Date of Entry: October 17th 2015

Place of Writing:  El Solario Hostel La Paz

We head to the airport fairly early, I hate being rushed for flights, but I know Sara’s annoyed at the hour we spend sitting around waiting in Cusco’s small airport after we’ve checked in a cleared security.  Me giving her a few bites of my chocolate croissant seems to smooth things over well enough, and before long were boarding our little plane and taking off, leaving the Andes behind bound For Puerto Maldonado, a small tourism sustained town in the Southern Peruvian Amazon.  By now I’m just about fully recovered from my sickness and ready for some Jungle adventures.

We get off our plane, excited to have someone waiting for us with a sign and our name, but of course tis not to be, and only through asking around do we find the right person, who makes a quick call back to Cusco before showing us to the mildly air conditioned minibus.  It’s oppressively hot and only gets hotter as a big group of middle aged Bulgarian tourists pile in to the minibus with us.  They speak next to no english, and seem quite obnoxious. We’re also joined by a much friendlier Spanish girl.

Soon we’re driven in from the airport to the main square of the little town, we’re shown where the office is and registered with the company then told we have about thirty minutes to kill before our boat will leave, and how do you fill thirty minutes in Amazonian heat?  Ice cream of course.

We then head back to the office where we officially meet our most constant companion over the coming five days,  Javier, also from Spain.  Together with him and a guide we walk the 10 minutes down toward the port to catch our boat to the lodge.  Looming over the tiny little river port is a massive bridge which seems utterly out of place in this little jungle city, it forces the mind to think of San Francisco, probably the city I’m most eager to see in the States in a few years time.

After maybe 15 minutes of waiting we’re joined by the big Bulgarian group and ushered down onto one of the long boats, which mercifully is equipped with a roof to protect us from the sun.  I’m drenched in sweat but it feels good to get moving on the water a mild wind kicking up and cooling us.  As we motor down the surprisingly wide Madre de Dios river I check out the zoom of my new camera, once again very impressed by it.

For those who can’t tell that egret was a long ways away.  After only about 40minutes we pull up outside the lodge, which is bigger than I expected and closer to town, which is always a downside, then again I’ve been spoiled by the remoteness of Tapiche Reserve up in the North of Peru, and I’m unlikely to get something like that again.  Then again this 5 day 4 night package cost only 845 soles (339 CAD)  not including airfare (130 CAD RT)  or u can Overnight bus from Cusco for much cheaper, (maybe 120 -180 Soles RT).  That said the lodge is beautiful and the next 4.5 days are certainly the most comfortable I’ve spent in the Amazon.

As we climb off the boat and up the steps were greeted by the lodge manager who promptly tells Sara Javier and I that tonight there lodge is full so we’ll be staying just a few minutes up river at _____ lodge for the evening, but first comes lunch.  It’s surprisingly gourmet, a boneless cut of beef smothered in delicious flavourful sauce, served with rice and plantains as well as lots of fresh fruit for desert.  That paired with the hammocks around make me think I could get use to the place.  If there was any doubt left the two cats (and three tiny kittens) erase it, even though one of the poor things is terrified to come out of the rafters, because the big black momma cat chases it away every time it dares too.  Sara and i both love cats, and both have no problem sharing food, which makes us very popular.

After lunch, where we meet some lovely french folks, and two awesome Swedish girls, we are ushered back to one of the boats and taken to our home for the night, Caoba lodge.  It’s a place with a lot of old world charm, increased by the incredibly friendly welcome of the elderly caretaker.  from what I can understand this place just takes overflow for Yakari, but it’s charming, plenty comfortable, and very rustic.  In some ways it feels more like being in the amazon than Yakari,  spoiler alert, waking up to two tarantula’s in our room the next morning certainly reaffirmed that feeling.

After stowing our luggage and using the bathroom quickly we head back to the dock and climbing in to the waiting Kayaks, Sara and I sharing one while Javier gets one to himself, not an advantage since paddling is a little work with two, but more with one person.  We’re heading downstream with the current towards a place were told is called Monkey Island.  I’m baffled because the rivers too wide for Monkeys to be crossing back and forth, but I soon find out this island is a conservation project and about 5 years ago a few groups of rescued monkeys were placed on this island and allowed to live there freely, finding their own food, supplemented by tourist offerings.  In other words, half wild monkeys are waiting for us.

