Our journey began with a flight from Lima to Iquitos. From there, we were met by our tour guide who took us through the village and the market to the Amazon River. We then hopped on a boat for a 45-minute ride up the river into the jungle, where we unloaded at the dock of our accomodations.
The Amazon Rainforest Lodge was great. While we didn´t spend much time there, it was a great base of operations. However, the pillows were too hard. Though, staying in the middle of the jungle that´s probably a pretty trivial concern.
Anyway, it was night time when we finally completed our motor boat ride to the cabin. It is summer in Lima, but for some reason, the temperature in the jungle was very mild. They said it was because it is winter in the Amazon. I´m not sure how we went 1 hour by plane and crossed 2 entire seasons, but I guess I´ll take the word of the natives... Regardless, it was cool when we docked at the lodge. There was a toucan on the railing of the walkway to our room. Since it was night, we couldn´t see very well and thought it was decorative, until it turned its head.
After unpacking our things we explored the ¨compound¨there was a pool room in a hut by the pool so we played a round before dinner. After winning a game against Vanessa, we explored a little more until we heard the drums summoning us to dinner at the dining hut.
The dining hut was arranged buffet-style with chicken and some random exotic meat (Vanessa is out at the moment or I´d ask her what it was that night...). There were vegetables and fruits, coffee, juice, and tea. Since it´s the jungle, you can´t really do much in the way of sightseeing at night, obviously, so we finished our meal and retired to the room. We weren´t quite ready for sleep, so we turned on the television and explored the satelite television stations. Yes, I know, we´re in the jungle watching ¨Bandits¨on satelite television... It was hilarious, but then if you think about it, all you need is a power generator and a dish to get signals from the ¨civilized¨world. The stars were bright in the sky and it was mostly cloudless, so we got great reception. ;)
The next 8 hours were awful however. The pillows were too hard and since we only had screens for windows (normally charming, until it´s time to sleep...) there was nothing to buffer us from the natural noise polution of the jungle. Lousy birds and bugs chirping and chiming in unison, but just discordant enough to prevent rest. A little of that was surely the uncertainty of staying in the Amazon, hundreds of miles from a high-tech medical facility and potable water... but we ended up surviving the night.
The following morning, we got up for breakfast and a hike through the jungle. Our guide pointed out all sorts of flora and fauna. Luckily, we didn´t see too much more than birds and bugs on the fauna side. Random not-so-friendly animals include the anaconda, jaguar, puma, and Michael Jackson (a crazy monkey we met in one of the villages).
We leave for Florida tomorrow and I should have all our photos from the trip and more from our second adventure up sometime late Thursday, so keep an eye out!
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