Longer jungle update, part 1 of ??

Previously, on Claire and Emily in Peru, we were in Cusco, having visited the Sacred Valley and Macchu Picchu.  And now, in Claire and Emily in Peru…

Sadly the wifi at the lodge (which we leave in the morning, deep sigh) isn't good enough for pictures, which is really too bad because they should ILLUSTRATE THE POST sigh.  Oh well, tomorrow.  Anyway: while I initially wanted to come to Peru for Macchu Picchu, I think our visit to the rainforest has handily been the highlight of our trip.

We started (on 8/15) by flying out of Cusco to Puerto Maldonado.  It's a fascinating flight: it starts by flying over the Andes and related highlands that surround Cusco, which look much as they do all the way from Lima.  And then, you blink, and below you is flat forest with brown muddy rivers swirling through it.  Compared to the mountains, it looks *so* far away, even though the plane's altitude hasn't changed.

Case in point: we landed in Puerto Maldonado, I pulled my plastic water bottle out of my bag, and it had crushed partially flat, like they sometimes do when you open them at cruising altitude and close them again before landing.

(Fun Fact: airplanes are pressurized to between 6,000 and 8,000 feet (not sea level); Cusco is somewhere around 11,000 feet).

In Puerto Maldonado, we were met by representatives from Rainforest Expeditions, the company that runs our (and a couple other) lodge(s).  After a quick bus ride with other tourists to their offices, we repacked the necessaries from our backpacks into a big duffel (ensuring that we can no longer find anything), and hopped back on the bus for the 45 (bumpy bumpy bumpy) minutes to the port along the River Tambopata.  Well, 45 + 4 or so, as a piglet ran into the middle of the road, necessitating a stop while a guide ran out and shooed it away.

We then got on a boat, benches on each side, canopy overhead, motor in the back, and started the 3-hour ride to the lodge.  The ride was quite pleasant, so long as the boat was moving, as it generated a comfy breeze against the heat and humidity (and sun, in the middle of the river).  Along the way, we saw several Creatures of Interest: a family of capybaras was my favorite part, along with the birds that hang out on their backs and clean them.  Also on view: a caiman, sunning itself.

It's winter down here, so by the time we arrived (6-6:30 ish) it was already fairly dark.  We of course had forgotten to pull out our flashlights from the duffles, so we were a bit lost until they were delivered to our rooms - which are electricity-free.  They have three walls, and the forth opened to the jungle.  This means it is Loud at night, but also relatively breezy.  The rooms do have hot water, however.  The kerosene lamps in the walls mean that I'm unlikely to kill myself at any given time, though headlamps certainly help.

(Instead, I bit it on the afternoon of the next day, in broad daylight, descending the steps to the river.  I think it's actually a mild sprain, of the "worry about it in the off-season/walk it off" variety, because short of using a hilarious toucan-themed walking stick this morning, I have not been slowed down by the injury.  Except that subsequently Pedro started saying things like "please be careful, it's slippery here…Claire.")

We were grouped with several other families and assigned a guide for our stay: Pedro, the Amazing.  I don't know if one can request guides when booking, but if you decide to come here and have that power, ask for him.  He's super-passionate; able to see things in the bush/trees/whatever I never would; knows an impressive amount about, well, everything; and geeks out hard-core when he spots something rare or exciting (see: the harpy eagle, coming in a later installment).  Yes, I am intending to friend him on Facebook.

The rest of our cast of characters consists of: a couple from Seattle, about my age; a couple from England, mid-30's, the guy worked on the Olympics, the woman is definitely only here to humor him; and a perfectly Danish family, very tall, with a pair of brothers, 17 and 21, who are handily beating us in the most-hilarious-siblings competition.

We were too tired to caiman hunt on night 1 (though I did go night 2; see a later installment about Horrible Things in the Amazon at Night) and instead went to bed early, for a 5:00 am wakeup, 5:30 am breakfast and our first adventure, involving a canopy tower and a visit to an Oxbow lake.

This morning, the day that follows the events described in this post, was the first and possibly last time in my ENTIRE LIFE that I have been excited to be allowed to sleep in until 6.