Peru: Some Closing Thoughts

Now that our trip to Peru is winding down, here are some thoughts about our two weeks here, in the order in which they come to my head.

• Traveling on a trip like this, in a country without an easy-to-navigate tourism infrastructure, S and I both felt that we needed a travel agent to handle the details of our trip. We found Roberto at Peru Inside Out, and he and his support was exceptional! When we landed in Lima, the driver handed us a cellphone that we used on occasion to check in with him, but usually, things ran smoothly. Drivers met us at the hotels, airports, and train stations. We had knowledgeable guides on our trips (Nancy in Lima, Roberto himself in Arequipa, Omar in Colca/Chivay, Janet in Cusco/Sacred Valley, Augustine in Machu Picchu, Dino in the jungle), and the details of the trips (hotel reservations, train and plane tickets, etc.) were all taken care of. We definitely splurged on this trip, but if you want to go to Peru, check out Peru Inside Out (and I hear they're expanding into Ecuador too!).
• I'm very glad that most of our tours were private. The one time we spent stuck on a large bus (for Inti Raymi) was awful.
• Speaking of Inti Raymi, don't buy the ticket to the big show. It's not worth it. Just wander the town and go to the two free events in Cusco proper.
• Cities we liked: Lima, Arequipa, Cusco.
• Cities we didn't like: Puno
• Hotels we loved: Casa Andina in Arequipa, Colca Lodge, Tambo de Inka in Urubamba, Inkaterra in Machu Picchu Pueblo, Hacienda Concepcion near Puerto Maldonado.
• Hotels we didn't like: Tierra Viva in Puno (but the staff was great)
• The star-rating of hotels seem to be relative to what the city has to offer. Tierra Viva was a four-star, but it was by far the worst property we stayed at.  Colca Lodge was a four-star, but it was on par with the five-stars in the Sacred Valley. Do your research!
• In general, all of the staff at the hotels, airlines, etc., were all excellent. Most spoke English, and if not, they indulged my pigeon Spanish.
• We spent way too many days traveling. There was one time we spent three nights in one place. The rest of the time, we were in the same hotel for one or two nights. That was a mistake.
• Also, we planned too many things. We actually had very little time where we were able to laze about. The few times we did, it was often because we were on a train for 10 hours, or something like that.
• Do not discount the altitude issues when traveling in Peru. It's there, and it's real.
• S found some clothing made by Ex Officio that was specifically treated to ward off bugs. We both bought some, and I treated some of my other clothing with a spray to do the same thing. It worked fantastically. We both came back from the Amazon jungle with nary a bug bite.

If we were going to come to Peru again, I think this might be a smarter itinerary:

• Three nights in Lima
• Three or four nights in Cusco
• Four or five nights in the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu
• Three nights in the jungle

Peru: Day 13: Relaxing in the Amazon

This morning I woke to the sound of a bird that I've been trying to record for a few days. I crept out of bed, grabbed my recorder, and got some good samples. I had woken earlier than I had intended, so with my extra time I walked away from the cabanas to do some more recording. There are some amazing animal sounds around here, but any recording close to the riverbank is marred by the sound of motorboats putting up and down the river. Short of a hike three miles inland, there's not much doing to get rid of that sound. Bernie Krauss would have a lot to say about it.

The rest of D's group left this morning, so S and I had D to ourselves. We started the day off with a trip to a local farm. The farmers were in Puerto Maldonado for the weekend markets, so we wandered through ourselves. Most of the farm is agricultural, but they do grow some chickens for meat. Here's the house where the family lives:

As D took us around the farm, he told us a lot about farming in the Amazon. For example, there are papaya trees AND mamaya trees. The papaya trees have more fruit, but smaller in size. The mamaya has bigger fruit, but fewer of them. Also, after a banana tree fruits twice, it gets hacked off mid-trunk, and a new plant sprouts from the trunk We saw papaya, banana, lemon, lime, oranges, corn, cauliflower, cabbage, squash, cilantro, fake cilantro, basil, star fruit, coconut, and avocado. Here's a lemon -it's much larger than ours in the USA (about the size of a grapefruit):

S and D tromp through the fields

Also, D showed is this fruit whose name we can't remember (nina, or noni, or nani...):

After walking the grounds, we came back to the farmhouse and D hacked up a coconut, which he presented to S:

Then, a short boat ride back to the lodge and a chance to take a siesta before lunch (where I drank the coconut).

In the late afternoon, we met up with D one last time for a paddle around the lagoon here at the lodge. We saw lots of birds and insects, but only one fish (which was in a heron's mouth):

Then, back to the lodge, where we left D with a nice tip (he said he would share it with the others), and another break before we do the night cruise again.

After the cruise was one last dinner, which featured a spectacular dessert: roasted plátanos with clove, cinnamon, and vanilla, in a butter-rum sauce. Whoa. On the way back to the cabana, we stopped for a quick photo of the upstairs of the lodge. All of the buildings here are open to the air (but with screens) - there are very few solid walls.

Tomorrow, we depart our jungle habitat, bound again for Cusco, our final stop of this trip!

 

 

Peru: Day 12: Lake Sandoval and more!

