After a weekend with the Kringels (including Ever's graduation ),
we headed for Lima at midnight, Monday, June 6 -- an eight-plus hour non-stop flight on LATAM airline. Arrived in Lima about 10 am. It's cloud-covered most of the year, and the coast is a desert. No pictures. Hung out at the hotel at the airport all afternoon -- too tired to try to do anything else. Besides, wouldn't have known what to do. The airport area in Callao is not a good location for wandering around, we were told. The rest of the tour group arrived late that night. We took off early the next morning (June 8) for Puerto Maldonado in the Amazon basin. Once we got above the clouds, we could see the Andes.
After landing, we left our bags in storage and took small carry-ons to the river.
We boarded our boats and headed down the river for a 20 minute ride to our jungle lodge. We were told the elevation here was only about 600 feet above sea level. After flying over the Andes -- and our stopover at Cusco at 11,000 feet en route -- it was hard to imagine that the bulk of South America was so flat. If the rivers only drop 600 feet while flowing 2,500 miles or so, it's no wonder they are wide, deep and slow moving!
Our home for the next two nights:
Did a jungle walk in the afternoon. It was most interesting to see that the jungle isn't much different that our Hawaii jungle. Many of the same trees and plants
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to load my camera pictures -- only the ones from my iPhone. After dinner, we took an evening ride down the river looking for copybara and cayman. Saw a few of each. The next morning week saw these macaw and a parrot at the lodge.
After breakfast we headed over to monkey island. The monkeys like bananas, so come for treats.
After monkey island, we ate on the boats and headed back into the jungle for a trek to Lake Sandoval.
Saw several walking palms.
And some ants.
In the canoe on the way to the lake.
We were fortunate to have cool weather. It had been 90 degrees the day before we arrived. But we were greeted with a cold wind from the Andes and temperatures in the high 60s. Perfect!
Early the next morning, we went into the jungle to see parrots feeding on a clay bank.
It was a nice sunny morning as we headed back to Puerto Maldonado.
Saw several cayman along the way.
Back to the Golden Gate.
Had a few minutes to walk through the local markets.
Then back to the airport where we said goodbye to our jungle guides before flying off to Cusco.
'Twas a nice way to start our adventure. Stay tuned for more.
