Peru: A Year Later

It has now been a year since Dad and I went on our adventure in Peru and I can honestly say that Peru has infected my soul and changed the way I will view the world forever.

I have never felt as alive as I felt riding on the back of a taxi-cholo through the streets of Iquitos. Or sitting in a hut in the middle of the Amazon listening to Segundo tell us ghost stories. Or sitting in the sun next to my dad on the terraces of Machu Pichhu. Or climbing the steps of the La Compania de Jesus to watch the Inti Rymi celebrations in the square below.

It honestly feels like it was yesterday.

Its amazing how much our trip to Peru has affected my everyday life. Dad and I have gone on quests to find Inca Kola (we found some, don't worry). We talk about going back and adopting Kevin. I still cant hear "Hotel California" without hearing in my head played in pan flutes in a Peruvian buffet in Urumbamba. We see it popping up everywhere (special shoutout in the movie "Up"). I mean, geez, I get even more excited to go on "It's A Small World" just to see the little dolls with the hats! I'm sure the references to Peru have always been out there, its just now I realize they are there. 

I've had people tell me "It's your first trip. You always love the first place you go" But this trip was truly something special. Not only had I dreamed of traveling to Peru for so long, but I got to do it just me and my dad. I never could have imagined how open to our experience Dad would have been. He was the best traveling partner. He was always willing to try something new, willing to keep walking through ruins (even when they all had started looking the same to him) and was so willing to let me be my bossy self. This will be such a special trip and I will remember it for the rest of my life. 

It was so hard for me to relate before, to friends who had taken trips, or studied abroad to different countries. They came back with such fervor, such passion and such a love for the places they traveled to. Being the eternal cynic, I chalked it up to "yea so you had a good time and went somewhere new". I can now see how very wrong I was. Maybe it is just my biased opinion, but there is something special about Peru. Because once you have been there, there is this huge pull to return. I know that sometime in my life I WILL return, because if this longing to go back has not be quelled in a year (in fact it has only strengthened) imagine what it will have done in 5 years or (god forbid I have to wait) 10 years. Of course by the time I get back I will have driven my family crazy talking about Peru, remembering Peru or reading and watching anything I can get my hands on about Peru.

I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read this blog. It was because of you that my dad and I have this amazing journey chronicled; a little piece of Peru we can keep with us and look back on every day. Thanks for sticking through even the most mundane stories. Thanks for sticking through the sometimes harsh language :) Thanks for sticking through stories about dad's crazy antics and my attempts at putting the emotions, sights and sounds of Peru into words. Thanks for sticking through my ramblings about what Peru has meant to me. Thanks for sticking through our thousands of pictures.

Thanks for the adventures.

Gracias and Viva el Peru

Lima....any link to the Lima bean??

So today...for the first time...WE SLEPT IN!! and it was everything I had ever dreamed of. After passing out in the most comfortable beds ever, we turned off the alarm and slept to our heart's content. We finally got movin around 10:30, showered and got ready.

We headed to LarcoMar in the Miraflores area of Lima. After being assured by our cab driver that he would pick us up at 3:30 am the next morning, he dropped us off. LarcoMar was such a huge change from the rest of Peru. It was a huge tourist area with shops and restaurants. After walking around there we made our way to the Indio market. We were told that this was the place to get our shopping needs. We shopped for some last minute souveniers and took in our last bits of Peru. The Indio Market was filled with handicrafts from all over Peru and showcased the best of the best in cramped little stalls where you could haggle with the shopkeepers.



the LarcoMar outdoor shopping mall...overlooking the beach

Revenous, we made our way back to LarcoMar to find something to eat. We banked on an American favorite: Hooters. We figured in honor of Brandon and all of his talk about the new Hooters that opened in the Bay Area we should eat there. We sat with our lunch talking about our favorite parts of the trip and lamenting the fact that we had to leave Peru the next day.

This ad was everywhere...we knew Katlyn would love it!

