Lake Titicaca
After another night in chilly conditions in Puno and almost all day on the bus, we were back to Cusco. It was time to see something completely different and we bought air tickets to Puerto Maldonado, a city in the Amazon forest. The flight was only half an hour, but what a drastic change from the cold and dry mountains to hot and humid subtropics! We boarded the plane in wool sweaters and stripped to shorts and t-shirts when we landed.
We booked a cabin at Eco Amazonia lodge which is in the middle of the ecological reserve on the Madre de Dios River, a tributary of the Amazon. After 2 hours on the boat we reached the lodge and were greeted with complementary drinks.
Our cabin consisted of a raised wooden platform with a roof. Instead of solid walls it had fine metal mesh. That was all that separated us from the Amazon jungle. The bathroom in the cabin had walls and cold running water but there were no other amenities like electricity. We wondered what we were going to do after the sunset. The dining hall was in a separate building with its own power generator and it was the only place in Eco Amazonia that had electricity.
After a hearty lunch, a group of us was taken to Monkey Island. It is a real island, a few minutes from the lodge populated by monkeys. Nobody knows how the monkeys got there because they do not swim. Now the monkeys live on the island like in a natural zoo and cannot leave it.
Our guide knew every monkey on the island, he talked at length about their habits and I felt like I was going to die. The complementary drink contained some alcohol, plus the sudden change in climate and altitude, and it was just too much for me in one day. I could barely move my legs to follow the guide. We returned to the lodge for dinner, but the day was not over yet.
A short break and we were led to a boat again, this time to watch caimans at night. It was completely dark and our guide used a flashlight to show us the caimans. My husband decided to have a better look at them. He got up from his seat, the boat lost its balance and we almost went into the river to become the caimans’ meal of the day. He managed to sit down just in time to stop everyone from falling into the river and the boat righted itself. Nobody said a word but gave my husband a meaningful glance.
When we returned to the cabin we found that someone placed a lit hurricane lamp at the door. We brought the lamp inside and noticed quite a few bugs around despite the mesh. The lamp did not provide enough light for reading. We blew it out, decided not to worry about the bugs and went to bed. The jungle around us was teeming with life. Night birds were signing, animals moving, trees soughing under a gentle wind. With the mesh for walls, it felt like we were sleeping right in the jungle. That was unforgettable.
