The South American Odyssey

A 147-day adventure by The Craze for Travelling Read more

Follow Insights Calendar Photos Share

The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Early morning excursion
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
We woke up as planned around 4 am. The plan was to start at 4:30 am and try and reach the Chuncho Clay Lick by around sunrise. Many varieties of parrots, mackaws and other birds come to the clay cliffs early in the morning to eat clay. This way, they neutralize the toxins they get in their diet of fruits and seeds.
We left the lodge at around 4:30 am and were off upstream to the Chuncho Clay Lick.Read more
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Sunrise over the Tambopata river
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
Around 5 am, the sun started rising over the trees surrounding the river. It was nice and cool early in the morning and the breeze due to the movement of the boat made it very refreshing.
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Way to Chuncho Clay Lick
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
On the way to the clay lick we saw some Capibaras along the shore of the Tambopata river. It was a very scenic ride.
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Chuncho Clay Lick
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
We reached the Chuncho Clay Lick by around 6 am. It was around a small curve on the side of the Tambopata river. We parked our boat and got off to walk across to the other end of the curve.
Even before we reached the other end, we could hear the loud calling of the various birds and mackaws. The sight we saw when we came across the clay cliff was truly mindblowing. No camera or lens can do justice to what the eyes saw. It was a riot of colors everywhere. On the left clay cliff, it was predominantly smaller birds generally all varieties of parrots so it looked covered with green dots. The cliff on the right was being used mainly by the Mackaws mainly the Scarlet and the Blue ones.
Every now amd then, they would fly around in pairs or groups. It was amazing!!!Read more
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Varieties of parrots on the left cliff
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
We set up our telescope and the binoculars to see them up close. We even tried taking pictures through the telescope.
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Parrots eating clay
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Macaws
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Blue and yellow macaws, red amd green macaws, scarlet macaws
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Macaws at the clay lick
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Blue Macaws
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Macaws eating clay
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
Bu about 7:30 am, all the smaller birds and parrots had left and the left cliff was empty. The macaws started eating clay a bit later and they all converged on the right cliff. It was a riot of colors there.Read more
1 like
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
More macaws at the clay cliff
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
1 like
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
2
Breakfast with a view
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
While we were taking turns watching through the binoculars and telescope, Jorge and our boat driver set up a picnic breakfast for us. We had bread, fruits, juices and tea while watching the spectacle.
At around 8 am we decided to head back to the camp. On the way back, we saw Capibaras, Turtles amd herons.
We also saw some people illegally prospecting for gold in the river waters. We we back in the camp by about 10:15 am.Read more
Traveler Wouuuu, so lovely!!!!
11/8/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling 👍👍👍
11/8/17Reply
1 like
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Afternoon rain shower
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
While we were relaxing in the afternoon, ominous clouds rolled in and after a lot of lightning and thunder, it started to pour. We had been lucky again with the weather in the morning at the clay lick.
The good parte about the rain was that it brought down the temperature.
We had a 3 course lunch at 1 pm. The 1st course was a salad made from beetroot, potato and cauliflower. The 2nd course was omelette, rice and noodles and potato puree. The 3rd course was a freshly cut slice of watermelon.Read more
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Chuncho Lodge
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
We finished food by 2 pm and the evening tour was at 3:30 pm, so we walked around in the area owned by byta the lodge. Its very beautifully built, the only complaint being the owner had cut too many big trees to make the lodge... Sad!!Read more
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Off to El Gato reserve
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
At 3:30 pm, we went to the El Gato Reserve. Its a private reserve created by the owner since 35 years. He grows many types of fruits from all over amazon. We could walk around and taste some as part of our excursion.Read more
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
El Gato waterfall
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Inside the property there's a nice little waterfall. The pathway down was very wet and mucky due to the afternoon rain. But, we were wearing boots so we walked all the way down to get a better view.
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Fruits of various kinds
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Carambola - we tried the fruit. It was not fully ripe but tasted almost like an unripe golden apple.
Noni - Its a very foul smelling fruit. It smells and also tastes like blue cheese. Something definitely not for me.
Lemongrass - Smells and tastes like lemon. Also used in its places sometimes. Also used in tea.
White coriander - is a leaf that smells and tastes like coriander.
We also saw many varieties of bananas.Read more
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Huge citrus trees
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Sapote - It grows in the wild in amazon. The fruits are high up and fall when they are ripe. The fruit had a hard outer cover that is hard to break. The pulp is very sweet. Sometimes, the Cappuchin monkeys bang the fruit against the tree trunks to open the fruit.

Saw some huge citrus trees of orange, grapefruit, lime and lemon. The trees are huge in this part of the world.
Grapefruit - the size is the same as the one in Europe but it tastes very sweet instead of the bitter sour taste of grapefruit.
We even tried the oranges from the orchard. They were huge and tasted quite good.Read more
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Cacao & Lemon
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Kopvasu - from the family of Cacao. The fruit is used to make juice and ice cream. The seed is used to make chocolate.
We also saw the Cacao fruit. This is used to make chocolates.
Even the tree of lemon was huge and the lemon itself was the size of a grapefruit.Read more
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Pineapple, mangoes and coffee
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Sugarcane at last
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Caimito - its a very sweet fruit gluey white pulp inside. Oil should be put on the lips before eating else it might make the lips stick.
Lady Finger Banana - Small variety of banana.
Finally, we got to try and eat sugar cane.... Ooo it was sooo good. I was eating it after almost 15 years. 😋😋😋Read more
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Anona
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
The lime here was extremely sour with a very strong flavor of lime.
Anona - From the family of custard apple (Maracuya)
We couldn't try mangoes since they were all bad.
The lemons were as huge as the grapefruit.Read more
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Pineapples & cucumbers
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
The size of the pineapples and cucumbers was also double the size we are used to seeing.
1 like
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Back at Chuncho Lodge
November 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
By 6:15 pm, we were back at our lodge. Just a few meters from the river shore, we saw some Night Monkeys in the high trees nearby. We also saw a tree tarantula near the dining room.
Dinner was served at 7:30 pm. It was again a 3 course meal. It started with an asparagus soup. Jorge had made a salsa for us with the Fish's Eye Chilli. These were tiny but quite hot chillies growing just outside the dining room. The 2nd course was rice with mushrooms and Yukka. The 3rd was a nice sweet slice of pineapple. We also had the juice of White Tomatoes as a drink.Read more
1 like
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Breakfast at Chuncho Lodge
November 5, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
We woke up early and were ready for breakfast at 6:30 am. After a hearty breakfast of cut fruits and scrambled eggs, we were ready for our 1st activity of the day.
The plan was that Jorge would leave Teresa and Salome back at Filadelfia for their return journey and then we all will go to the El Gato Reserve for a trek to the parrots clay lick.
The vehicle to pick up Teresa & Salome was quite a bit late so we had to wait for almost an hour at the lodge. We didn't just sit around but walked all over the lodge and into some trails for a short distance.
We were waiting back at the dining room when we saw a Koati come by and take some bananas that were hanging outside.Read more
0 likes