that this would be by far the most luxurious part of our trip. We boarded our boat and headed down the Madre de Dios River to our lodge, Hacienda Conception, a former research station on the edge of the Tambopata national park. We were greater with a cold towel and a light fruity refreshment, definitely a far cry from the hostels and tents we are used to!
After a lunch we sat down to admire the jungle the other side of the mosquito netted 'windows' and spotted some of the staff looking in a tree. Venturing outside without bug spray we found about 3 red howler monkeys hanging out in the trees. After watching them go about their business it was back inside to apply the suncream and bug spray for the afternoons activity, a short 40 minute orientation walk around the grounds of the lodge to see what we could find. This walk mostly involved learning about the different types of tree, the tall iron tree, the rubber tree, the walking tree (which walks half a metre a year to find better soil) and the strangling fig tree, which starts as a vine climbing one tree, but grows fast and quickly takes over the host tree kills it, steeling its spot in the canopy.
Back at the lodge we had more time to chill and listen to the sounds of the jungle before our twighlight excursion via motorised canoe on the river at 6pm.
Sitting in complete darkness, except for our guide with a spotlight scanning the river we watched the darkness hopefully. We were waiting for the retinas of nocturnal animals to reflect back the light. The guide spotted a couple of red points and we moved closer to discover a white caimen resting on the bank. A couple of photos later we moved on, discovering 2 more white caimen (one on the bank one in the water) and 2 families of capibara, the largest rodent in the world munching on grass.
Back at the lodge dinner was served and included a mango tart made from mangos from the grounds (there must be 1000 of mangos within a 10m radius of the lodge) and then bedtime ready for tomorrow's early start to Lago (lake) Sandavol.
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