Tambopata to Lima

We were up early, yet again.  We quickly dressed and walked down to the boat by 5AM.  It was dark, and clouds had engulfed the jungle and the river.  However, we were finally heading home (only a day and a half to go).

We started down the river in the cold, misty morning.  About half an hour from the lodge, the engine broke down.  As one boatman took apart the engine trying to see what was wrong, the other pulled out an oar to adjust our coarse floating downriver through the branches and rocks that littered the river (luckily we weren’t trying to do this in dry season).  After about 20 minutes of trying different things, the motor finally sputtered into operation. Thankfully, we had left early.  We all sat there drowsy and quiet in the morning mist as the motor chugged in the background.

After about 10 minutes of powering down the river, Sheri gave out a high pitched scream.  She jumped up and rushed to the aft of the boat.  A large spider had started climbing over the railing next to the seat in front of her; the long legs were creeping over the edge.  Leon quickly jumped up and swatted it with his shoe, finally getting it to fall into the river.  Afterwards, he said it was a BrazilianWandering Spider (very poisonous); Sheri thought she saw something coming across the water while the motor was being fixed.  We were all awake now :)

At 7AM we finally made it to the mouth of the Heath River (where it merged with Rio Madre De Dios).  We forced the boat up a small stream, and one of the boatmen jumped off and tied it off to some shrubs.  He took the paperwork up to a Peruvian border station at Puerto Paldo, since we were now permanently in Peru (as opposed to balancing on the Peruvian/Bolivian border as the Heath River is defined).  We went ahead and had our pre-packed breakfast (pancakes, fruit, hard-boiled eggs).  After waiting for 10 minutes, the paperwork was resolved, and we were ready to go.  However, the motor wouldn’t start again.  It was another 10 minutes of tinkering with the motor and priming in more gasoline, before the motor finally churned to life.  We backed out into the river and were on our way upriver on the Rio Madre De Dios back to Puerto Maldonado.

The clouds cleared a little, but the river was mainly empty of other watercraft.  We made our way back to Puerto Maldonado without incident.  It was about 80 miles over five hours.  The boatman wedged our boat amongst all of the other boats. We disembarked and gave a tip to the boatmen who seemed suprised about getting anything. We hopped into a Inka Natura tourist van and went back to their business compound. We used the restroom, washed up, and collected our remaining bags.  Back in the tourist van, and off to the airport we went.  It was amazing seeing all of the motorcycles in Puerto Maldonado–the main mode of transportation.  Men, women, kids were all traveling around on motorcycles; it was amazing to see.  After about ten minutes, we made it to airport.  We quickly checked in, said goodbye to Leon and tipped him, and went to the waiting area for our plane.

We waited for an hour at the airport and finally our LAN flight was available.  We boarded and were off, rising above the jungle.  The LAN flight was wonderful as always–good leg room although all they give you for snacks is hard candy (no other food, no drinks).  We landed in Cusco, and we were back again.  We wondered around the airport looking for some lunch while waiting for our next flight to Lima.  After two hours, we boarded our flight to Lima.

We landed in Lima at 4 in the afternoon.  It was warm, and we had already been traveling for 12 hours.  We cleaned up and changed our clothes in the restroom at the airport, and then we checked our bags into baggage storage.  We went searching for a taxi.  The guidebook said that taxi prices were VERY flexible in Lima, and that it was a requirement to haggle.  The 40 sol fair went to 30 and finally to 25.  However, the driver who was assigned to us was hoping for a better fare, and after sitting in the taxi for 2 minutes and not going, we got out and made our way back through the lines of taxis.  A taxi passing asked if we needed a ride, and we said yes and negotiated for 20 sol to the Plaza de Armas.  We got in and off we went.

Our taxi driver wanted to practice his English, and he attempted to describe the sites in the sprawling city of Lima.  All of sudden he pulls into a gas station and tells us to get out.  We noticed that his hatchback area had a big tank, and we ultimately learned that it was a propane powered car.  The majority of cars in Lima seemed to be propane-powered (unlike the rest of taxis we had seen in Peru which were standard gasoline).  He refilled his propane, and then he continued on to Plaza de Armas.  Lima looked like an interesting city, with many interesting plazas and architecture–one square was completely surrounded by blue buildings… it was stunning.  Definitely the rush hour traffic in the Peruvian capital was worst we had seen.  As we got closer to the Plaza de Armas the roads were under construction and traffic was being re-routed.  Finally, we just told him to let us out, and we would walk the rest of the way to the plaza.  The plaza had an impressive fountain in the center, and it was ringed by old architecture.  The sun was setting, and numerous people were snapping photos of the reddish sky.