After our fill of hot wings we strolled around LarcoMar which overlooks the beach. We watch a couple of hangliders and parachuters drifting over the beach and savored the delicious (and legendary) manjar blanco filled Dunkin Doghnut. Delicious.


Lovin that Manjar Blanco filled doughnut!

We made our way back to the Country Club, dragging our feet the entire way, and began packing for the long journey home. We scarfed down some club sandwhiches, watched "The Fast and The Furious 2" and headed to bed...at 12:30 am. Early enough for us to get 2.5 hours asleep before getting up again....

Adios!

Goodbye Jungle :(

This morning I woke up bright and early and got ready. Dad and I headed around to take pictures of the lodge and savor our last morning in the jungle. We headed out to hang out in the hammocks, with my kindle in hand. We were relaxin in the hammocks and enjoying the jungle morning when Segundo walked in. He gave dad a necklace he made using the jaws of the piranha dad caught yesterday!! It was super cool. We gave Segundo some stuff for the local tribes, like our candies, my flip flops and one of dad's tshirts and headed to breakfast.

\
We'll miss Segundo...



Our bestie, Dennis the bartender

We said goodbye to Segundo and Dennis the bartender, grabbed our backpacks and started our journey back to civilization. This time we took a more roundabout way to Iquitos. We made our way up the Napo river to join the Amazon river, rather than cutting across the land. We headed out on a couple of speedboats with a school group who was headed to another lodge. After trying to balance the boats by trading passengers, we finally were off. We got a last glimpse of a water snake as we sped away from the lodge.



We flew through the Amazon, passing little villages as we went, all the while trying to take in everything before we left. After a quick stop to drop off the kids at the Explorama Lodge (the 3rd farthest lodge in, 50 miles into the Amazon) we headed toward Ceiba Tops, Explorama's luxury lodge. 2.5 hours after leaving ExplorNapo, we pulled in for a rest at Ceiba Tops.

If we were staying at Gilligan's Island, aka ExplorNapo, Ceiba Tops is the Four seasons. They have air conditioned rooms (like real rooms, with walls, ceilings, beds, roofs), private showers in each room and a pool with a water slide. They gave us a room to use to rest until our boat left back to Iquitos. We used the bathroom, walked around the lodge and scoffed at those who called this roughing it in the jungle. I can understand why people would want to stay there; it's the jungle, but still comfortable. But I'm glad we had the experience we did, it is something we'll never forget.


A waterslide...and tablecloths in the dining room...

After lunch, we boarded the Amazon Queen for Iquitos. On board we met a group of kids from NYU who were spending the summer doing research in Iquitos. They were having trouble getting access to the information they needed in the hospitals because there were a lot of protests going on in Peru. Word on the street is that the big strike is supposed to come on the 9th, the day after we leave. We spotted some more grey dolphins as we made our way closer to Iquitos. A great send off.

We made it back to the explorama headquarters and thankfully our bags were there waiting for us. We boarded the open air bus with the rest of the tourists and headed to the airport. The airport was unlike anything I have ever seen before. It was one large room, with a molding ceiling, burnt out overhead lights and an open air room. We boarded our flight and headed off to Lima. We met a nice guy on the plane and swapped Amazon stories with him.


The airport

We landed in Lima and grabbed a cab. Of course, the cabbie we chose told us he knew where the hotel was...but actually didnt. After asking me for directions to get there, he finally ran inside to ask one of his friends.

Lima is a big city; a definite change of pace from the rest of the trip. We were headed for the tourist portion of Lima, so we passed fast food restaurants, casinos and malls. Everything was bright and flashy. 20 minutes later we pulled up in front of our hotel, the Country Club Lima hotel.

It is beautiful! We were given a grand suite and its a nice change of pace after the Amazon. It's the most luxurious hotel we've stayed at. They lay out slippers for you when your bed is turned down and the shower is like a waterfall. It's wonderful.


Much better than the latrines & cold showers


No mosquito nets here...

