Peru ~ Part 3 The Amazon Region

For the last part of our trip we traveled to Iquitos, Peru and the Amazon region.  Iquitos is a land lock city – you can only get there by boat or plane – it is completely surrounded by jungle.  It was quite an adjustment with temperature, from in the 60s in Cusco to the 90s & very humid in Iquitos.

Our guide took us to the local market before traveling up the Amazon.  It had a little bit of everything the local people eat, grow, raise and catch.

We had to take about a 3 hour boat ride up the Amazon and Tahuayo River to get to our lodge.  The Amazon river is such an immense river that in the low season (which we traveled in) it is roughly 90 feet deep.  The river is very brown probably due to all the sediment and has a lot of debris in it such as trees, logs and garbage.  We saw large barges carrying logs, gasoline and other supplies along with many locals traveling by riverboats.

We stopped at a small village along the way to stretch our legs.   The locals were serving up lunch for the locals traveling on the river – everything looks good to eat.

After a bit more travel up the Amazon we started up the Tahuayo River otherwise known as the Black River to our lodge.  We passed a few villages along the way where many of the kids were playing in the water.  We saw many fisherman in small boats as we traveled upstream.

Our lodge was amazing!  We stayed at the Tahayo Lodge and I highly recommend it.  We had a private guide assigned to us and a very nice room during our stay.  You can choose from a variety of activities to do with your days there.  Notice the high water line on the lodge’s support poles.  We came during the dry season but had thunderstorms every day and saw the river rise daily.

We decided one of the activities we wanted to do was go looking for monkeys.   We got up very early and luckily we saw a family of pygmy marmoset monkeys which are the smallest monkeys in the world.  We continued to walk for another 2 hours and saw nothing else.  I did get bit by a fire ant and it really hurt!  We enjoyed our trek through the jungle.

Later in the afternoon we went to visit a local Shaman, Pachquita for a jungle blessing and an education on the traditional plant medicines.

After visiting Pachquita we went to the small village to meet the locals and purchase some handicrafts.  It was a eye opener in how people live in the jungle.  We went to a local family’s home and purchased some handicrafts from them.  Their house consisted of two areas ~ one large open area and a smaller area in the back which served as the cooking area.  I asked where they sleep since I didn’t see any beds and they sleep on the floor with blankets ~ no beds.  And no bathrooms or running water or a modern stove.  It really gives meaning to being poor.  The people were all very nice and welcoming and appreciative of anything the tourist purchased as that helped feed their family or repair their home.

Today was my birthday and the cook was nice enough to make me a cake.  What a great way to celebrate my birthday!

The next day we went piranha fishing.  I was the master fisherwoman of the day!  I caught 11 of the 21 fish caught and their were 5 of us fishing.  When you fish you use a stick with fishing line tied to it and a piece of meat on the hook.  It is more challenging than you think!  I caught piranha, a dollar fish, a talking catfish and a fish from the bass family.  It took Ben most of the morning to catch a piranha and he was so happy!  After getting back to the lodge they cooked up the fish and we shared our catch with everyone.

After lunch we traveled up the Blanco River to see Dorilla, a wooly monkey.  She was a pet but decided to climb on top of the screened dining room and pee on people and their food.  She then went to live with a local family and knocked over their kerosene lamp and burnt down their house.  Now she lives across the river from the village where tourists stop to see and feed her on their way back from the valley of the poison dart frogs.

Later this night we went on a night walk through the jungle looking for creepy crawlies.  We found some!  It is a bit spooky to walk through the jungle in the dark – I made sure not to brush up against any trees so I didn’t get a hitchhiker of any sort.

While staying at the lodge I came down with a terrible upper respiratory infection.  I rallied most of the days but on the last full day of our stay I was really sick and did nothing but lay around and pray for cooling rain in the hot, humid weather.  I did not have a decongestant with me but I will always pack one wherever we go.  Ben went on the canopy zip line.  He wasn’t feeling too well this morning but went anyway.  The views of the canopy look amazing!

As a farwell to the guests the cooks prepare a cake – which is very good.  We really had a great experience at the lodge and I wish I was feeling better to have done more activities.  We had a great guide, Anselmo who was very knowledgeable of all the flora and local knowledge.

We traveled back on the Amazon and some some river dolphins and some people saw the pink dolphins.  It was a beautiful day to travel down the Amazon river.

I hope everyone enjoyed the pictures!  If you would like to talk about traveling to Peru in the future please feel free to contact me.