After walking through the pedestrian shopping area, we found another taxi and headed to Miraflores for dinner.  It was another circuitous journey across the city in heavy traffic as we closed in on the touristy Miraflores district.  The Parque Central was bustling with people, a lot of them snacking on the multitude of food carts sprinkled through the park.  We wondered around and found the restaurant which didn’t open until 7:30 (and might never open; at 6:30PM, the antique shutters and doors closed to the world). We decided to wait and see if it would ever open, so we found a cafe nearby where Sheri had a pisco sour and Larry had a mate de coca (as usual).  As we waited, we noticed that people were lining up outside the restaurant; we finished our drinks and joined them.

At 7:30, Astrid y Gastón opened.  The restaurant is run by Gastón Acurio, a celebrity chef that Sheri had heard of who also had opened a restaurant in San Francisco that she wanted to try.  We were going to have dinner in the bar since we didn’t have reservations, however, the hostess gave us the option to sit at a table as long as we were done by 9:30.  So… we took her up on the offer.  We were seated, and watched as the numerous waiters watched us and waited on our needs.  They brought some wonderful breads which we rapidly ate after not having a real meal all day.  Sheri had a suckling pig rib and chicken entree that was good; Larry had seared tuna with sweet potatoes three ways which was wonderful.  For dessert, we had a lemon tart and classic bonuelos. We finished, paid and went in search of a taxi.  Our driver took us past the coastline on the way back to the airport which had a lot less traffic, and the sea air was a nice change.  Ultimately, we decided we wished we had spent a day or two in Lima (to hell with the crime warnings), and enjoyed the restaurants, atmosphere, and beaches to be found there.

We got back to the airport, collected our bags from storage, checked-in to our flight, and went through security.  We did some final purchases, trying to get rid of the last of our Peruvian money.  We were going to buy water for the plane, but the merchant warned us that Delta would confiscate our bottled water, even though we were in a secure zone… damn them!  So… we finally made our way to the flight (where they did search our bags for liquids), boarded our plane for our midnight departure back to the US.  By noon tomorrow we would finally land in San Francisco–our vacation was over, however, we were both ready to be home.

Tambopata, Day Two

We got up at 5AM again today. We headed down to the dock motored down the Heath River. After about 15 minutes, we got out of the boat and started hiking down the path with Leon. After getting lost yesterday, it didn’t seem like the best idea, but the path was well-worn.

After walking about 20 minutes, we exited on the edge of a lake. There was a row boat filled with water that Leon proceeded to bail out. We got in, and he slowly paddled us along the river. We saw small caiman poking their eyes and snouts barely above the water. Leon paddled us along the quiet lake in the early morning as the sun rose.

We saw swarming pools of tadpoles stirring up the water. It was teaming with life which surrounded our boat. There were large birds, we asked Leon what kind of birds they were. They were “Big Birds”. We laughed to ourselves.

On the far side of the lake, we saw some howler monkeys whose screeches filled the quiet morning. We toured the lake and finally were back where we started. We exited the rowboat and hiked back to the Heath River. Our boat met us, and back we went to the lodge.

We had lunch.

Late in the afternoon, Leon met us in the huts for our trip to the Pampas. The wind was blowing and Leon wondered if we would have to cancel our trip because of the dangers of trees falling on us, but no such luck. We finally got to the edge of the Pampas after an hour of hiking, and the trail became a path of water and mud. Because Sheri’s boots were so short (only calf-length), she couldn’t walk through the middle of the puddles, so Leon slowly traipsed through the weeds along the edge of the path. It was slow going, but we finally made it to the big tree where they had a lookout platform with a wooden stairway built up to it. The sun was low in the sky, and we just wanted to get back to the lodge, so we took a few pictures and said we were ready to go (before Leon had a chance to relate how they were trying to save the Pampas). We picked our way back through the mud, and finally re-entered the jungle. The light was waning and we were soon ensconced in darkness. Leon took the lead, Sheri behind (trying to ignore the pitch black surroundings, focusing only on the flashlights), and Larry following. It was a fast march back to lodge ignoring the surroundings and darkness that enveloped us.