Tomorrow, we're off to explore San Isidro, the tourist portion of Lima.

Adios!

Piranhas and flapjacks.

We both woke with a start to Segundo pounding on our door at 7:30 in the morning. We were supposed to be at breakfast already! We had overslept. We jumped up and got ready, brushing our teeth in the bowl in our room and headed off to scarf down some food before heading out for fishing.

After breakfast we boarded a little motorized canoe with Dad and I, Segundo and our driver Teddy. We headed down the Napo River about 40 minutes and finally turned down a little channel. We were worried about fishing, having eaten dinner with Segundo´s boss the night before. He told us that it may be difficult to catch any fish because the water is still somewhat high, but if anyone could help us catch a fish, it would be Segundo. So we made our way into our little channel and parked the boat close to the banks. We tied up to a tree and handed out our equipment. Dad, Teddy and I used long branch poles with fishing line tied on, but Segundo had a legit pole. We baited our hooks with cubes of raw beef and cast our lines into the water. Segundo and Teddy dipped their poles into the water and thrashed the water around. I guess this stirred up the fish because immediately we felt the piranha start to nibble at our bait. The trick to catching piranha is to wait until you feel them nibble at the bait and then jerk your pole to hook them. Teddy and Segundo had no problem; they each caught fish within minutes. It took us a little bit more time to get the hang of it. Dad started catching a few, and then I caught one. After about an hour Segundo warned us that we would have to leave soon, so he let Dad borrow his pole. As soon as Segundo mentioned leaving, Dad pulled out the biggest pirhana of the day. It was huge! Dad ended up catching 2 red piranha and 2 white piranha, I caught 1 white piranha and Teddy and Segundo probably caught around 8 between the 2 of them.

Our fishing spot

Segundo with a red piranha

Dad...clearly not being cautious.

My one fish.

The winner of the day.

We headed out from fishing and made our way down the Napo river about 15 minutes. Segundo brought us there to meet the Yagua tribe. Unlike the tribe we met before, these people were pretty legit. We pulled up and walked up to their huts. Segundo went inside and kind of left us out front, so we started making friends with the little boys who were outside. They had made their own little toys out of leafs and sticks; their version of a pinwheel. They got a kick out of Dad´s camera so he would take pictures of them, and then review them on the screen. They loved it. There was a pig under one of the houses and all of the sudden all of the dogs started chasing it around. We taught the boys how to do the "thumbs up" and give high fives- They weren´t really understanding the high fives but Dad and I gave a quick demonstration and then they caught on.

Run kids...run fast.

Rockin the thumbs up.

Making the darts

Then the elders of the tribe came out in their traditional outfits; grass skirts and little else. The oldest woman came out wearing her pet sloth and pretty much nothing else. We each took turns holding the sloth and when dad held it, the sloth went for his camera. It kept trying to grab on to the camera strap. That thing was feisty too. One of the old men brought out a blow gun and did a quick demonstartion. Then it was our turn. I went first and hit the tree (our target) on the second try. Dad was up next, and being the natural blowhard, hit it immediately. I see a future for him. After that, the tribe showed us some of their goods and we shopped a bit. As we walked back to the boat the kids followed us. As we pulled away, they were all flashing the thumbs up sign.

The best accesory is a sloth. and going topless.

"I´m waiting...anybody got a match"-Dad

We headed back to the lodge for lunch. Segundo had the cooks prepare 2 of our piranhas for lunch; one red and one white. They were delicious, but really bony. Segundo told us that 2 new guys would be joining our tour too. They were Ryan and Matt, two white kids from Hawaii. We all ate our lunch and then headed out to the botanical garden to buy a few things. Guillermo and Julio, the shamans, did their little demonstration about the plants of the garden for Ryan and Matt. This time Segundo helped out a bit, and he even made us try a couple of things. He had us drink the oña de gato, for our joints and then passed us a glass of purplish liquid. He told us to drink it and then he would tell us what it was. After guzzling it down, Segundo told us it was a natural aphrodisiac. Yea...thanks Segundo. After that Julio, the shaman blessed Ryan and Matt. It was our turn next. We sat in the middle of the circle hut with our eyes clothes and our palms up. Guillermo, the other shaman came behind us and blew smoke into our heads and then blessed us with a leaf and chanted for a while. It was very relaxing and we almost fell asleep.

