The First Three Days

August 21

A note from Linda:

I’m writing from LAN Peru in flight from Lima to Puerto Maldonado via Cusco. I can see the sun for real for the first time since flying into Miami on Thursday. American Airlines managed to have us miss our original Lima-bound flight so we arrived in Lima at about 4:30 in the morning. Lima is on US East Coast time, by the way. Lima is perpetually foggy, ranging from a faint mist to bright gray sky.

Scott

Well, we actually made it to Lima. Tired and bleary-eyed, but we made it. At 4:30 am, we dragged ourselves from the plane and went through immigration and customs like a couple of zombies. Once we got through, our driver wasn’t there to meet us, of course. Even though we had called from Miami and been assured that arriving at 4; 00 am wouldn’t be a problem, we were alone. Several phone calls and 45 minutes later; we had a driver loading us up for the hotel.

By the time we got checked in, neither of us could wait to take a nap. After all, we officially started our tour at 12:15, when a tour guide picked us up for a tour of the city of Lima. We threw our luggage in the room and immediately sought the relief of a nap … which was going to be interesting because, even though we were on the 6^th floor, it sounded like our bed was sitting in the middle of the busy street that fronts the hotel. So we tried to rest the best we could.

Promptly at 12:15, our driver was there to pick us up for lunch, which turned out to be the first real highlight of the trip. We were ushered into a nondescript building close to the ocean and wondered what awaited us. After all, there wasn’t even a sign out front to identify it as a place to eat. Much to our delight, it turned out to be a beautiful restaurant and our window tableaux a great view of the parks along the top of the cliffs over the ocean. The sky was a medium grey, just as it is most days in Lima. But the view was spectacular nonetheless.

We had a great meal starting with the local favorite cocktail, pisco sour … kind of like a small margarita only made with rum. Then we had an indeterminate fish appetizer in a sauce and it was absolutely delish. Next we were served conch on open scallop shells with another phenomenal sauce. I commented to Linda that I even though it was delicious, lunch was a little light. Then our waiter showed up with a beautifully plated piece of sea bass that proved to be just as good as its predecessors. We even topped that off with flan for Linda and Helado chocolate (chocolate ice cream) for me. The first meal was a resounding success!

We walked outside for a better view of the ocean and were met by our tour guide. It turned out we had her and the driver by ourselves for a while because it would be a few minutes before they could pick up the remaining five member of the tour. So, we got a private tour of the Parque de Amore. It seems this area along the cliffs not far from the restaurant was a favorite destination for young lovers. However, there was a problem with them be victimized in numerous ways during their trysts. So, the new mayor decided to turn the area into the Park of Love and decorate it beautifully with appropriate art work, including a huge sculpture of lovers in embrace kissing. A contest was held to see what couple could imitate that position for the longest time. The winners lasted 40 minutes.

After we picked up the others, we started downtown by touring the neighborhoods along with a constant stream of facts from our tour guide. Unfortunately, due to the preceding 24 hours, Linda and I both dozed during much of the presentation. Once we got downtown, we disembarked for a walking tour and we woke up again.

We saw a lot of government buildings and churches and heard a lot about the destruction and subsequent rebuilding after many earthquakes. There were many people milling around the squares, but even many more pigeons. There were also police with riot shields and armored vehicles in evidence n … I don’t know what that was all about. The end of our walking tour was the church of San Francisco … built in the early 1700s and a survivor of many earthquakes, although only with much restoration. It is still the domicile of some 50 monks. The most interesting part of the church tour was going through the catacombs beneath the sanctuary. It is actually the oldest grave yard in Lima. It started off with just the wealthy and then they expanded to accommodate all church members. We saw how they processed the bodies and then disbursed the bones to make room for everybody. Unfortunately, they didn’t allow any photography in the church or catacombs, so I can’t share the visuals of this part of the Lima experience.