Wake up was supposed to be at 5am, but most of the lodges woke up at 4.30 to a woman's voice screaming 'Oh my God!' The screaming was not followed by the sounds of growling or ripping flesh, so I didn't get too worried. I got out of bed, put on my clothes in the dark, and made my way to the dining lodge for breakfast. Sleepy-eyed people trickled in, but none admitted to being the one who screamed. Which makes sense, I guess. If I were the one who screamed, I'd deny it too.

At 6am, we met at the Eco lodge, swapped out our shoes for rubber boots, and hopped in the boat for a short trip downstream to the Lake Sandoval trailhead. Our lodge sits in a buffer zone between 'regular use' areas of the jungle and 'research only' areas of the jungle, and the lake sits just inside the 'research only' area. It was a muddy 3km hike from the river bank to the lake, but we took our time. Dino was our guide, and he showed us lots of wildlife along the way:

Our muddy trail

Once we reached the lake, we hopped in a rowboat to tool along the bank, spying turtles, cayman, birds, butterflies, bats, and river otters!

After the hike, we returned to the lodges, and I took a shower before lunch. After lunch and a siesta, we boarded the boats again to go a little further downstream to a canopy walk that our resort put together with an NGO and some academic institutions. We climbed about 150 feet in the air and walked through the treetops on a series of swinging canopies. Most of the life and energy in the rain forest happens high above the ground, and we got a chance to see it first hand. Despite being up high and in the thick of foliage, we didn't see many animals. D explained later that this was because there are so many noisy groups of tourists (including lots of school groups) coming through, the animals have learned to steer clear.

After the canopy walk, we had a short break, just enough time to get a Pisco Sour at the hotel bar. Then, as soon as the sun set, we gathered again for our finals excursion of the day, a night hike for critters and insects. Dino took S, Jim, Linda, and I on a walk of the grounds, stopping on occasion to see tiger spiders, tarantulas, and other insects.

Tomorrow, J and L are leaving, so we have D all to ourselves. S and I met with him to make a plan for tomorrow, and when that was done, we headed to the lodge for dinner.

At dinner, we dined with Julie and Grace, two women from the Bay Area in CA, who had hiked the Inca Trail and were now having a few days of r&r before returning home. G went to Drake U, and two of her cousins went to Grinnell. We had a good time sharing Peru stories and talking about life back in the states. Dinner tonight was tasty - I had a kale quiche and a baked fish (complemented by two Pisco sours, complements of our waiter from last night, who felt bad about some poor service). Another nice meal!

All of our new friends here are leaving tomorrow, so S and I are headed to sleep to get some rest before our day with D. Hasta mañana!

 

 

Peru: Day 11: Off to the Amazon

By the time this posts, we'll be back in Cusco after our internet-free trip to the Amazon jungle, but I'll continue to write at the end of each day.

Today we got up and checked out of our hotel in Cusco for the short trip to the airport. We're off to the Amazon jungle via a city called Puerto Maldonado. PM is one of the largest jungle cities in Peru, but it's dwarfed by all of the other places we've seen. Our flight out of a Cusco was delayed about 90 minutes, but the 40-minute flight to PM meant that we didn't lose the day with the delay.

We landed in PM, picked up our luggage, and met the shuttle drivers from the Hacienda Concepcion, our home for the next three nights. They drove us to their facility 100 m outside of the airport, where we wandered a butterfly sanctuary while they checked our passports and such. Once everything was confirmed, we drove through PM to the docks on the river. PM is nothing to write home about. Its main industries are mining, lumber, and tourism, and the main feature is that the intercontinental highway runs straight through town.

At the docks, we boarded two motorboats and headed down the Madre de Dios river past where it merges with the Tambopata river. PM was 85 and muggy, but the ride down the river was cool and breezy.

We got to the resort dock (really just some hard mud steps created as the river receded during the dry season), had lunch, and settled in to our cabana. We befriended Linda and Jim, another couple from LA, and we lunched together and shared adventure stories about our Peru trips. After settling in for a bit, we all reconvened at the nature lodge for a welcome talk by Gabriel and Dino. Each day has about three different nature adventures that we can take part in, and G and D talked about today's events, both of which we took part in.

The first was a 60-minute long nature walk through the grounds with one of the guides. Dino led our group, pointing out flora and fauna as we progressed. Here are some things I learned:

• Some palm trees can walk.
• Monkeys are territorial.
• This area of the Amazon has no history of malaria (so I stopped taking my malaria meds).
• Dino always carries his machete.

Dino

After we got back for the walk, we had a bit of time to finish unpacking and wander the grounds at dusk.

Once the sun set, we gathered back at the Eco lodge to take a nighttime boat cruise in search of nocturnal animals. We found a number of caimans and a few roosting birds.

After the cruise, a nice dinner in the hotel. The service was a little confused (5 waiters couldn't handle 20 tables), but the food was excellent.

Now, we're back in our cabana for the night. Each of the cabanas has a bed, a hammock, a chair, a loveseat, and bathroom facilities. There is very little power, and what power there is is regulated: the electricity is shut off for about 8 hours per day. It's chilly at night, and the jungle is alive with insects and bats. Tomorrow: birds and monkeys!