We finally made it back to the lodge. We left our muddy boots outside our hut, and went inside for a warm shower. We had dinner, more people were arriving, and then we went back to rest. We packed up for our early morning departure to head back to civilization tomorrow!

Tambopata, Day One

We were up early to leave for the bird blind at 5:30AM.  We woke up and shined our flashlights through our mosquito nets onto the floor to make sure there were no ants or spiders or scorpions awaiting an inadvertent misstep.  It was still dark outside while we dressed, but the day was already starting to brighten.  We met Leon and the others at the boat.  We motored upriver 20 minutes to an anchored, floating bird blind.  It was a big one-room cabin floating on the water with windows open towards the bank 50 feet away across the water.  Leon (our guide), Sheri and I were dropped off, and the boat headed back to the lodge.

It was silent until 6:30AM, when the birds started arriving.  It got very noisy as there were at least 100 birds in the trees above the far banks.  It was very busy as the birds moved from tree to tree.  Suddenly, the macaws were startled and they flew away.  There were still parrots and parakeets that slowly  descended lower and lower in the trees.  Finally, the birds landed in the clay, and started eating the dirt–the clay has some mineral  they don’t normally get in their diet.  At 7:30, the birds were startled and they all flew away.  Now there were NO birds in the bank across from the bird blind (and we weren’t going to leave until 8:30 or 9AM); silence permeated the jungle in stark contrast to what we had heard before.  We could hear birds upriver and downriver, but we were stranded in our little room.

We unpacked a breakfast that the lodge had pre-made for us.  The cold pancakes with a hint of orange were really good.  There were also hard boiled eggs, fruit, tea, and sandwiches.  Bees started showing up attracted by the food.  After sitting in relative silence for half an hour the macaws came back at 8AM.  They were vibrant reds and blues and yellows against the green canopy of the jungle.  Finally, they also alighted on the clay riverbank. It was an amazing sight as they intermixed with more parrots and parakeets feeding on the clay.  As we watched, we also saw a Laughing Falcon, a toucan, and numerous other types of birds.

Finally at 8:45 the boat came back.  It took us five minutes downstream where we would have a morning hike back to the lodge.  We headed off on the path.  Leon took us off-trail to stalk some wild pigs and monkeys.  We saw a large wild boar with big tusks cross the pass far ahead of us.  We were doubtful as Leon told us to set down our packs as we stalked them, “they’re agressive, and it’s better in case we need to run away from them”.  Leon had a machete, and we had cameras.  Something was wrong with this picture.  We got closer to the boars, and they ran away scared–too bad :)

We passed by a leaf covered with small red bugs.  We asked Leon what kind of bugs they were.  He answered, “They are B-U-G-S… Bugs.”  Sheri and I looked at each other and almost broke out laughing.  Well… that’s really useful. We realized yet again that we were on a Disneyland ride, Leon’s English was good as long as he stayed on script, but don’t ask any questions or you’ll probably get no response to your question :)

Ultimately, after looking for some monkeys, we realized that we were lost–LOST IN THE JUNGLE.  We had been off the trail for a while, and Leon was needing to constantly use the machete to keep forward progress.  We had to balance beam our way across two logs to cross two separate streams.  We we came to a third stream (without a log nearby), and after Leon tried to cut down a tree to make another bridge, he gave up and headed in a new direction.  We kept changing direction, trying to find a real path or at least the river, but had no success.  After an hour of searching, in the mud and occasional rain, we finally made it to a trail.  After starting in one direction, he then turned us around as he realized the right direction.  At noon we finally made it back to the lodge; our 2 hour trip took more than 3 hours.  We were exhausted.  We showered and rested before lunch.

We had lunch in the lodge, and there were only three of us there to eat.  It was beef in an Asian style sauce with fried sweet potatoes.  It was very good after our tiring morning hike.  We let Leon pick what our next activity was going to be–going to a small town in the afternoon.  We went back and relaxed in our cabana.

