So I went off line for less than 72 hours and the world completely changed in my absence. The Canadian political picture was completely redrawn and Bin Laden was killed. Sheesh. Did not see that coming. I'd say I feel like I missed out but truthfully I was witnessing some pretty cool, if not exactly world altering, things myself.
Sunday morning we got up at the crack of dawn and went to the airport for our flight to puerto Maldonado. As concerned as I was about the upcoming heat, I was glad to leave the altitude behind. Turns out the heat was a non-factor as they heard I was coming and turned the thermostat down for my arrival. A cold front from the south blew in the night before, And by cold front I mean I was only sweating profusely and not incessantly. Jk. It was actually near perfect weather, delightfully warm and pleasantly humid 24 hours a day, and the only time I broke a sweat was in one particularly muggy portion of the jungle hikes we did. At least that's how we canadiens found the weather. The local guides were quite chilled with the 20 degree heat. :)
Our sojourn into the jungle began with a 45 minute bus ride on very rough roads to rio tambopata,a "small" tributary of the amazon river that's at least twice as wide and deep as the bow in Calgary, if not thrice, and runs through 2000 kms of Amazonian basin before feeding into the big boy en route to the pacific. It's hard to grasp how vast the amazon basin really is from that vantage point, but we did get a taste of it's granduer on the 3 hour boat ride up river to the jungle lodge.
The lodge itself was incredible. Built in the middle of nowhere in the "buffer zone" between a few small (and nearly invisible) fruit farms and the tropical reserve, it had a large central dinning and lounge hall with 24 rooms branched off in 4 separate board walks from the middle hub. All wood, open air construction with thatched roofs, completely surrounded with dense amazon forest, the setting was surreal and magical. Each guest room was rectangular with 3 walls, which of course means it was one short of the complete set, and this was the vital one that would normally be between the sleeping patron and the wild jungle. It made for incredible ambience however. From underneath the covers and safety of a mosquito net, which I presume would magically stop jaguars and anacondas also, one could listen to all the sounds of the rain forest while drifting off to sleep, or watch the jungle come to life as the sun rose in the morning. My first night falling asleep is a memory I will never forget, especially after blowing out the candles and after the staff came by to turn off the remaining kerosene lamps (there was no electricity except for a few hours each evening in the central lodge). It was so dark, I literally couldn't tell the difference between my eyes being open or closed.
Humoursly, the bathrooms were also missing the majority of the 4th wall, which would have made for some funny showering if (a) one chose to brave the lack of hot water and (b) someone else chose to brave the forest and stroll around that side.
I realize this may have sounded primitive to some, but let me assure you, it was pure luxury. The food was to die for, the climate more comfortable than any air conditioned room I've ever felt, and the atmosphere so soothing and relaxing I could have dozed off at any point without warning. I could have sat immersed in any of the activities we did for many more hours and hardly noticed the time pass.
Said activities involved, other than transportation to and from the lodge, a night walk, a canopy tower climb, a canoe trip around an oxbow lake, and a visit to one of the fruit farms where we sampled as much fresh fruit as we could handle straight off the trees. Oranges, lemons, starfruits, cocoa beans, super spicy peppers, something that tasted like a pumpkin and mango combined, and my favorite, a "cousin" of the cocoa bean that had flesh which was delicious and sweet on the outside, and as sour as the sourest candy you've ever tasted in near the bean. Not a one of us was able to eat the entire one. Our guide also pointed out several tradition medicine plants at the farm and on our walks, most of which I have no hope of remembering, but two of which stand out. The first was something they used as an anesthetic, which he gave us a small peice of a leaf each and told us chew on but not swallow. After a few seconds, I couldn't feel my tongue for several minutes. :). The second was a dragons breath tree, white and tall like a birch, but when given a small nick with his knife it bled exactly like a human. The blood like sap was really good for healing open wounds, he explained as he smeared some on my skin. Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and I feel like I learned a great deal from him. Brazil nut trees, iron wood trees, rubber trees, banana plants, yucca, sometype of plant that was the basis of acytomeniphine, etc, he pointed out and described each to us as we passed by each. Sometimes I worry that I've seen too much and there's nothing left that's really new anymore, so to see and taste new fruits I never knew existed was a tremendous treat.
Among the vegetation we also so a lot of animals, more than most groups we were told. Three caymans (crocs), toucans, two types of monkeys (and heard many others), capybaras and another type of rodent I can't remember but understood it to be the only one that can crack a brazil nut, and more birds and bugs than I can count. To be honest, I expected the bigs to be far worse than they were. I didn't get a single bite, and found the squimitos to be fewer and easier to deal with than on the Canadian prairies. We did see hunter ants, fire ants (our guide had been bit by one and said he was unable to walk for a week), army ants, and leaf cutter ants (which were increibly cool to watch), as well as some spiders. Mostly hunter spiders, which were surprisingly easy to spot at night as their eyes reflect your flashlight much like a deer In The headlights back home. No tarantulas, although I already saw one of those in ollantaytambo. The prized spotting though was a boa constrictor, 2 meters long, on our first night in the jungle. hanging from a branch. in "attack" position. Right above our path. Even our guide was excited as he hadn't seen one in 2 years, and he spends more than 20 days a month in the bush. And yes, we did walk right under it, crouching to avoid springing the trap. Even though it started to slither away by the time I passed, it's tail was still just inches from my back, and I'm shuddering just thinking about it. VERY COOL.
My personal favorite moment though was spotting the hepatitis b monkey, which of course isnt it's real name, but is the kind from which hep b antibodies was developed (kinda cool realizing all the medical discoveries that come, or will come, from here) and thats all I can remember about it. These little guys are tiny, as small as 450 grams, so unlike the the other larger monkeys you can hear moving in the trees, you rarely get to see these ones. The guides are remarkable at spotting things in the wild, often pointing out things for 5 minutes before I can finally find it despite being told exactly where it is. But these little guys were sitting quietly in the trees above the pass and our entire group, including the guide, would have walked right by them except That I noticed them. Pure luck likely, but I like to think I'm just that good in the wild. :) They were hilarious to watch because they'd just stare back at us before jumping silently between trees that were three or four times further apart than they were tall.
Oh speaking of medical plants, they had one out there called the "get up, get up" plant (in Quechua language I can't remember). Shamans use this to make a concoction for men with, Uhm, trouble getting up. Haha. We even broke folded a leaf in half, hearing it crack, them watched as it retook it's form!
Anyway, pics and videos of all that will follow upon my return. Suffice it to say for now, it was an amazing experience. Sadly, only four of our group, and four from anothe gap group hose to partake, which is too bad because I would have traded the rest of the trip for that 48 hours, it was that good! The only downside was that we were joined at the lodge by the cast of jersey shore. Well, not really, but the probably could have been. The big sunglasses, designers clothes, and smokes (or tabaco and other types) seemed out of place in the jungle, and the volume impeded the ambience a wee bit when they were around.
Today was a long day back to Lima, with a chance to shower and shave finally, before heading out for one last meal with our new friends from Calgary, Graham and Taylor, who were the only ones of our group doing the same itinerary as Katherine and I. Tomorrow is our last day in Peru. We fly out at midnight tomorrow night and arrive 12 hours later in Calgary.
24 more hours. Time to go make the most of it. Which of course means going to bed for now :)
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