Saturday, May 5, 2007

Well, I was really tired last night, too, because I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and when I finished, I couldn’t honestly remember if I had been in the same bed as Crystal or not, so I climbed into the other one and fell asleep. When the alarm went off at 5:30 a.m., Crystal came to cuddle me and was confused as to why I was in a different bed. I was too, although the fact that I had to pull down the blanket and the sheet from the bed in the middle of the night should have clued me off to the fact that I had been in the same bed as her. Oh well, fun times with Jordan and lack of sleep!

We ate breakfast and met our guide (who rode on the bus with us to the airport and then stuck us in line at the wrong airline – lucky we figured that out eventually.) The guide left before I could give her the prescribed tip, but the whole wrong airline thing made me not feel so bad about it. We also met other people going to Puerto Maldonado, in the Amazon basin, with us, and some going to Cuzco to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

We got on our airplane, on AeroCondor Airline, and it took us to Puerto Maldonado, via a stop in Cuzco. The flight over the Andes was beautiful, with some great views of snow-capped peaks. I am very excited to see more of the mountains in the next few days.

In Puerto Maldonado, we met up with more people headed to Posada Amazonas with us, namely couple from Hereford, Arizona, Steve and Geri Bressinek, and an Irish-born New Yorker, Pamela Maloney. Pamela is from West Ireland, but has lived in the US for the past 13 years, becoming a U.S. citizen in 2006.

We went to the Posada Amazonas office in Puerto Maldonado, where we stayed for a few minutes, then got back on the bus with our group and group of Brits and Canadians who were also headed for the jungle. After a quick stop at the market so people without flashlights could buy some (I just bought candy instead), we rode a few bumpy miles to the “port.” The port was a set of steps cut into the clay of the river bank going down to the boat on the Tambopata River. Our guide, Oscar Mishiaja, got us all into a large canoe-type boat which had a row of benches down each side, a canopy cover and an outboard motor. We got on the boat and headed up the river. Pretty soon, Oscar handed out lunch, a delicious portion of fried rice wrapped up in a banana leaf. After finishing, we were instructed to simply toss our leaf into the river.

We rode along the Tambopata River for two hours, looking at the people living and working along the river, as well as the grass and cane huts they live in. I enjoyed looking at the vegetation, much of which was similar to part of Venezuela. When we arrived at the Posada, we climbed out of the boat, up some 50 steps from the river to the rainforest, and walked about 10 minutes into the jungle. We arrived at the lodge and were promptly given some cold starfruit juice. At this point it was about 98 degrees and VERY humid. It was actually kind of difficult to take a deep breath because the air felt so thick. We sweated constantly, but it was OK because we always drank a lot of water. Right after we sat down, Oscar called everyone over to one side of the lobby pavilion and showed us two Basket-Eating Monkeys just hanging out in a tree next to the lodge. So cool!

We went to our room, which had a double bed, and single bed, a hammock, a wooden chair, some shelves and a bathroom with a toilet and cold shower. The structure is built of wood, with dried cane for walls. The wall opposite the front had only a single wooden railing so that you can see, and hear, the forest directly. We put our bags down (well, our backpacks, porters carried our bags up from the river – the bags were heavy, I do not envy that job!) and went back to the lobby area, where Mother, Daddy, Crystal and I took off with Oscar on a hike to a 120-feet-tall tower constructed in the jungle for people to go up and check out the area. We went up and were able to watch the sunset, which was about 6 p.m. due to us being south of the equator, and saw a few birds in the distance. We also saw a huge Brazil nut tree. While on our way up the tower, people were walking above us and bits and flecks of mud dropped from their feet through the stairs on to us.

Mud became a large part of the adventure, as it was on all the trails we used through the forest. At the lodge, there were racks with dozens of pairs of rubber boots, all arranged by size. I am a 45 in European style! We did not get any boots the night we walked to the tower, but that changed later.

After the tower, we hiked back in the dark of the tree canopy. I brought a headlamp and a mini Maglight flashlight, so we could see fairly well. Oscar showed us various insects and spiders along the way. When we returned, it was time for dinner, which was great. The food at the Posada was incredible, and all made from fresh local ingredients. We had soup, rice and pork chops, with chocolate cake for dessert. Mother did not eat the cake as she does not eat chocolate. Oscar informed us at dinner that we would be leaving for the next excursion at 5 a.m. Sunday, which meant he’d be waking us up at 4 a.m.