Travel From the Jungle to Cuzco

August 25

Today, we packed everything up (early, of course) and back our way out of the Jungle.  That means 40 km back down the river and 20km overland by van.  The van trip is a lot more pleasant this time because we had a light shower the day before and dust isn't rolling in through every crack in the van.  Our flight back to Cuzco wasn't as early as the other folks who were leaving, so Linda and I had a couple of hours to explore Puerto Maldonado. We worked the market for a little while and then looked for a shop where we could have some helado (ice cream) before leaving.  I have a real weakness for that stuff.

We went back to the tour company office where we had left our bags and were told that the van wasn't going to be available if time for us to make our flight.  So, we got to experience what the locals call a motor taxi to the air port.  This just wouldn't work for really large people.

The ride was a hoot.  Lots of fresh air and the you don't go very fast, so it kind of like being on a bicycle or motorcycle ... you really get to see the sites.

The flight was on time and uneventful, thank goodness.  Since we could feel the effects of the altitude while we were parked on the runway for a few minutes on the way to Puerto Moldanado, we were a little apprehensive about what it was going to like actually staying a 12,000 feet.

Fortunately,  the effects weren't as dramatic as we feared.  I'm not saying there wasn't some huffing and puffing going on as we climbed flights of stairs (if any of you sell elevators, Peru is really virgin territory.)  There was nothing on the official agenda the rest of that day, so we spent our time finding a nice restaurant and taking typical tourist photos.  By the way, I think we ate pretty well most of the time we were in Peru and the most we paid for a dinner was /s 65.00.  That translates roughly to $23.00 and that included four pisco sours and the tip!

So, as we meandered around Cuzco, we were mentally preparing ourselves for the bicycle ride through the Sacred Valley the next ... and whether we would be able to breathe well enough to pull it off.