This morning we left Lima (lap of luxury) for the Amazon (not so much). The flight was fine, except poor David sat next to a screaming infant the entire trip. We made one stop in Cuzco on our way to Porto Maldonado, the gateway to the Peruvian Amazon Basin.
We were met at the airport and bussed to the nearby office of the company at whose lodge we were staying, Refugio Amazona. Here we left most of our luggage and repacked the necessities in a smaller duffel (but I took all my camera equipment!). We then had a 1 hour trip on a road that redefines the word pothole. I think the distance was actually only10 miles. Along the way we passed many banana, papaya, and Brazil nut plantations (using that word very loosely).
We finally reached the Tambopata River and began a 3 hour boat ride upriver to our lodge. The lodge is located in the national park here in the middle of 10,000 hectares (sounds impressive, but I have no idea what a hectare is) of preserved land. There are still many indigenous nomadic groups that live here, but they keep to themselves andthere is generally no intermixing with them.
Along the route, we were constantly scouring the river banks for wildlife. It finally paid off. Our guide spotted a capybara mother with 3 babies. Capybaras are RUS's (for those of you who are not "Princess Bride" fans, that is Rodent of Unusual Size) that can reach 130-150 lbs. They have a long flat snout which makes them very easy to id.
By the time we reached our landing spot, darkness had descended on the Amazon- this is when all the spooky critters come out.
Little did we realize, the journey was not yet over. The first task was to climb about 10 stories in the dark on muddy steps, followed by a 1 k hike on a decent, but perfect trail.
Finally, we reached a clearing and the main lodge emerged from the jungle.
We were greeted with juice and a cold wash cloth, but what we really needed was a shower. We had a briefing about the lodge and received our keys. Believe it or not, we were the 1st, not the last (as in Africa) room. Probably shouldn't really call it a room. there is no back wall- it opens directly onto the jungle, more like a large covered deck.
(These photos were taken the next day in daylight. Too hard to see at night)
The walls that are there, extend up only about 10 feet (while the ceiling is probably 30 or 40 feet high), and are made of very thin slats that don't fit together perfectly (David pointed out that you can see directly into the room through the slats, good thing Jeri has no inhibitions). The lodge is carbon neutral- what that means is that we get electricity rationed 3 times a day to charge electronics, and the light that there is, is pretty dim, especially for our old eyes. But at least we can feel good about not putting a drain on the environment. The shower felt great, though, and we definitely could use some fans.
After dinner we met with our guide, Angel, and reviewed tomorrow's plan. We also officially met 3 other people who were going to be in our group, a young German couple (should have boned up on our German before the trip), and Steve, an accountant from Melbourne, Australia ( I had sat next to him on the boat and we chatted for most of the trip). Seems like a compatible group.
Jeri is a little creeped out by us basically sleeping in the jungle on a raised platform. Our beds have mosquito netting, but Jeri is hoping it will also act as bat netting (she has attracted bats on 5 continents).
Breakfast tomorrow at 5:30, wheels up at 6.
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