After our Machu Picchu adventures, we arrived in Puerto Maldonado. We were glad to be done with hiking and treking large mountains, and be on flat ground. The moment we were out of the plane, we were greeted by heat. I don't just mean heat, I mean heat coupled with large quantities of humidity. This place was hot!
We picked up our bags, met our tour guide and set off on a 1 hour bus ride for what seemed to be through the jungle. We were expecting a port with a jetty, but what we got was a muddy track leading to the bank of the river. No jetty, we just jumped onto our little boat with our backpacks.
All aboard... and we set off on a 2 hour boat ride to our lodge. We were to be staying at the Tambopata Libertador Eco-Lodge (on the banks of the Tambopata river, in the thick of the Amazon jungle). We got a yummy packed lunch along the way...
The ride can only be described as amazingly peaceful. The river itself is a muddy clay red colour and stays that colour for most of the year. The wild life along the way is pretty amazing.... we stopped to see the colours of the birds and the worlds largest rodents.
1 checkpoint and 2 hours later, we got to our lodge to find it canopied by a double rainbow (look closely in picture for double rainbow) -- it was pretty special. Our own little self contained room, with a bathroom, hot showers (solar heated water), only candles for other lighting, mesh windows to keep the mossies out and a bed protected by a mossie net. We could hear the jungle sounds all day and all night.
On our first night, we did a "Night trek" after dinner. We set off with our torch lights and a warning to "watch where we step". We saw frogs, crazy looking ants and a couple of snakes.
Day 2 we set off at 6 am on a trek. Our little boat dropped us off further up the Tambopata river and we set off on foot. 3 hours later, we had seen varieties of emergent trees, crossed man-made bridges, visited the inside of a tree, watched piranhas grab crackers, seen the widest tree trunk and enjoyed serenity on a little boat in a lake.
That night we set off "Alligator spotting". Our guide had a big flash light and in the dense darkness of the night, he spotted alligators... mostly little baby ones.
Day 3 was another 6 am start. We set off on foot and walked about 2 hours each way to get to another lake on the other side of the river. Along the way, we crossed a few bridges....
...of which the most creative was the "tree trunk bridge".
The colours of the water lilies were simply beautiful to look at.
The sights and sounds of the Amazon were simply amazing to experience. Being in the middle of the jungle and knowing that there were no other people for miles around was simply exhilarating. No other tourists!
Lizelle