We did stay awake for the trip back to the hotel. Traffic in Lima is a unique thing. Drivers use their horn as much as any instrument or pedal in the car. They have distinct lanes marked on all the streets. However, traffic is some kind of carefully choreographed dance of death. Everyone goes everywhere. Amazingly, they seem to do it with aplomb. I saw very few hints of road rage or accidents. Looking down the road through the windshield is kind of like watching a trail of army ants making their way through the jungle. It appears to be mass confusion, but it works.

Well, the alarm is set for 4:45 to make our flight to Puerto Moldanado and the canoe on into the Amazon jungle. We’ll see what happens there.

August 22

We were up at four thirty to get ready for our cab to the airport. We went to the hotel lobby for our free breakfast, but I guess the cook doesn’t get up that early. Grabbed some coffee and little by little, the breakfast came trickling in. We got the chance to eat a few bites before the taxi arrived, then it was off to the airport for our flight Port Maldonado and the Amazon jungle. This time the flight left uneventfully and we headed for a stop in Cusco before going on to the Amazon. It was an interesting preview of things to come. We flew over the southern Andes and they look totally different from our own Rockies, even though the peaks are much the same altitude. These mountains are basically light brown with a few very obvious spots of cultivated green.

When we made the descent into Cusco, even though it is at 12,000 ft., there were still a lot of mountain tops surrounding it. We waited on the plane while passengers got off.

Then, surprisingly, even more people got back on to go to Puerto Moldanado. While this change of passengers took place, both cabin doors were open (that’s an advantage of flying into these cities … the open the doors at both ends so it doesn’t take forever to empty the plane. Just sitting there on the tarmac with the doors open gave us a little preview of things to come. You could actually feel the effort to get enough air in your lungs

Once everyone was settled, we made remaining hour or so trip. The change from mountain to jungle in the air was very abrupt. One minute I was looking a big, brown mountains, I turned to say something to Linda and the next time I looked out we were flying over flat green land and many orange snaking rivers. When we approached for landing I saw the control tower which is a two story wooden stand that I’m not sure was even occupied. However, the landing was smooth and uneventful.

PM airport is a pretty basic open air affair. However, they have a real luggage carrousel and we got our bags more quickly than we usually do in the big city.

As soon as we had picked up our baggage, we met a young fellow named Alan from the lodge. Alan is to be our guide/babysitter the entire time we are here.

The parking lot was full of small busses, motorcycles and three-wheeled “tuk-tuks.” Fortunately, we were headed for one of the busses. There was one other young couple on our bus and we headed off for the point of embarkation for our boat into the jungle. That involved a 20k, very bumpy, very dusty, very slow ride.

But, before we struck out on our trip, we took a tour of Puerto Mondanaldo. That took about 15 minutes. There was a surprising amount of traffic … nearly all of it motorcycles and tuk-tiks. A quick stop in the local marketplace to get a bag of Brazil nuts for 5 soles and we were off.

After a 20k ride that seemed much longer, we reached the dock and our over-sized canoe with a big Mercury outboard. The Tambopata River was about the color of Acme brick. After a brief comfort stop, we cast off for a 40k ride upriver. There had been a big rain a couple of days before and the river was about ten feet above normal and running a little faster.

The boat ride was smooth and pleasant while Alan kept his eyes out for things of interest. The high river meant that there were fewer birds and less wildlife than usual. However, we did spot a family of Capybaras. One taking a mud bath in the sun and the rest of the family hiding in the shade. These are the biggest rodents in South America and can weigh as much as 40-50 kilos. We also saw a small herd of buffalo come down to the edge of the river.

The road that we had come out on ended just a short distance up the river. But we continued to see small farms all along the river’s edge. We also saw several houseboats (very basic) that belonged to gold miners who were working the edge of the river.

Just before we pulled into the lodge, we stopped at the national park office so that everyone could register their presence. I guess that is so they can keep track of how many tourists get eaten by the Piranha and the Caiman.

When the boat pulled into the “dock” at the lodge, we were greeted by two flights of very steep- wooden stairs with a lodge, cabins and, most important, a tall cool Pisco Sour. At least that is what our guide said … it turned out to be just a tall glass of juice.

