Madre de Dios

After taking a night bus from Cusco (the same day we finished the Inca Trail... we were very tired and smelly 😂), we arrived in Puerto Maldonado. This city is the gateway to the Peruvian Amazon. We spent the first day there resting and hanging out by the pool before embarking on a 3 day Amazon tour.

The first day of the tour had a driving to the edge of the Tambopata River and then boating down to the jungle oasis where we would be spending the next few days. The oasis itself was very cool as it was surrounded by rainforest! After lunch we spent some time cooling off by the pool (the rainforest is very humid)! We then went on our first activity which was a rainforest walk to a look out tower for sunset. During this walk we got to go into the rainforest for the first time and try and spot some wildlife! We luckily got to see some howler monkeys and some toucans! Our guide Rodrigo used this portable telescope thing to zoom into so we got a closer look at the animals... We also used this to get some epic photos throughout the trip! The look out tower was very tall and allowed us to be above the trees for an incredible view of the jungle and the sunset. We then walked back to reserve to start our second activity. For this activity, we were in the boat at night looking for caimans. We got to see a few different caimans, some tiny baby ones and one bigger adult one! One of my favourite parts of this activity was the stars. It was one of the best places to see the stars I have ever been to! We then had dinner and went straight to bed! It was cool getting to fall asleep to the many sounds of the rainforest.

The next day we had an early start at 4:30am. We got into the boat and went for 45 mins along the Tambopata River to arrive at the clay licks. This is an amazing natural phenomenon where hundreds of macaws and parrots gather on this clay wall in the morning to lick the minerals off of it for food. This was probably my favourite part of the trip (though it is tough to choose a favourite because everything about the rainforest was epic)! It was so stunning to see all of these birds in their natural habitat. There were so many types and different coloured ones and the sounds were crazy. This was such a special and unique experience and I loved just getting to sit and watch the birds for a few hours. We then had a picnic breakfast before going for a wildlife spotting boat trip. We saw another caiman and about 14 capybaras! These were so fun to see in the wild and we were able to get close to them in the boat as they relaxed on the shoreline. We then returned home for some free time before lunch. Afterwards we set out for our second activity of the day: kayaking. Angus and I shared a two person kayak and then paddled down the river. We tried going upstream for a while but made hardly any progress 😂 so we paddled downstream the rest of the time. We had more paddling experience than the rest of our group so we got quite a bit ahead of everyone, which was amazing. It really just felt like us and the Amazon. We had so much fun just paddling, chatting, looking for animals and birds, and just enjoying the view. We then stopped at a little island where we were able to swim in the river! The water was very refreshing and we both loved getting to swim in the Amazon! Our final activity for the day was a night hike in search of nocturnal animals and insects. We saw lots of spiders and bugs and even a tarantula! I was paranoid about the snakes above my head the whole time (we didn't see any snakes though so that was good) so I was looking up at the trees instead of down for insects, which ended up being a good thing as I spotted a sloth! I felt so satisfied cause everyone else walked past it except me and the whole group were so impressed that I found one!

The last day began with a boat ride and then a hike. On this hike we got to see lots of different plants. We saw the life tree, which was massive! We also drank water from this bamboo tree (it was actually really good). We ate a termite (tasted minty and better than expected) and this sugar cane type thing that everyone thought was too sour and I thought it tasted like candy! We also had some of this leaf and our guide didn't tell us the use until afterwards... It is used as a local anesthetic so it makes everyone's mouth go numb for a few minutes! We also saw some more monkeys on this walk! Overall it was a really nice hike. We stopped at a mammal clay lick but didn't get to see any mammals. After the hike I went for one last swim in the river before packing up and going home!

Overall, we LOVED the rainforest. Angus and I both agree that we want to come back and have 2 weeks just to be in the rainforest the whole time. The wildlife was beautiful and just the vibe of the place was awesome. Absolutely loved my time here.

This was our last stop in Peru and while writing this, we are currently in Bolivia. I loved Peru. I felt like we got to see and experience so much yet I also feel like there is so much more I want to do! Like Ecuador this is definitely a country I will be coming back to. I loved how we could be surfing on the coast then in a desert then in the mountains then in a rainforest all in one country. There was great infrastructure for tourism which made traveling and busing here very easy. The food was great and the people we met were very kind. Overall, Peru was beautiful, fun, and so diverse. Sad to be leaving but excited to keep the adventure going in Bolivia!Read more