Date of Entry: October 18th 2016
Date of Writing: January 16th 2016
Here it is the last post before I add an Africa section to my blog. For this reason forgive me If I rush it a bit as I’m finding less and less time to write in between the adventures with my new somewhat compressed travel schedule.
Today is our last day in the amazon and really our last full day in peru though we will have the next morning in cusco to buy a few last souvenirs after one more night bus with Excluciva. As has been typical of this week long adventure with my dearest friends Ben and Azi it’s another early start as Bastien meets us around 5:30 am to go hiking through the back trails behind the lodge hoping to find some mammals at a small clay lick nestled deep in the national park.
We walk on narrow messy trails for about an hour, me remarking on how utterly different these trails seem with sunlight streaming down through the thick green canopy in comparison to last nights utter darkness. The jungle is a place of incredible amounts of life and it seems like two different places with and without the light of the sun.
We reach the clay-lick all drenched in a thick layer of sweat only to find we’ve come to late and any animal that was here is gone now, so Bastien slowly begins guiding us back towards the lodge. But wait, he catches a scent on the air and leads us off the trail until we find a porcupine lying on the canopy floor in a dozen different pieces, blood needles and fresh not yet rotting meat everywhere. Bastien figures it was a jaguar, and that it happened just last night. Wow, even if the smell is bad it’s a cool thing to see and the closest I’ve ever gotten to a jaguar that I know of.
After a brief issue of getting lost in the jungle Bastian gets us back to the lodge and we have some time to relax in hammock and watch the resident ducks parading around the lodge grounds. It’s nice to chill a bit after an action packed week.
Eventually though chilling gets a bit boring so we ask Bastian what we can do and he suggests a swim to beat the vicious heat of the jungle. Sounds perfect. Everywhere I’ve been in the amazon I’ve swum in the rivers without an issue, here though we’re going to the lake, though I suppose the fear triggers are the same, you know Caimans, Anacondas, amazon sting rays, but I follow Bastian over to a property beside the lodge knowing that usually animals are much more afraid of you than you of them.
After a few minutes of very refreshing swimming we all stare at our stuff from the water, a little red howler monkey is crawling around our bags looking for stuff to play with. Needless to say this brings us all out of the water quickly and we find the monkey (a young male howler) is very eager to play with us, climbing all over us and accepting anything we’re willing to offer it. Bastian gets some fruit and tells us the monkye was found abandoned by the owners of this other property and they take care of them when they are here. He is semi wild but not really and he quickly takes a shining to each and everyone of us.
As we play with him I find his hands utterly amazing and how he acts so much like a young human might. Though perhaps the most striking thing is the incredible strength and flexibility of his tail. Like having two extra limbs. Wow.
As we continue to play with him a young chicken appears and we learn this chicken is his friend and has been virtually from birth. He happily shares the food with one chicken but when another chicken makes a play for it our friend goes crazy and holds the chicken down by the tail as it flaps it’s wings frantically trying to get away. Clearly food is only to be shared among best friends.
We head back to the lodge for lunch,a few more card games and then it’s time to pack up our stuff. The food again is good but not enough for anyone and I do advice If you come to stay at Lago Sandoval bring yourself plenty of snacks. We didn’t and regretted it deeply. The last thing to get packed away is Renatinha who has been with me the whole trip and she objects to leaving the amazon and Peru all too soon, but I’m to excited to see her namesake to care much.
We head down to the lake and the pier to head back to the rivers looking to enjoy our last activity but are delayed about half an hour as the skies open up and an indescribable amount of water pours down on us, rendering a small thatch roof shelter all but useless. The downpour though is short lived and soon enough we’ve crossed the lake with all our bags and are back on the trail towards the rivers and civilisation. But it wouldn’t be the Amazon without another glimpse of a family of Red Howlers high up in the treetops looking wet and none too happy with the weather.
We get to the national park office and buy too many snacks before heading back to the river and taking a boat to our ziplining place. Kyle and Myles come along for the ride though Ziplining isn’t included in their package. Deciding I’ve already done it here I volunteer to let one of them go in my place and Kyle takes the opportunity as we walk back behind a lodge opposite monkey island which I visited last time around with Sara. We meet a pet pecary on the way but then it’s time for ziplining.
Sadly they won’t let me up on the canopy bridge since I’m not ziplining so I shoot from below. More sadly the go pro which Azi uses is lost in the next day (I’m still not sure how) so there’s no video footage of their thrilling ride. Ben manages to crash into the first platform failing to brake entirely then gets caught a solid 20 feet before the final platform having braked to early. It’s quite entertaining to watch from below.
The ziplining done and the sun setting we’re told we won’t have time for monkey island which sucks because it was included in our package, but we’ve all had such an amazing three days it’s hard to complain much. Back at the lodge I find some kittens playing with mum and we all get to pet the absurdly coarse hair of the pecary before I find an american football lying around and engage the boys in a spirited game of catch through uneven treachorous ground.
Heading back to board the boat back to Puerto Maldonado (which takes forever against the current) we find ourselves staring out at the perfect end to our amazonian adventure, a stunning ball of orange fire sinking low behind the trees and colouring the sky an almost surreal mosaic of oranges, reds and yellows. Absolutely gorgeous and I make the guides wait just a minute as I take some final photos for our trip.
Somewhere in the boat I must lose my go pro (though I don’t discover this for a week) but as the sun disappears and only the gilded after glow of the stunning amazonian sun remains I snap a few more pictures as we inch closer to Puerto Maldonado.
The rest of the night goes easily, picking up our stuff at the tourist agency and then enjoying delicious but big Pizza at a small place just down the street. Ben makes fun of me as he eats more than me (Ben I’ll challenge you to an eating contest any day any time. Make that every day every time!!!!!) and we take a taxi to our bus which we all sleep through well.
Back in cusco we eat a tasty breakfast, dump our stuff with Jaime at Vertigo travel and shop for souvenirs, me getting a canadian flag sewn onto a very white peruvian doll to give to Renata so that Renatinha has a new friend. We’ll call him Luketta, and ignore the strange looks I got from the ladies selling the flag patches when I asked for the flag to be sewn on to a doll.
Then after repacking our bags at vertigo travel (maybe here is where I lost my go pro) we head to the airport in a taxi and say our goodbyes. It’s been a great trip, and I’m so glad you made ben get his act together and leave Canada Azi, but I’m excited to get back to Brazil and Renata. That plus in just a week I’ll be headed to Africa for my first time ever. Get excited people Awe Around the Earth is about to conquer it’s 6th continent. And watch your back Australia, I’m coming for you, though I have no idea when!