At 3:30, Leon came by to take us to the village.  A light drizzle was happening, and we had hoped that he was going to cancel the afternoon outing.  We dressed and rushed down to the boat.  It was an hour downriver to the small village.  We exited the boat and immediately 10 kids met us (we were the novelty for the day).  We climbed a long set of stairs up the embankment to the community.  The village was merely about twenty buildings surrounding a big field, a big soccer field.  Leon toured us around telling us about the 200 people that lived here.  The community looked like it was mainly comprised of kids, and he confirmed that having big families was very common.  We visited the school where the children were taught Spanish, Esau (local language) and some English.  We saw an animal jawbone in the mud as we wondered around the community.  The tourists were a big attraction for the day.  It was interesting to see more solar panels (for their lights and radios) in yet another part of the country; it’s amazing how many solar panels we saw in our Peruvian travels.  They showed us some handmade jewelry, mainly made out of seeds and pigs teeth.  We bought a necklace and then left.

It was dark on our return trip.  The boatmen shone lights on the banks as we passed.  We saw the glowing eyes of several caiman lurking in the murky waters.  Fishing bats erratically flew past our boat.  We saw two tapirs swimming at the river’s edge, and then they rushed out of the water and into the brush.  We continued to see more families of copibaris (the world’s largest rodent); there are lots at the end of the rainy season, not so many after the jaguar and anaconda have their way during the dry season.  Leon said he saw an ocelot, but no one else saw it, as he stopped the boat and scanned the bank with his flashlight.

We got back to the lodge, and it was still only the two of us.  We had a chicken and potatoes for dinner.  We then headed to bed early, since we would be getting up early again tomorrow for a lake tour–leaving at 5AM :(

Arequipa to Tombopata

We got up early and checked out of the nice hotel. The hotel packed us sandwiches which we took with us to the airport.
We took the taxi, and headed to the airport (easy commute in the early morning).
We were stopped at the guard shack at the airport and then headed to check-in.
We paid the airport tax and headed to the plane. We finally got an unobstructed view of the volcanoes that surround Arequipa that were next to the airport runway.

We headed off in the early morning and flew back to Cusco. We waited at the airport for an hour and a half. We tried the cheese sandwiches that the hotel had made us, however, they weren’t good, so we grabbed some snacks at a coffee shop. We paid yet another airport departure tax and headed out on the plane to Puerto Maldonado.

We laneded in Puerto Maldonado, and when we got off the plane, we were immediately hit with the humidity of the Amazon. We were finally at sea level, but not it was hot and sticky.
We were met at the airport and taken by bus to the check-in area. We met our guide, Leon, who explained the town as we were taken to the compound. The streets were filled with motorcycles, it seemed like everyone was on a motorcycle (a lot without helmets).

We got to the compound. We dropped off half our luggage, and then picked out wader boots. Sheri’s were kids size (barely going to the half of her calf), while Larry’s went to his knees. We grabbed some water and headed back to the van. It was quick ride to the boat. We met the driver and the assistant, and pushed off from the dock.

We headed down the Rio Madre De Dios. The clouds were looming in the sky as we headed down the wide river. We saw a lot of birds, but it quickly became monotonous, with even few boats on the river. Leon brought out our lunch. Sheri’s was vegetarian (and grilled veggie wrap), while Larry had a Chifa (Peruvian Chinese food) of a wrap with meet and vegetables in an asian sauce. It was tasty.

We finally got to Bolivia. Our boatman quickly switched the flag so that we were flying under the Bolivian flag–less problems I guess. The Bolivian Border Check-point was a small hut on the riverbank. They grabbed our passports and checked us into Bolivia.
We then started heading up the Heath River which is the border between the two two countries. Immediately we saw a large white cayman basking on the bank. We headed up the Heath River. We saw several families of capybara, the world’s largest rodent. They looked like sheep sized guinea pigs.

We finally arrived at the Heath River Lodge. There were about 15 huts spread along the lodge area. We went to our hut, which was two beds covered by the required mosquito netting. We took a shower, and finally had continuous hot water (after many showers of lukewarm water) due to the huts personal hot water heater.

We went to dinner and met several other people who had been at the lodge several days already (and were leaving tomorrow). They talked about almost stepping on a poisonous snake, and we started wondering about our stay in the jungle. We sat with Leon, and an empty place setting for Jay (who was already in Miami). Dinner was good, but we were ready for bed. We took our flashlights and headed back to our hut.