Peruvian Amazon Adventure

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Trip start
June 20, 2015
Peruvian Amazon Adventure Traveler
Lima, Peru
June 20, 2015 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
Starting point for the adventure. My dad and I got in a day early to make sure we were here on time. My cousin Travis and brother in law Jeff get in tomorrow night. I like Lima but have no interest, just want to get to the jungle! Lunch was a 2 hour painful venture since we dont work on South Amrican time and barely know any spanish. Gotta say the bacon was perfect, charred just the way i like it! Did a little souvenir shopping before the tour kickoff meeting. Found a great little organic food store near the hotel and bought some amazing gluten free orange flavored cookies! During the meeting could hardly stay awake! Travel catching up with me. Met those also going on the boat. 29 altogether, interesting group. I hope to get to know them as the week goes on, but I'm shy so maybe by the end I'll finally talk to people! The leader was VERY enthusiastic and had me looking forward to the trip in spite of not remembering much of anything she said! Jeff and Travis should be in around midnight. 515 Wil be a rude wakeup call for all of us!Read more
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Peruvian Amazon Adventure Traveler
Iquitos/Nauta
June 21, 2015 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
515 left for lima airport to fly to Iquitos. Early morning and long drive to the airport. Not many people awake. The flight checkin was all handled by guides so was easy. The flight to Iquitos was relatively short except for a stopover in a small town callled Pullcalpa and we couldnt leave our seats. The boat guides met us and handled oue luggage, then gave eveyone a bottle of water as we got on our shot bus. They took us straight to a Manatee preserve. Just as it sounds. It is rehab for release into the wild. Look like turtles as babies and mutants as adults! Somehow adorable though. Had a chance to feed them. They lòoked like something out of a syfy movie when they ate but it was oddly adorable! Then we had a 2.5 HR bus ride to Nauta, to meet the boat. The guides tried to educate us on the ride but needed a microphone. We couldn't hear in the back. Everyone I saw was sleeping for the most part. I ad to close the curtain since the sun was straight on my face but not before I got sunburned! I was just too tired to close it earlier. When we got to Nauta and off the boat the first thing I Noticed was the smell! And I had to wear a life vest that stank like that smell as we took a skiff to the Amatista. The boat accomodations are not for anyone whose standards are above motel 6. (Best to avoid cabin 101!) Keep in mind It's an adventure cruise on an old boat! Lunch on the boat was good, and at 4, we took our first jaunt on the river. Saw sloths right away! Love those! Also a hawk, someone said a monkey, other birds I don't remember... No daylight savings time in Peru so it was pretty much darkt by the time we got back to the boat at 1830. Then they had AWESOME local music before dinner up on the observation deck! It was 3 guys from the kitchen (I call them the Peruvian mariachi band) and they rocked all 9 planets!Read more
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Peruvian Amazon Adventure Traveler
Pacaya Samiria Preserve
June 22, 2015 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
Got up at the crack of dawn to see wildlife. Dolphins, monkeys, macaws, herons, egrets. Looked sometimes like Hitchcock's The Birds, there were so many! Got a rare pic of scarlet macaws flying. Other people saw monkeys, I didnt. There as one curious rodent in a tree trunk that i thought was kinda funny. Had a picnic breakfast in the skiffs, served by the kitchen staff. The made me an amazing avocado salad since i couldnt eat what everyone else had. So good! In the afternoon some people went swimming in "black water" which is supposedly safe and where the dolphins hang out. Travis did, but no swimming for me, just took a lot of pics of dolphins that mostly didn't turn out. :(Read more
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Peruvian Amazon Adventure Traveler
San Miguel
June 23, 2015 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
Birdwatching, shaman visit, lunch made by local family! Shopping in the village. The shaman visit and lunch were extra special because each guide had a personal background with those lifestyles and helped me understand on a more personal level what life if like there. The shaman was a woman! We learned about they treat just about everything but surgery, and do send people to hospitals when needed. We also learned about the shaman selection process and some of the medicines used. Not as much hallucination as you might think! The lunch was not far from the shaman and was the best food ive had in a long time!! It was catfish with a mango onion sauce, YUM! And hearts of palm spears, a chickpea/corn cake ball (for lack of a better description), rice, and sweet plantains. It took me forever to finish and was worth every bite! Some tried the fried rodent but I did my best to avoid that! This day was the best part of the trip so far! Then RAIN. Photo practice on the covered deck with different people while trying not to get soaked. Nighttime wildlife view with dolphins. Extra long ride back in the rain when the guide caught a caiman after spotting eyes 50 yards back in the bush! That guy and the skiff driver were rock stars that night, getting us back safely in pitch black and pouring rain! This is the day I lost half my pictures, sorry for the lack of them!Read more
