Fri–Mon June 21st to June 24th Posadas Amazonas Part 3

The final day we took some additional pictures of our lodge.  During breakfast a group or these smaller monkeys dropped by to see us off.

We went back down river by boat and then back to the main office on the bus, to re-cross the old bridges.  We spent a few hours in the town of Puerto Maldonado, including a nice lunch in a local restaurant (three light lunches and two drinks for 21 sols (about 8 dollars). 

We spend a few hours in the town of Puerto Maldonado, including a nice lunch in a local restaurant (three light lunches and two drinks for 21 sols (about 8 dollars).  We are now in the airport, still hot and humid, waiting for our plane to Lima, which is running late.  We have had a great trip, with many amazing sites, and lots of wonderful people, but we are anxious to get home.   Thank you for following our blog.

Fri–Mon June 21st to June 24th Posadas Amazonas Part 2

 

We went to the McCaw clay lick one day and seven birds showed up, which apparently was a great sighting.

We were taken to the local Sharman (blue shirt), who described the different medicinal plants, how to prepare them, and effects of the plants. That was followed by a night jungle walk where we observed this walking stick, and many spiders.

The most impressive sight on the walk was the leaf eater ants.    If it were not for the sections of leaves moving, you might not have noticed them.  They were marking in a strip about 10 inches in width that stretched for at least 50 yards in each direction, and we did not see the end.   The second picture is a close up of the first, where you can see the ants in more detail.  We also had some nice sunset views from the boats as we returned to the lodge.

Sunday we walked  through a lot of mud, and hot humid jungle to go to the parrot clay lick.   There were two parrots there, but they quickly left and none returned.   We than  went to see the Capo tree, the largest tree in the area, also called the mother tree. Luis, our guide, is standing at the base.  Can you find him?  At one point Luis had us look at a small insect, which we soon realized was a snake about three feet from us on a parallel but reverse course.    It is a constrictor, which I estimated at about six feet long.

Ryan was invited to join in the lodge staff versus lodge guides football (soccer) game.   They played real hard core soccer, and Ryan hung in there.   The game included a mud trap at one end of the field.   While they were playing, this howler monkey moved over to watch.  It was probably a sixty pound animal.   The howlers create an unearthly, very loud, low pitched rumbling sound that sounds like a heavy equipment motor running in the distance.

Please continue to part three for the last of our pictures.

Fri–Mon June 21st to June 24th Posadas Amazonas Part 1

 

Today we flew from Cusco in the Andes to Puerto Maldonado in the Amazon Rain Forest.   Puerto Maldonado is a small town built on the demand for rubber during world war II.   The following photos show us flying in, taking a rickety old bus for a 45 minute trip (this is one of the old bridges we crossed) and then hopping on a boat, with boats being our only transportation for the rest of the visit, other than our feet.

 

On the boat they provided us with lunch in a leaf, a delicious rice dish with mushrooms,egg, onion. Upon our arrival we found our room, with our private bath.  The room is three bamboo walls, the fourth wall is open, kind of like sleeping on an open porch.  During dinner the staff unfolds the nets over our beds.

We finished the day with a hike to the 120 foot tall tower, which was just barely enough to get above the tops of most trees.  It was a slog up the 185 steps.  The bird is a jungle turkey.

The next day started with a 4:30am breakfast followed by a bat trip and hike to an oxbow lake.   we rode on pontoon boats, powered and directed by a single oar in the stern.    At one point we were a on Ryan powered boat.  We saw lots of birds, looked for river otters, but never saw them, and went piranha fishing.  Here is Ryan with one of the catches.

We saw McCaws in flight.   Over the four days we saw a number of tarantulas like this one, as well as a number of termite nests like this one.

Please continue to part two for the next portion of the visit.

Wed & Thur June 19-20th Machu Picchu

We took a bus from Cusco up the Sacred Valley, where we caught the train to Aguas Calientes, the little town at the foot of Mount Machu Picchu.    We arrived at 9:50am, and as soon as we arrived we were whisked off by our guide to tour Machu Picchu.  There were five of us on the tour and it was really great.  The clouds and mists added to the mysterious atmosphere.  We also experienced the occasional rain shower and sun.  The curved building in the last photo is the sun temple.

 

The following day we arose early to go up to Machu Picchu for sun rise, arriving by 6:15 a.m.  High clouds obscured the view of the sunrise but other hand, it was clear during our visit and we had a mystical time.  Machu Picchu is truly a must see site.

We were scheduled to take a 3:30pm train back to the Sacred Valley and then a bus to Cusco, but there was a landslide on the track and no trains could arrive or leave until about 7:30pm.  Of course about 1,000 other passengers were also stranded and unable to return to Cusco as well as about that many on the other end trying to arrive in time for the winter solstice.  As we write this, the trains are moving, we are on our train, and ready to to start the four hour journey back to Cusco, but the train is still sitting in the station and it is 9:10pm.  So we probably won’t be to our hotel until after 1:30am.  We actually got in about 2 am and fell into exhausted sleep.  Up early again and ready to begin the next leg of our trip to the Amazon rainforest.

Tue June 18th Peru’s Sacred Valley

 

Today we headed off on the Sacred Valley Tour.   The Sacred Valley is between Cusco and Machu Picchu and is filled with ancient Inca sites.

The first town we visited was Pisac.  The terraces the Inca’s built for farming are incredible.   The buildings would have all had thatched angled roofing, similar to what you see in the photos.   The thatched roofs would have been supported by the stone walls and secured with ties to protruding stones.   Where replicas have been established, they have to be replaced every 5-10 years.

  

 

The second ancient town was Ollantaytambo.  Here we climbed the terraces shown in the first of the following photos, and yes, we made it all the way to the top!!  Luis, our guide arranged for us to be greeted by a spectacular rainbow when we reached the top. We also saw a lot of the incredible stone work.   Look at the angles in the rocks shown in the next three photos.   We ended the day with a demonstration of how the Peruvian women dye and weave wool into great designs.  It was interesting to note that the red comes from a parasite that lives on prickly pear cactus and when crushed is red pigment.  Other dyes come from plants and minerals.  We got back to Cusco quite late and were tired so were unable to appreciate the ambiance of Paddy’s Pub, the worlds highest Irish pub.  It was crowded and noisy and we had a quick meal and retired to our room to be ready for a very, very early Wednesday.