The kayak ride is serene and beautiful, drifting on the smooth jungle river, gazing at the endless green of the thick canopy.  I will say though it would be more serene If I didn’t have a slave driver sitting in front of me, sighing every time I take a break from paddling.

Sara and I end up making it all the way to the island in the kayaks, while Javier gives up and climbs aboard the motorboat with our guide, meeting us there and being kind enough to take some photos of us on the way.

We climb out onto the beach and I convince our guide to give me 30 seconds to tumble into the water before we head across the vast beach which only exists during the dry season, and into the thick amazon canopies.  It’s just as refreshing as I’d hoped and I find myself promising that I’ll be in the water as much as possible these next 5 days.

As we enter the jungle from the beach we can all feel the anticipation building, a big group of people passes us, heading out from the jungle and back to their boat and I realize how lucky we are that the three of us are the only ones in our group right now  Not only is it calmer and more serene, it’s less intimidating for the monkeys.

Sara Javier and I follow our guide quietly along the very well trodden trail which makes me wish a little for the wild machete walking of Tapiche reserve, until we come to the end of the main trail and a very small clearing where some fruit has been left for the monkeys, but at first there’s none visible.  It doesn’t take long though for the two species of monkeys on the island (White Fronted Cappuchin’s and Squirrel Monkeys)  to make themselves known.  they appear in the trees, dancing gracefully towards us, more curious than afraid, they come quite close and examine us with calculating eyes.

We watch in awe as they begin to play with each other coming to retrieve some fruit and enjoy a tasty bite to eat though many of them are uninterested in the food, clearly, they are well fed.  It’s easy to feel bad about this, since they aren’t really wild monkeys, but having seen in other sections of the amazon the way some monkeys live, as pets or circus entertainers, and knowing these ones have been rescued from that, really their pretty lucky now.  They have an entire island to roam freely on, and some visitors more days than not. Eventually our guide tells us it’s time to head back to the boat so we speed back down the trail and out onto the beach, this time all three of us enjoying a slightly longer swim.It’s utterly relaxing and just what is needed in the slowly receding heat.

Eventually our guide martials us out of the water and back into the boat and we cruise back to Yukiri lodge in the motorboat. (kayaking against the current would be incredibly difficult.)  As we putter along the incredible jungle river, the sun creeps lower and lower in the sky, bathing us in a beautiful fiery glow.  Vultures watch from the few bare branches above the canopy and bird calls fill the humid air.

We’re dropped off at our little lodge and all take the turn to pass out on the comfortable beds before our 6:30 pickup for our night activity, searching for Caiman’s and other creatures on the dark river.  this time though its not just the three of us, a few small groups of young people with us, and the large group of Bulgarians who are painfully bad at being quiet and following the obvious no flash rule, their leader and translator the worst culprit of them all.  It’s been a while since I’ve come across someone who makes me want to scream as much as this woman.

We slip over the glassy surface of the Madre de Dios river, all our lights off save for the guide up front who carries a powerful spotlight, shining it up against the banks off the river.  Little specks of orange glow regularly but dip under the water before we can draw close more often than not. Still we get close to some of the caiman, unfortunately I’m on the wrong side of the boat for photos, and still figuring out how my new camera works best at night, so I don’t have much to show for it, though drawing so close to the prehistoric looking creatures is an impressive experience, like it always is.

We continue along the river,inexplicably heading towards the city instead of away from it, but I soon learn that I should not criticize when we stumble across something I’ve never seen before, a pair of Capybara, the worlds largest rodent. Honestly they look more like cows than rats, and we sit in wonderment watching them, me cringing every time one of the Bulgarians use their flash for the photos.  I luckily manage to find a mode that works alright in the darkness sans flash, and capture a few okay photos of these peaceful, calm, and beautiful rodents.

Everyone thrilled with the night’s viewings we head back to the lodge for a very tasty dinner.  I’m quickly figuring out that this particular amazon escape is more luxury than wild jungle experience, but the food’s tasty enough to make me not upset at the idea.  After a lovely dinner were ferried back tour little lodge where we pass out quickly, waking up with the sun, and, as previously mentioned, several cockroaches in our cabin.  Maybe not quite as luxurious as I first thought. Terrific.