Welcome to the Jungle (Rain Forest)

 Lima to Puerto Maldonado

Inkaterra Lodge * Nature Walk * Night Boat ride

After an early departure to the Lima airport (we left the hotel at 6:00 a.m.) we made it to Puerto Maldonado at 11:00 a.m. It was so nice to have a guide and driver at the airport ready to whisk us off to the Lodge. Our drive through town was interesting; one of the first buildings we saw was an LDS church. Pretty amazing to think of members of the church in so many remote places. Even though this city is remote, there are 100,000 inhabitants.

Our lodge is amazing! We are staying in 2 bungalows that are open to nature. There is mesh around the rooms and netting around the beds for extra protection from bugs. It’s so peaceful and quiet, there are only a handful of guests here right now. It’s much cooler than I would have expected for the rain forest. In the shade with a slight breeze, it’s pleasant. In fact, our room was even a bit cool - good thing the staff added a warm water bottle to the sheets to keep us cozy.

We enjoyed 2 excursions this afternoon. The first was a nature walk around the lodge introducing us to the surroundings. The highlight was definitely the monkeys. They were everywhere! In fact, we didn’t even realize it, but when we were relaxing at our hotel room, we heard howler monkeys. Their howl was so unique that we couldn’t tell if it was machine or animal. It went on and on. On the nature walk we happened across a lemon tree (or maybe it was orange) where the monkeys were playing. Mostly squirrel and Cappuchino monkeys. They were playing in the trees and tossing down fruit to the ground. Several times citrus fruit nearly missed us as it fell to the ground.

After our nature walk, we took an evening boat ride on the river in search of caiman - a local crocodile-like creature.

All the animals we saw in the Peruvian rain forest.  

Tamirn Money, Squirrel Monkey, Capachin Monkey, Hower Monkey, Capibara, Turtles, black and white Cayman, Huron, Hoatzin birds (chicken bird), bat, frog sloth, lizard, bunny rodent, tarantula, jumping spiders, caterpillars.