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Peruvian Amazon Adventure Traveler
San Jorge
June 24, 2015 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
Pirhana fishing. Sticks and fishing wire, very effective! Mine had to be thrown back because it was too small, but most caught a couple each! Then, Finally a hike in the forest! Had a local guide as well as our own. Local guide would disappear and show back up with things like anaconda and poison frogs. The was also the snake that had power to ward off other snakes if you were marked by it. So the whole group basically got spanked with a snakes tail. Then we went on another nighttime river hunt. It started to rain again, hard. But or guide wasn't going home without finding some sort of creature to see. Next thing we know there is another caiman in our boat! He wanted to take it to show the other guide, and gave it to Tess sitting across from me. After about 30 minutes (we were about an hour out) she was ready to give it back so the guide said to throw it back. What? !? After all that? No way! Give me the darn dragon! So I got to hold it the rest of the way back. In the dark and pouring rain, on the amazon river. How cool is THAT?!?!?!Read more
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St. Regis
June 24, 2015 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
A rowboat adventure, but I honestly can't remember what day this happened. Local community took us on canoe tours through the "back waters" near their village. It was gorgeous and peaceful. I wanted to keep going through the little mysterious waterways and enjoy everything I could see! I was helping to row so have no pictures. But truly, I'm not crazy, it happened!Read more
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Nauta/Puerto Prado
June 25, 2015 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
Nauta is the port city that the boat started at. We visited the local market and took a tuk-tuk ride around the city. The market was geared toward peopke needing supplies like shoes, toothpaste, and food. Not souvenirs like Id hoped! We stopped at a park that was also a sanctuary for giant tortises, but i totally missed them because i was looking at the murals and waving at kids. Got a souvenir fix though, there was a small group set up in the gazebo. Then we got the city tour. A tuk-tuk is a motorcycle with a buggy type thing on the back that fits a couple of people. We rode around for over 30 minutes and saw the city from a local view. At the hilltop there was a radio station playing bollywood music, which cracked me up! That night we visited a village to donate school supplies. This village had a lady chief, a soccer field, adorable kids, and an awesome view of the river! These people took serious pride in their village, it was very well kept! And the kids interacted with us and it was so cute and a ton of fun! We also saw giant lily pads and tiny monkeys!Read more
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Peruvian Amazon Adventure Traveler
Parakeets!
June 26, 2015 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
(I didnt get the exact location marker for this one). We started EARLY this morning. We were stopped at a parakeet breeding ground and we're told there are more than 2 dozen varieties nesting there! As the sun came up it got LOUD! So many little birds! I even got a few pictures. We also visited an eco-lodge/research center where the rooms are in the tree tops. There were suspension bridges between each one, and each one higher than the last. I dont blame those who didnt go to the top, its no place for you if youre even remotely scared of heights! You really were one with nature up there in spite of the nice bathrooms and mosquito nets. So many spiders and ants! Was an incredible adventure though, so unique! Almost made up for the lack of a zip line on this trip! Later in the day we went for one last jaunt on the river and i managed to catch a picture of a toucan. We also ran into some fisherman who'd caught some of the biggest fish I'd ever seen in person! We bought one in the interest of supporting the local economy, not to mention our appetites!Read more
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Peruvian Amazon Adventure Traveler
Iquitos - to Lima. On our way home...
June 27, 2015 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
Up early to leave for the airport. Found the boat tied off to the SS Minnow! We took a quick tour of the Iquitos harbor. The airport has some interesting artwork! I doubt Lima has any real fear of tsunamis, so it's wierd that many of the beaches are closed. And i love that they have dedicated traffic lights for bicycles! Sort of an emotional day. I've had an amazing time. I loved learning about the rainforest, river, and local cultures from people who grew up there. I like Peru, but definitely prefer the river to the cities! And I'd go back in a heartbeat :)Read more
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Trip end
June 27, 2015