Delicious.

almost sleeping.

From there, Segundo took us to our canoe where Matt, Ryan, Dad and I took off with Segundo and Teddy to look for animals. We headed up the Napo river and ended up turning off at Loreto lake. We would be whizzing past something when Segundo would signal for Teddy to stop the boat and he would point out and iguana or a bird. I could even see the friggin thing when the boat was stopped so I don´t know how Segundo would spot it when we were zooming by. We cruised around the lake and turned down these little channels, filled with vines and crazy plants. It was like the jungle cruise. We spotted some birds, a couple iguanas and a sloth up in a tree. We even saw some local kids with a baby wild boar. It was super cute. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Baby boar.

Hey Mr. Tally Man...

Ladies and Gentlemen...the backside of water.

On our way back to the lodge, Segundo told us we would stop off and visit a village that was having a big party today, with soccer games from all the local tribes in the area. We pulled ashore and a guy was there, trying to recover his sinking canoe. yikes. We headed to the party and while walking there we noticed that everyone was carrying baby chicks, four or five at a time, some cupped in their shirts. We made our way toward the soccer fields and Segundo told us that the mayor was handing out chicks to the villagers because today was the villages anniversary. We still arent sure whether this guy was the mayor or was running for mayor. Segundo told us we had some free time so dad and I walked around the village and tried to find out if the sinking canoe guy needed any help. After we found out that he had gotten it out ok, we headed back to the soccer fields. We all ran into Segundo and he brought us over to hang out with some of his cousins.

Mayor and his chicks.

We all parked it on the ground and were introduced to his cousins. They offered us some of the local sugar cane rum to drin, which is home brewed in the Amazon ("white lightning Amazon style"-Dad). It was delicious. So here we are, sitting in the Amazon, drinking sugar cane rum out of an Inka Cola Bottle with Iquiteña beer chasers and speaking spanish with our tour guides cousins. They were hilarious and awesome and totally wasted. After some good drinks and some great conversation, we made our way back to the lodge. We showered and got ready for dinner.

Notice the Inka Cola bottle...

After dinner, we went out again in the canoe to look for animals at night. Segundo, being the pro he is, fixed Dad´s flashlight so we were all ready to go. We headed out, under the black of night, into the Amazon. This time we saw a snake, a spider that eats fish and a bunch of hummingbirds. It was pretty cool. We headed back to the lodge and we all sat around a had Iquiteñas except for Segundo who had Jack and Cokes and talked. Segundo started telling us all about the jungle ghost stories. And that if you dream about a snake, it means that your wife is cheating on you. He told us about this little guy who lives in the jungle who is the father of the trees. He has one good leg and one deformed leg and will confuse you enough to get you lost in the jungle if you go too far into his territory. The stories got creepier and creepier as he drank more so dad kept buying. We went to the bathroom before bed, Jeffrey now learning his lesson, and I spotted a huge frog down in the latrine. Yummy. We climbed under our mosquito beds and drifted off to sleep.

Snake.

Dad´s singing me a lullaby.

Adios!

My birthday...and cruisin down the ´Zon.

Attn readers: Watch over the next couple of days as we get caught up with our amazon adventure!

After a night of freezing our butts off we awoke bright and early...yet again. I had the air conditioner set to 18 degrees celcius because it is sooo muggy and sticky outside in Iquitos. But regardless of how cold it was, we still woke up feeling gross in the room. We packed our bags with only our essentials and locked up our big suitcases so we could leave them at the explorama offices.

