Amazon Adventures Part 2!

If you are following along with my blogs, you will remember that I left off on a boat in the middle of the river with a captain who was asleep!!! Not ideal at all. Well…the ‘capitan’ woke up enough to get us to our destination, and things started to turn around in the jungle. We were on our way to Lake Sandoval, and we needed to hike through the jungle for an hour to find our canoes. We trekked along an elevated wooden platform that had slats at varying distances apart. You had to pay attention and skip over the rotten ones while avoiding the really big cracks. Every so often, our trek was complicated further by having to jockey around locals pulling carts weighted down with big sacks of Brazil nuts heading towards town. It was cool to see the source of these beloved nuts! We didn’t want to step off the path as there were huge tarantulas that Jorge coaxed out of their homes, termite nests, wolf spiders, tree frogs and poisonous centipedes. I’m confident there was a whole slew of other dangerous things lurking nearby that Jorge didn’t bother to show us, too!!! After this first adventure, we arrived at the canoes, which we found flooded from the previous night's torrential rain. Twenty minutes of bailing by the “canoe wrangler” left us with a reasonably dry, 20-foot-long jungle boat. Jorge navigated the longboats through the river's narrow swampland channel out onto Lake Sandoval, which was an oxbow lake (meaning it used to be part of the river).

Jorge was very experienced in the jungle. Before he became a guide, he was a ranger in Tambopata Park. He pointed out birds and animals by sound, and we felt assured that he would make up for any lack of confidence we had earlier on the boat. He pointed out Black Caiman, interesting birds and river otters munching on fish. (It was our lucky day as he had not seen the otters in a month). Jorge told us about the land, native peoples, politics and loads of facts and details about the animals, trees, plants and insects. He could pick out animals from far distances in camouflage both day and night. He was also a skilled photographer, capturing incredible shots and videos of our encounters on our phones (who knew our cameras had so many features). I had told him I was a teacher and that my students had helped plan our trip to South America. I shared the animals we had studied, and he let me know which ones he thought we would see. My kiddos were going to be excited to see all the photos and videos. OK, let’s be honest, I was pretty excited too! He even sent me a load of digital resources for school. My South American content focus was going to take on a whole new life after this trip, that was for sure!

Back at the lodge, Jorge would share meals with us, explaining how the traditional foods and sauces were prepared and what flavour of delicious tropical fruit juice we were being served. Before working as a ranger, Jorge trained as a chef. He was such an interesting fellow, and we all felt pretty fortunate to have him as our guide. He introduced us to Pepe, the green parrot that lived on the resort, the red McCaw who had been injured in a Harpy Eagle attack and to his family that owned the resort and surrounding lands. All of the staff were local, and Jorge referred to many of them as cousins. As other guests arrived at the lodge with different guides, we wondered if they were as lucky as we were.

Jorge knew this land well, as he had grown up here with his grandfather, learning how to survive. He talked about the way they lived, and some of the choices they had made that had some longer-term effects in the jungle. But that was just how the people had survived back then, and they didn't know any different. Now, they try to do things differently, but there is still much destruction happening along the river due to gold mining. He also told a story about his father making soup and how delicious it smelled. He sat down to eat and saw the hand of a monkey in his bowl, and ran away crying. He vowed he would never eat a monkey.

Our second day in the Amazon required us to get up even earlier than the first. We needed to leave early to get to the clay licks shortly after sunrise to see the parrots and the sloths. The power outages were a regular occurrence, and we just learned to roll with it and settled into the fact that we were going to be hot and sweaty for the duration. There was no use trying to fight it; it was humid and everything was damp! Thankfully, the Carnivale festivities were over, and despite no fan and the heat, we all got a little bit more sleep. Jorge had a good conversation with the ‘capitan’ and he was waiting at the boat for us - awake, looking polished in his resort uniform, with both socks and shoes on his feet, with apologies! We were on the water by 5:00 am. Day two was looking a lot better!

Later that evening we headed out on a night hike. The skies were clear and rain wasn’t going to interfere with our plans. Not too far from the lodge, we visited the land of Mr. Nimms. He was a bachelor living in the jungle on the 35 acres of land he farmed. He lived on a platform with a roof in the open air. No mosquito net, no bug spray, no running water, no door to pull off its hinges… he did have an extensive set of pots and pans, though, and I wondered how he kept his food safe from all the wildlife. There was a fire burning when we arrived, and he was sitting in a chair enjoying life. Kind of like Mark does with his feet up, except there was no La-Z-Boy recliner, no game on the big screen and definately not a cold drink around for miles. Mr. Nimms didn’t believe in any technology other than a radio. We all greeted him in disbelief as Jorge logged our visit into his book with a pencil. Wow, what a lifestyle!

We headed out on many excursions with Jorge during our stay and always came home with lots of videos, photos and stories of the shenanigans we had gotten into together as a group. We swatted away insects, trekked through water deep enough to flow into our rubber boots, skiied down muddy slopes in flipflops, kayaked down the river and back up against the current to see the black caiman we all paddled far too close to. We saw loads of animals… but still no moose in case you were wondering, and we ooh’d and awww’d and laughed a lot!!


Our final day was almost as interesting as our first. After ziplining in what should have been a condemned treetop course (more oohing and awwing!!!), we got packed up. We said our goodbyes, shared memories, exchanged contact information, and waited for our shuttle to pick us up and take us to the airport. We waited and waited. Then we got the ‘uno momento’ line again. Oh boy, we knew what that meant… Our driver was going to show up with one sock in about an hour, covered in mud. We took turns standing in front of the fan to cool down, chatting, more laughing, and continued to wait (thankfully, the power was on). Jorge had long gone, and Luis and Ylenia were not translating for us. Go Spain!! It turned out our original shuttle had broken down with transmission trouble, and the staff were looking for alternative options. Yeah right… I bet there was a carnivale and a bass somewhere last night for that driver!!! Maybe the ‘capitan’ moonlighted as a shuttle driver!! We continued to wait, and as time ticked by, the laughing decreased, and stress levels started to increase. We wondered if we might miss our flight. The staff were apologetic, and there was lots of conversation occurring around us in Spanish. We knew when they said ‘cinqo momento”, we were in trouble! Finally, with little time to spare, two taxis pulled up, and we piled in. We made it to the airport in time. Phewww. We even had time to purchase a couple of t-shirts when Jorge showed up on his motorcycle. His cousin, of course, had a souvenir shop!

Although our experience in the Amazon had some less-than-perfect moments, we had a great time! Things don’t always go as planned when travelling, but that means I usually have a story to tell. Every time we encountered a hiccup, the staff at the lodge were gracious and tried to make things right. They were all so kind and accommodating, and that made all the difference for us. They heard Mark liked ceviche, so we had ceviche the next day for lunch. We showed interest in the cocoa tree, and we got to try the inside of the fruit. I broke the door of our cabin, and they were there to fix it without judgment, even though they couldn’t believe how the heck I had pulled it off its track! Every time we headed out on an excursion, our bed was made, mosquito net tied up, bathroom cleaned, and garbage emptied when we returned. They even left us dry towels. Well, to be absolutely honest, they were a little damp, but they really tried! It wasn’t a five-star luxurious resort by any means, but we were well taken care of, and our bellies were filled up to the brim. As were our memory banks; grateful for the company, experiences and the luxuries we so often take for granted.

Photos Jorge had taken that he sent me for school, so beautiful!!