Iconic Peru

Breakfast is not till 7:30am this morning, but it’s hard to ignore the dawn chorus! We got up at 6am and re-packed and went into the lodge for coffee and coca tea. It’s been cloudy the last couple of days, so a very comfortable temperature. (about 25C). The air is humid so it makes your skin feel very soft! We leave a bit after 8am for the boat ride back. Less time this way as we’re going down stream. On the way we stop at a salt lick to see lots of macaws, so beautiful! Then on the bus on the bumpy road back to Puerto Maldonada. We go in convoy, not that’s it’s been dangerous, just that tourists were being hassled in the past. Again we stop at the office to re-pack our bags and get changed. We also pick up a packed lunch for 30 sole of spiced rice and chicken with olives, plantain chips and chocolate nuts. When we see all the lineups at the airport, we realize it was a very good thing to have that! Finally, through all the lineups and in to the air conditioned departure lo...

There was quite the storm in the night, lots of rain with thunder and lightening. Everyone woke early, as it starts getting light just after 5am. Lots of bird calls in the early morning. There is one that sounds just like drops of water! Breakfast is at 6am. Fruit, bread, plantain, eggs and bacon. Extremely strong coffee! At 6:50am we head out for our excursion. About a 15min boat ride, then several km through jungle paths. Our guide Delford was fantastic, showing us so many plants used by the native people, both for food and for medication. An odd stinky fruit called cannon fruit. Many different trees, including a rubber trees and figs. So many are covered by the strangler vine. Lots of older trees are hollow inside, eaten by termites.  Also leaves that make a natural red dye that was used for face painting. It started to rain but took a long time before it got down to the jungle floor. After a while we came to the Ox-bow lake, but waited a bit for the rain to su...