From Sea Level to High Altitude

 Pisac Ruins * Pisac Market

Today we traveled from Puerto Maldonado to Cusco. A quick 45-minute flight from nearly sea level to 11,000 ft above sea level. It was up, up, up over the Andes. We had some extra time at the lodge this morning, so we enjoyed some card games while we waited for our canoe ride back into town.

When we arrived in Cusco we were meet by our guide and treated to a very quick lunch at a fancy restaurant with a view of the main square. In fact, we were only able to enjoy the appetizer because we needed to get to Pisac by 4:30 to see the archeological site. Our guide was very impressed that we wanted to climb up to the top of the site to see the citadel despite having just landed in Cusco. Apparently, most tourists need some time to acclimate in town before heading to higher elevations. We didn’t feel overly winded as we walked to the top of the site - our guide was impressed. We were also able to make a quick stop in the Pisac market and a jewelry shop where Sydney and I purchased a few things

Tonight, we caught up with Maren and Matt in our darling hotel in Yucay, just outside of Urubamba. The hotel use to be a monastery and is very charming. There was even a wedding party going on inside the courtyard. As we were approaching the hotel the area looked pretty run down, but amazingly enough as we turned into the property, it was beautiful and well maintained.

We also met our guide for the Inca Trail and our time in Cusco - Roger. He gave us our duffle bags to pack for the porters and let us know the plan for the next day. We later learned he was very worried, and he had never started a trek on the same day as someone arrived from the US. Tomorrow Irene and Dave fly in and will meet us in Ollantaytambo for our first day of trekking. I’m not worried though.

Birds and bugs

 Canoe Ride * Herbal Garden Walk * Clay Lick

We didn’t have to start our day as early today, only 8:00 am. The first activity was a canoe ride through a nearby lagoon. We feel a bit like we are attending adult summer camp. Our lodge has an “eco center” where we meet our guides each day. It’s full of strange bugs and snakes stored in jars of formaldehyde and skulls of local mammals. Our guides carry backpacks with first aid kits and binoculars.

The lagoon we visited was full of Hoatzin birds (aka “chicken bird”). They have a crown on their head and colorful feathers. They’re big and rather loud. They were everywhere and we enjoyed watching them awkwardly fly from bush to bush. We didn’t see any caimans or anaconda this morning - although our guide told us that a 15 ft anaconda had been hanging around this lake for a couple of weeks just a while back. We did see an interesting bat though. This little bat was the color of tree bark and well camouflaged. It almost looked like a little knot on the tree. Interestingly enough, there were 8 of these bats all in a perfectly straight line. We enjoyed the narrow passages of the lagoon and might have been secretly grateful we didn’t run into an anaconda.

After our visit to the lagoon, we visited the lodge’s botanical garden and explored several herbs from coca leaves to lemon grass to turmeric root. Our guide even cut open a larve egg to show us the live weevil larva inside. Another member of our group (we secretly refer to as “The American Pickle”) didn’t hesitate to eat the larva. The rest of us took a hard pass!

After the larva we learned how Brazil Nuts are harvested from the jungle. This was particularly interesting because our guide’s family does this for a family business. We were able to taste fresh Brazil nuts which were so yummy, much softer and sweeter than those we buy at the stores.

Leon was unable to join us for our final tour, which worked out - because it was just a simple walk to a local clay like for mammals where we waited and watched quietly for 40 minutes, but no animals showed up.

Amazing Wildlife

Lago Sandoval * Canopy Walk * Night hike

We woke early this morning, 5:00 a.m., so that we could be ready by 6:00 a.m. for our boat ride and hike to Lago Sandoval. It was beautiful on the river this morning. Not a soul around and silent as can be. It was amazingly cool, and we kept our jackets on throughout the hike until we were in full sun on the lake. Our guide Leon is great. He’s thoughtful and likes to hang back from the others so that we have a quiet, intimate experience with nature.

On our 2-mile hike to Lake Sandoval we saw huge trees and leaf cutter aunts busy at work carrying the leaves back and forth. The trail is popular, but because of our early start, we didn’t see anyone along the way. The nature preserve built a wooden boardwalk to protect the pathway and to help out the hikers during the rainy season.

Once at the lake we boarded our long canoe with 2 other guess and our guide to scour the shoreline in search of wildlife. It didn’t take long for us to spot our first caiman and then we saw one after another until we lost track. Most were on the shoreline, but we did see one huge one in the middle of the water.

As we slowly meandered around the perimeter of the lake we were amazed at the wildlife. We first saw monkeys, then a laundry list of birds. A couple of different ibis birds with long beaks and several camimoran birds actively swimming and diving for food. We even saw one come up with a snake and eat it! After these birds are done swimming, they have to sun themselves on the shore with their wings spread out to dry their feathers before they can fly again.

Our guide took us back to the lodge via a 3-mile nature walk through the jungle (aka rain forest). It was awesome - at one point we saw a tree that was crawling with monkeys. It was like our own private monkey exhibit in nature. They were playing, jumping, and running around the canopy.

After lunch today we traveled 25 minutes down river to a series of hanging bridges. We climbed a 120 ft tower where we could see over the top of the canopy and out to the river. On our way up we spotted a mamma sloth in the tree with her baby. It was amazing to watch her hang onto the tree with her long claws, then incredibly enough she started to climb higher into the tree. It was amazing to watch her long arms reach up and grab the branches and the baby tightly hang on. We sat and watched her for several minutes. Afterwards we enjoyed our walk along several hanging bridges 80 feet above the jungle floor. Only one person could cross the hanging bridge at a time, we were assured that they were inspected at least twice a year.

Out guide, Leon is amazing. He’s thoughtful, reflective, and respectful of nature. He listens and looks and then gives us an opportunity to do so as well. This evening we went on a night nature walk in search of creepy insects. We found several scary and poisonous spiders and a long green caterpillar. At one point we turned off our flashlights and the dark was consuming, like being in a cave. We could not see the hands in front of our faces. We capped off our evening walk in an open area where we could see the stars - they were magnificent. The southern cross was amazing.

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.