Date of Entry: October 16th 2016
Date of Writing: January 7th 2016
First off let me apologize for how far behind I’ve gotten and how sporadic the entries have been. I’d love to sayit’s about to change but I’m on the road again and pressed for time to see as much of colombia and central america as I can so it will likely continue be somewhat slow updates. ThoughI will try to be better.
Rainbow mountain done and dusted Ben Azi and I have a great dinner at Korma Sutra before catching a comfy cama nightbus with Excluciva booked on www.busportal.pe (which is in my opinion the best site for peruvian buses) heading towards Puerto Maldonado for what will be our last adventure during this whirlwind week in Peru, three weeks on Lago Sandoval in the Amazon Rainforest. As you may recall I’ve been in this region before with Sara, but this time we’re staying in a different lodge, actually on the lake.
We get to the somewhat dull somewhat beautiful amazon town of Puerto Maldonado in the early morning and are greeted eventually by the agency representative. We booked the trip through Vertigo Travel in Cusco with Jaime who I love, though I suspect you can save a few soles booking in puerto maldonado (We paid 210 USD for three days including everything even national park permits and a special price on rainbow mountain) They take us to the office and I buy some early morning ice cream treats to help stave off the sweltering heat. there we repack our bags, taking smaller day packs as it’s between a 1 and two hour hike into the amazon to get to our lodge, then we’re walking through town down to the docks below the imitation golden gate bridge here with a guide from the lodge who will be with us only for this brief morning. Like any boat road along in the amazon this one is enjoyable as we all watch the thick canopies slide by us, keeping our eyes peeled for birds, caimans and anything else which might cross our paths.
Less than an hour later we’ve landed on the river bank and are scrambling up some steep muddy hills to the trail which will lead us into tambopata national park and towards our lodge on lago sandoval, which is home to a family of Giant river otters, creatures I’ve dreamed of seeing for a long time, and had no success with last time with Sara. My fingers are crossed that these three days might be different. As we walk the well established trail we catch some glimpses of wildlife in the lush green canopies but mostly it’s just insects and butterflies along the trail.
Eventually we get to the national park entrance and our guide goes to pay our fees for a 3 day stay and soon enough we’re off again, all kind of wishing we’d brought less stuff in the sweltering heat, though we are thankful for the abundance of shade. Myles and Kyle are with us, two more canadians to round out our group, though some other people will join us on certain excursions.
As we continue deeper into the amazon more interesting animals start to show themselves as high above us in the treetops we spot a big family of red howler monkeys, big beasts with stunning grace amidst the maze of narrow branches and this family has some young monkeys too, which are always fun to watch.
I’m baffled as after just maybe 10 minutes watching these massive monkeys in the trees above everyone is carrying on towards the boat. Stupid silly Canadians, I guess I’m just a child and could never get tired of watching monkeys. Though Kyle does come back with me when the boats aren’t ready to go and while we can’t seem to find them again I do get a cool shot of this gigantic butterfly perched delicately on a narrow branch.
Eventually our little wooden canoes are ready (split into two groups kyle torn from the loving embrace of his friend myles) and I help slightly to paddle us out of the narrow swampy canals and into the open expanse of the lake. We’re all sweaty and hot but everyone seems suitably impressed by our introduction to the amazon though it’s my fourth time visiting the region I feel it too. This place is wild, lush and full of beauty. And coming out into the openness of the lake only amplifies that sensation, though there is one problem, the shade is gone.
As we paddle out across the lake I bask in the soundscape that never fails to impress when deep in the Amazon, bird calls, insects chirping and the occasional distant sound from bigger animals make me feel at ease and somehow also at the edge of my seat. Our guide stops paddling our canoe suddenly, the others already far ahead. I see him strain to listen, then suddenly he’s pointing with his handmade wooden oar. In the distance to our left he sees something, and he thinks it’s giant otters.
I go quickly to my camera whose zoom serves better than most binoculars and find that yes he’s right, w hole family of them are swimming through the lake near the distant banks to our lefts, they’re too far away and too quick to get much of a great picture, but since this may be the only time in my life I see these wild ferocious creatures I do my best and strain my eyes to watch them frolic without the aid of the camera.
I of course lobby to paddle over to them but our guide shakes his head, it’s already coming up to lunch time at the lodge and apparently we’re not allowed to be late. I try to be understanding, even If I’m pretty irritated, I mean these are giant otters!!! but I suppose he’s only doing his job and I am pretty hungry.
We land on the far side of the lake and head a 10 minute long track to the lodge where we are promptly shown to our rooms. Ben and Azi share one (only hand stuff you two) and I have a triple to myself. Soon enough though we’re out in the relaxing hammocks enjoying a short burst of jungle rain and waiting for lunch. Food will end up being my only complaint with our lodge, what we get is excellent, but there simply wasn’t enough of it and with no option to purchase snacks all of us get pretty hungry throughout out three days here.
It’s already fairly late in the afternoon when we head back towards the lake for a wildlife spotting boat ride.My hopes are high but the otters are nowhere to be seen, still that doesn’t mean the tranquil paddle is without entertainment as we spot a few caimans, way too many stinky turkeys (I swear that’s what they call them) and the same tree of bats I saw just over a year ago when on a day trip to the lake with Sara. Throw in some herons for good measure and the boat ride already feels like a success.
As we start our long loop back towards the hostel though more unexpected guests arrive in the form of a foraging family of squirrel monkeys. These little devils move with awesome speed along the trees at the edge of the lake and are constantly on the move making photography difficult in the dying late, but I do my best to get a few action shots as we follow them along the rim of the lake, learning about them from our friendly new guide Bastian, who is awesome, kind and attentive,and doing his best with somewhat limited english to tell us all about these tiny little scamps in the trees all around us.
With the light really starting to fade we head back towards the lodge enjoying a muted cloudy sunset and still more stinky turkeys. Ben and Azi are all tired out from the heat and a somewhat poor sleep on the night bus, though as far as night buses go it was pretty damn good, and so they almost fall asleep in the boat, which makes me miss my darling Renata back in Brazil. Still, it won’t be too long before I’m back there.
After a delicious but not quite filling enough dinner and what ben would describe as too many glasses of the sugary juice provided to us we head out for a brief night boat ride on the lake, searching for caimans who are more active at night. It takes a while but we do eventually hit the mother load finding a cluster of them near a tiny little island, various ages and sizes and with the help of Bastian’s flashlight I even manage some decent pictures.
That done we head back to the lodge and play a few games of Yaneef and asshole, the 5 canadians together and enjoying the evening, though we all turn in early as tomorrow we’ve got yet another early start which seems to be a theme of this trip. We’ll be up by 4 am or so to go hike to a wood lick to try to see some macaws and other impressive jungle birds. Stay tuned to see if we find any success.
