I really like cusco! It's eversuch a pretty place. Loads of really nice old colonial style buildings. My hostel is really nice too and it's really central. After I had my room allocated and had some breakfast, I headed out to explore and book myself onto a rainforest tour. I found a good travel agents who offered lots of different trips and decided to plump for a 4 day trip to near Puerto Maldonado. I went to a reserve called the Tambopata national reserve on the tambopata river which was a couple of hours away up river from puerto maldonado.
The next day or so before I flew out, I spent pottering around the city and the markets. It's a great place to wander about. We met up with the gap group again for a few more drinks which us always good.
So, my flight on the Sunday was only half an hour, but it was either that or a 20hr bus ride each way! It was a nice flight and it was awesome flying over the rainforest!! So many trees!!! I was met at the airport so that was good, although I was hoping to see my name on a little board when I was collected but no such luck... I had to ask around for the guide. Actually, it was a good job my name wasn't on a board as they had me down as Morris Foma so I might not have recognized myself anyway!!
The trip up the river was lovely. Really nice and relaxing and just enjoying where I was! We saw some squirrel monkeys playing in the trees which was ace and we saw sime terrapins sitting on a branch :)
the lodge was a really Eco friendly place with cold showers and no electricity on the rooms, we just had candles. That evening, before tea we went out on the river again caimen spotting. That was ace and we saw about 6 of them. They were only quite small but we got pretty close to them without disturbing them. We saw white Caimen that night. There are 4 species of Caimen in the area, the white caimen being the second biggest, but we only saw the baby ones so they werent that big. Then after an hour or so of spotting, we turned off the engine and floated downstream in the dark which was so lovely! So nice to heat the sounds of the jungle and see all the stars and we saw some fireflies too which was cool.
After tea I had to negotiate my room in the dark. I did a quick sweep under the beds to check for any snakes, scorpions or other scary critters, but it was all fine :)
It gets light at around 5am so that's what time we were up for the next day. We were going on a 10k walk to an oxbow lake. But it was absolutely pissing it down at 5 so we delayed for an hour and a half to see if the rain would let up at all. It did and so we set off. As it's the rainy season, we needed gumboots. As usual, they only had kiddy ones for me so my boots were shorter than everyone elses! But it was ok. The paths were pretty waterlogged and we sloshed through in the water and mud to get there. Needless to say, my wellies got stuck in the mud on several occasions and I needed to be pulled out by the guide!! And we saw some critters along the way, we saw some big bullet ants, some leafcutter ants and some army ants that I was quite excited by as I remember seeing a programme on them ages ago and they just swarm across the jungle floor and kill and spiders, snakes, etc along the way by shere numbers. We think these ones were on the way to invade another colony of ants and steal their eggs to eat. We were also told about some species of palm trees, the walking palm tree, which grows roots above the ground and walks on the new roots, moving about 60cm each year. And the erotic palm tree, because its roots look like willies (see pictures).
The lake was lovely and peaceful and much less humid than the forest which was a nice change. We saw a family of giant otters quite close by. We also saw some birds called stinky birds because of their smelly poo, and some vultures. We were hoping to see some howler monkeys as they like the palm fruits that grow on the trees on the edge of the lake, but they didnt show up.
Just as we were heading back from the lake, it started to rain, then it stopped for a bit, and then it started properly again. It threw it down for well over an hour and it was a long and slow journey back in the mud. We were all totally drenched. Muggins here decided to travel light and only took one pair of trousers with me - doh! So I had to wash them and go to lunch in my PJ trousers, earning a few funny looks. Oh well!
That evening, when we had dried off a bit, we headed out again for a night hike which was ace! We saw quite a few creepy crawlies and I was most excited to see a tarantula!! A pink toed tarantula to be precise, a male. He was sitting quite happily on a leaf and let me take some nice pictures of him :) We also saw a nest where a female one lived and she would have been the size of a hand, but she was hiding in her house so we could only see a few legs when we peered inside.
That night at tea, we were having discussions about nasty things that live in the forest and I was quite paranoid about getting a bot fly (not sure of the spelling). Basically, they lay eggs inside clothing and then when you get bitten by a mosquito, the lave crawl inside you via the hole the mosquito made. Then they grow inside you and then burst out your skin alien-style when theyre full grown - eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew!
THe next day it was just me and Christian the guide (the other 3 people I was with the other days only stayed for 2 nights) and we got up early to go and see the Parrots at the clay lick. They need to eat the clay on the rocks because its got minerals in it that is good for them and neutralises the toxins that they get from eating the berries in the forest.
I liked the parrots, they were funny. They´re so noisy and take forever to pluck up the courage to come into the tree close by the clay lick. Then they sit there for a while, sqwarking, then they fly off again. They did this about 5 times before they plucked up the courage to get lower into the branches (then they flew off again) and finally ended up at the clay lick. Well, all the noisy ones kept flying off, there were a few more docile ones that were just sat on the branches, watching the world go by, not caring about the noise and palarva like the others! I liked thoser ones! Some of them were hanging upside down on the branches which looked like fun! We were there for about 2 hours watching them , it was great and Christian took some good pictures for me through his binocoulars. I also saw a few Macaws flying over and a tiny humming bird. Christian saw a kingfisher, but I didnt.
Later on, we went for a little trip to a local farm to see some of the plantations that are in the jungle, bananas, papayas and the like. We also saw some howler monkeys up in the trees, but they werent howling, lots of vulures (yellow headed vulture, black vulture and a king vulure up high), more lizards, nice yellow butterflys and more army ants.
In the afternoon, we went on another walk around the camp site. Again the paths were flooded and it was so deep in one area, poor Christian had to give me a piggy back because of my short gumboots!! Poor guy!! Then we bumbed into the rescued Macaw who lives at the retreat. That was nice to see him, they´re big birds up close! In the evening, we went on another Caimen hunt and saw a bigger one this time. At dinner, there was a shout from the kitchen and there was a juvenile emerald boa in there. That was cool to see. then he headed outside and we watched him climb a tree. Ive never seen a snake climb a tree before, it was cool!
We got the boat back to Puerto Maldonado which was a nice journey again. It took about half the time it took to get there because we were going with the current. Then came the flight back to Cusco...
So I got to the airport fine, the plane was supposed to take off at 10.15 but it was half an hour late. Its a half hour flight to cusco. We flew to cusco and couldnt land, so we had to divert to Arequipe! We refueled there and then went to Lima!!! Then I got on a flight back to cusco! It took 6 hours in total! But it was a nice little trip round Peru none the less!
Now Im safely back in cusco and chilling out for a day or so before meeting up with the group Ill be doing the inca trail with on Sunday :) Bye for now x
The last morning, I finally got to see some howler monkeys howling which was ace!
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