After a welcoming speech from the manager of the Explorer’s Lodge, we were assigned to our bungalow … complete with mosquito netting over each bed (yes, we had twin beds, they are all that way) and a private bath with a cold water only shower.

Our first expedition started that evening after dinner and after dark. We loaded back into the boat along with a guide sporting a very large and powerful spotlight. Our quarry was the South American Caiman. Since the level of the river was very high, they said our chances of seeing one of these nocturnal beasts was pretty slim. However, they were wrong on that one. We saw a total of two on the river bank and one in the water. I even got a very poor picture of one on the riverbank. We hunted for about twenty minutes upriver from the lodge. Then we turned back towards the lodge and the boat driver cut the engine for a total of eight minutes. During that time we did nothing but drift while we listened to the sounds of the jungle and looked at one of the most spectacular star shows that I can remember.

Restart the engine … return to the landing … climb steep stairs … see small snakes on the way up … find our bungalow … zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

August 23

We are up at the ungodly hour of 4:30 am to grab a quick bite of breakfast, put on our “Wellies”, and strike out on a hike of about 7 miles through the jungle to Lake Ocochoba. Also know as Oxbow lake. On the way, while we are climbing, descending and otherwise trying not to break something on the trail, our guide is looking for flora and fauna to help educate us in the ways of the jungle. We didn’t see any jaguars, but we did manage two troupes of capuchin monkeys and one other monkey whose name I will never remember. We saw a Toucan high in the canopy and several very industrious colonies of leaf cutter ants. We saw fire ants that have a very different life than those we so dearly hate in Texas. These ants have developed a very symbiotic relationship with a tree, curiously referred to as a “fire ant tree”. The tree secrets a very sweet sap that the fire ants feed upon and the fire ants keep all vegetation cleared within a certain diameter from the tree so that the tree doesn’t have to compete. We also saw a whole lot of “walking trees.” These guys have most of their root structure above ground and constantly send out new roots so that the tree actually moves to a place where it can get the most available sunlight. When they are very small, they can move as much as two meters in one week.

We made it to the lake in one piece and paused for a few minutes to have a snack on a platform over the water. A couple of minutes after we sat down, the guide pointed out a Piranha right underneath where I was sitting. It was only a small one, he assured me. However, I later found out that Oxbow lake is fairly teeming with them.

After our snack, we loaded into canoes and set out on the lake to look for the primary objective of the hike … a family of giant otters. They are very hard to spot, but after our luck with the caiman, we had high hopes.

No otters to be seen … and these guys are over two meters long so if they were out and playing about, we would have seen them. What we did see while in the canoes were a lot of “Stink Birds” (a relative of the turkey), a kingfisher and several cormorants at work.

When we got out of the canoe to head back, both Linda and I decided to change out of the very uncomfortable Wellies and into the hiking shoes we had put in our backpacks … just in case. Even though it had rained a couple of days prior, it turned out the trail was not as muddy as was expected.

We made it back to the lodge seeing a lot more jungle beauty, but we were glad to climb the final incline to the lodge.

After taking a nice cold shower … it should have felt very good after a hike that left my shirt so drenched with sweat it must have weighed at least six or seven pounds … that was only bearable in short bursts, Linda and I wandered out to the football pitch in front of the lodge that we had noticed when we arrived. There was a very active soccer game going on between a team of lodge employees and guests against a team from a very small village upriver a couple of hours. They played aggressively and long, nearly four hours in the waning Amazon afternoon. It was still quite hot. It turns out that this is a weekly Sunday tradition to give everyone a break from their daily routines.

Seven miles is a long way through the jungle! After the game was over and dinner was served, we both felt as bushed as though we had played the game. Too. Our guide thought it might be a good idea to see what we might find on a two mile night hike. Even as tempting as that sounded, we declined … not only because we were tired and our feet hurt. We had spent most of the day climbing over, under and around roots and limbs. We weren’t inclined to go back out into the pure black with just our flashlights and chance what we thought might be a very good opportunity to break a leg. Instead, we stayed in the lodge and drank ourselves into a very pleasant state on the local favorite, Pisco Sours.