April 19, 2009 Adventures are much better when you look back on them, than they are in the moment. We started our Amazon adventure with a 5:30am pick-up for an anticipated 8 hour bus ride up over the Andes and down into the cloud forest for our first night. But our bus never made it. At about 2 pm we came upon a truck, much too big for the narrow mountain road, sunk into the mud at a tight turn. To make matters worse, the streaming rain caused a mudslide just downhill. With no phone or radio coverage the options were to return to Cusco or walk the four hours on to our hostel. We opted for the walk. Luckily it was all downhill and after a couple hours we hitched a ride. But we were soaked and cold. There were no hot showers, but with a warm meal and extra covers we slept and awoke the next morning to a bit of sun. We hung our clothes to dry (but nothing ever really dries in the jungle) as our guide and cook relayed the rest of our luggage, food, etc. over the mired truck and down the hill on a bus that they had swapped for ours. Apparently, as we saw in San Pedro de Casta, these road issues are common and everyone takes them in stride.
Two hours more on the bus and 3 hours on a boat and we were well into the jungle. Jungles are wet, damp, humid, and sticky. They smell of wet mud and rotting vegetation. And they have mosquitoes, gnats, and biting flies. But they are also verdant and filled with wildlife. We saw 5 different varieties of monkeys, a tapir, the almost extinct giant otters, large black caimans and so many varieties of parrots, kingfishers, egrets, pheasants, and macaws. We also saw the world’s largest rodent (capybara), snakes, huge spiders, tarantulas and prehistoric sized insects.            Each day we traveled by boat along the tributaries that eventually flow into the Amazon. We would stop to take hikes to various interior lakes, blinds to watch birds from, and towers that allowed us to see above the canopy. At nights we would stay in screened huts, under mosquito netting. Rain, mud, damp sheets, no electricity and slogs to the bathroom facilities made for some tough evenings, but towards the end we got a bit more sun and a few less bugs. The best times were the hours on the rivers, watching for wildlife, with the wind in our face and the bugs blown away. Also on the lakes, floating on wooden catamarans we could watch the giant otters eat their catch and even pick a fight with a black caiman. One blue-sky day, 30 minutes after launching the catamaran we watched a huge squall as is it flew low over the trees towards us. We secured the boat with poles against some weeds and hugged ourselves as the wind and rain came down. Fifteen minutes later the excitement had passed and we were wet and cold again.    Yesterday we arrived back in Cusco, making it over the mountain road this time. We quickly dropped off clothes that had never really dried and stank of high heaven, showered and enjoyed a meal at our favorite Cusco eatery. Adventures are worth having, for both the memories and the joy of returning back to civilization. Tomorrow we leave Peru, flying to Guayaquil, Ecuador. We leave on the 23rd for the Galapagos and an 8 day cruise around the islands. |
