When we arrived in Lima in the mid-morning, Brad and I went through customs and went to collect our bags. To our surprise, Brad’s bag had arrived but mine was missing. An agent collected my ticket information and went to look for it. Brad and I waited almost an hour before my bag was found and we were able to get through customs. When we walked outside of the baggage claim area, I was surprised to see SO MANY PEOPLE waiting for loved ones to walk through the door. No less than 20 steps away from the secure area, was a man offering to Brad to take our luggage into his taxi. Brad and I politely said no, then walked over to the check in area. In order to get to check-in, we had to walk outside the airport in one door and then the very next door you walk back inside into a secure check in area. The direct route from the exit of baggage claim to the check in area was secured by security officers so this is the only way to get in. After checking in, we went upstairs, used the restroom, and grabbed an empanada and some coffee for breakfast. The empanada was delicious and a far cry from the food we had in Buenos Aires. After coffee, we went through security and waited for our flight. This airport is a little different because they don’t announce your gate until an hour before your flight. I paced around the airport, pretty bored before our flight was called.
The flight to Cusco was uneventful. We sat next to a lady wearing a San Francisco Giants sweater. She is an older lady from Berkeley with a Seniors tour group about to go to Machu Picchu. We talked for a little bit, but I ultimately decided just to sleep on the plane. When we arrived in Cusco, the lady disembarked and a young man with a child took her seat. The child was coughing so I put my jacket over my head and face then fell asleep until we landed in Puerto Maldonado.
Upon arrival we grabbed our luggage, and were greeted by an Inkanterra representative. She reminded us that we could only bring a small bag with necessities to the lodge so we quickly pulled a travel bag out and grabbed threw our necessities into it before making our way onto the bus. The bus was about 50% full but had almost no leg room. Brad and I were the last on the bus so we had to turn sideways to fit in the seats. We were offered some cold water, which we graciously accepted and our journey began. The bus took us through the city of Puerto Maldonado which has a population of 85,000. The city reminded me a lot of some other Mexican cities I had visited earlier in my life, so I enjoyed the drive through the city and watching the construction, people, motorcycles, and tut-tuts roaming the street. When we stopped, we all hopped off the bus and headed down to the river to our motorized canoes. The canoe reminded me a lot of the “Jungle Cruise” at Disneyland, but with fewer large animals in the river. After a 40 minute canoe ride down the muddy Amazon river we arrived at our travel lodge. The air is hot and humid, but we were greeted with cold towels and some passion fruit juice to enjoy. After a quick safety discussion, we made our way to our cabin which is situated overlooking the river.
The cabin is a wood frame building with two walls of plaster adjoining the sleeping areas, and bathroom area. The main beds overlook the living quarters with a hammock and wooden chair on either side of the cabin entrance. A pull screen divides the two rooms for added privacy between the cabins, along with Mosquito netting over the bed. There is no air conditioning but there is running water which is nice. During our arrival safety orientation, the team told us that electricity would only be on from 6am-3:30pm and 6pm to 11pm every day. So charging of electronics is unlikely. We also were notified that there is no wifi or cell service out here. For me that’s all fine and dandy! After we threw our luggage down and used the restrooms, we headed back into the hall where lunch was served. Let me just tell you, the food here is SO GOOD. I’m absolutely in love with the cooking here. The first thing I ordered was chicken, and get this…. It’s palatable! I was able to cut it without needing a chain saw! The food is fantastic but just too much for one person. At cocktail hour Brad and I tried Pisco Sours which is a lemon-lime pisco drink which is strong but tastes nice. I like the regular pisco’s but the passion fruit pisco is my absolute favorite! YUMMY! They had a “learn to make a pisco” option which I tried so I felt like a bartender for a few minutes. Then, before I knew it, it was time for our tour.
Our tour for the evening is a riverboat tour of the Amazon at night. I was hoping that since we were so far away from the city that we would be able to see the stars; unfortunately it was to cloudy. I spent a good amount of time looking up and trying to spot some stars. I think I saw at most maybe four stars. The riverboat cruise wasn’t that adventurous because the most we could find were several cusco (mini-alligators) and an owl. We spent most of the cruise talking to the two Australian ladies on our boat: Jenny, and Loretta. They’re both from farm lands a few hours outside of Sidney so we had a blast talking to them about Antarctica. Apparently Loretta is going there later this month. We asked if she was taking Poseidon Expeditions, but she was unsure. At the end of the tour, we went back into the lodge where we had a delicious, albeit massive, dinner accompanied by two passionfruit pisco sours. Then it was bed time.
The cabin was already lit with lanterns when we returned, and to use the shower I had to put a flashlight on the door to see the inside enough. There was almost no hot water, so my shower became a cold shower pretty quickly and trying to distinguish between shampoo and condition in the dark is near impossible. I was just happy to be clean though. I spent an good amount of time brushing my teeth, removing the travel for two days off of them. To my surprise I realized I did not pack into the smaller bag: a hairbrush or PJ’s. I did pack a swimsuit, so I chose to use that as my PJ’s and I had to accept that my hair will likely be a rats nest by the end of our three nights here. I braided my hair the best I could to see if I could minimize the damage, and ran my fingers through what I could. This is going to be quite an interesting stay. I rolled into bed, dropped the mosquito netting around the bed and fell asleep to the sounds of birds chirping and the wind rustling.
