24th October
We woke up at 4:30. Sandy woke up to the alarm I set and then woke me up. We finished our last minute packing. Stacy made us breakfast. I got a fruit bowl with pistachios and tea. Yum. Juan was there on time at 5:30 to take us to the airport. However, he took us to the beach to give us the preview before we return next weekend!
The airport is so picky. They have two areas to enter for domestic flights. However, they are not marked, so we were waiting in one line only to be requested to go to the next one. Then folks did not have their itineraries out so they were not allowed to enter. Thankfully, we are prepared and were let in. Once we were in, it took an hour to get our tickets. We were rushed to security. My bags were both small enough to carry on. Wohooo!!!! We went to our gate and waited for a little bit. We thankfully departed on time. There was a brief detour in Cusco. Interesting, it only took an hour to Cusco. When we were researching, it told us 2 hours. We waited 15 minutes and in 30 minutes we were in the Amazon (again our research claimed it would be an hour- I roll my eyes at the accuracy of online searching-the joys of backpacking).
When we landed our guide was there! His name is John. There were two other groups he was picking up. One from England and 1 from France. John's dad loved John Wayne movies and hence named his son after him. John asked if I knew Spanish and Sandy said a little, and he said he knows a little English and we laughed because I said I know a little Spanish (in Spanish). However, he is very good at speaking in English. On the bus I heard a guide speak in French. I thought I was really going crazy, but then John confirmed it. We ended up calling the French the "oui oui!" When we got to the office, they asked about food allergies- I was accomodated in every regard. They used coconut milk instead of any other milk. I was always asked if I was ok. It was great. Our hut was so lovely. It had mosquito nets though I did not feel the necessity of one. We only had elecricity for a few hours in the morning and then again in the evening. Each guide was assigned a group and the group was requested to sit together during meals.
En route (the drive over) to the management office, we saw a bridge that cnnects the Amazon area to Brazil and Cusco. After the management office, we took a boat ride down the Amazon to our huts. We arrived at 12:00. Lunch was at 13:00. We wanted to buy our train tickets to Machu Picchu so we ran a little late. We are going to leave the morning of the 27th and return the afternon of the 28th. Our group was understanding of us being late.
We got lemonade! It was different because the lemon was just squeezed- completely fresh.
At 15:15 we met again to take a walk in the forest. John is very funny and knowledgeable of the plants, animals, etc in the forest. I found this very interesting. There is a type of flower that closes in on a bug when it lands on their petals which then kills the bug. Then he showed us a tree that survives because fire ants live in it. We also saw a tree that smells of garlic and has healing remedies to it. John said that scientists are trying to replicate this in a green house; John said htat this is not possible because in the forest, many leaves fall on the tree or other plants grow around it, etc... this causes a symbiosis- a chemical reaction that creates the scents or natural medicines. These remedies are what indigenous peple used for healing. However this is not eaily replicable in the current scientific world. These are a few of the many things that we learned. These few things stood out for me. We got about a 1-2 hour break after the jungle tour. At 18:15 we all departed on the boats. People were tilting the boats because they all came in at once. Some even fell. That evening we saw the white cave man and the dragn alligator. Since they are noctornal we had to be extremely quiet. After the boat ride, we came in for dinner. I learned that our group (John, Joel, Martha all play music together and generally travel 1-2 months traveling. John (the father) and I got along. He used to play the cello. There was so much to see and learn, but those things were stuck out. After the boat ride, John showed us tarancholas!!! So cool. Dinner time- since I could not have the mango ice cream, I received just the fruit.
John planned out who we would be with tomorrow. Good bye John. He was an awesome guide.
25th October
This AM, we met up with Juan. Juan took us to the clays. It is amazing, because here you can find, parrots, parakeets, ad Makots. They come to eat the clay because when they eat, they eat unriponed fruit. To help manage the acidity, they eat clay. Now in order for them to eat the clay, the clay must be god and it must be a safe place. So one bird is pushed into the area and if it is not harmed, then the area is safe. There are always a few keeping watch at the top of trees. Juan also showed us a leaf that when mixed with water, it becomes a natural diye. This one was red, he put some on my cheek and it stayed all evening. We returned to a small break. We had tea, coca tea! at 7:30 was breakfast. And, then we departed. The boat ride back reminded me of my boat adventures with Master Stout. I fell asleep. We toured the markert and went to the airport. The airport was small, 2 lines 1 security line. We were it that morning, so we just slid though! I got passion fruit this morning :D D
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