We went downstairs for breakfast and were greeted by our guide. His name is Segundo and he has worked for Explorama for 39 years (keep in mind the company has only been around 44, talk about seniority). We ate some breakfast and then boarded the bus. We were off!

Our adventure began with an hour and a half boat ride up the Amazon river. We floated up the river on a three story boat, the Amazon Queen. We sat on the top deck and took in the passing landscape. We passed small villages with huts, kids playing in the river and women washing landry on its banks. As we passed the place where the Ninay river and the Amazon river meet we spotted several dolphins jumping around and playing. It seemed to be a good omen for the trip.

The banks of the Amazon

We continued our adventure when we arrived at Cieba Tops. Cieba Tops is the luxury lodge of the Explorama chain. It features actual rooms with air conditioning and even a pool with a water slide. We disembarked here to find that we were the only passengers continuing on deeper into the jungle. From there we took a small, motorized boat back down river for about 10 minutes and pulled up to a little village. In the village we caught a motortaxi that cut across the island to meet up with the Napo river. We boarded a speedboat with Segundo and several other Explorama workers and took off for our lodge. 45 minutes later, up the Sucsayri tributary we got our first glipse of our lodge.

Our lodge, the ExplorNapo

The ExplorNapo

ExplorNapo lodge is located 100 miles into the Amazon. It is the 2nd farthest of all the Explorama lodges. The bathrooms are pit toilets, latrine style, there is no running water, no electricity...no windows even. The rooms are smalls rooms with an open window (no screen), thatched roofing and mosquito nets to sleep under. It was rustic to say the least. They provide kerosene lamps and fresh drinking water to use.

Welcome to Fantasy Island...

Room 31, home sweet home

We walked up the steps and into the dining hall where Segundo gave us the lay of the land. We would be staying in room 31 at the explornapo lodge. After dropping our bags off in our room we explored a bit. We headed to the front where we saw the trumpet birds that live at the lodge. Here we met Charlie, the pet capybarra of the lodge. The capybarra is the world´s largest rodent and he makes a sound that sounds like some sort of laser gun. For being a rodent, he´s pretty cute. We made our way to the hammock room where we waited for lunch to be served.

Charlie.....

Outside of our room....I´m cowering in the corner.

Lunch was a spread, with fish, rice, beans and fruit. It was some of the best food we had eaten the entire trip. After letting our food digest, we headed out to the nearby botanical gardens. Here we saw different demonstrations of plants that are grown in the garden and the way that the native people use them to cure their illnesses. The shaman, Guillermo even let us try some dragon´s blood, which is supposed to cure insect bites. After the garden, we headed out on a hike through the rainforest. Segundo took off at a breakneck pace and we followed behind, taking in the sights and sounds of the Amazon rainforest. We visited the pet macaws for the ACTS research center nearby. A trail of leaf cutter ants crossed our path and we watched their work for a while, taking pictures. We made our way to the nearby canopy walkway. The canopy walkway is made up of netted walkways suspended between 14 trees. The highest point is 118 ft above the rainforest floor. Essentially it consists of aluminum ladders with wooden placnks wired on, all suspended in a netted walkway between two trees. It was terrifying but beautiful at the same time. We were up around sunset and the view was breathtaking; we were up above all of the trees of the forest.

Macaw at ACTS.

Leaf Cutter Ants crossing the path

The Canopy Walkway

Between trees 5 & 6...fearing for my life.

22 years old...and thats Dragon´s blood on my arm...not some crazy Amazonian disease.

Does this look stable/safe to you??

We made our way back to the Explornapo lodge only to find that the trail we were supposed to take was completely submerged in water. We backtracked a bit and made our way onto a new trail. We made it back to the lodge in time to take a quick shower before dinner. The showers were cold but incredibly refreshing. No matter what you do, you cannot recover from the heat and humidity of the rainforest. You are constantly sticky and sweaty. There is no relief. We grabbed a quick beer (purchased from Dennis at the bar) and headed out to swing in the hammocks. There also happened to be a large group of teenagers staying at the lodge so the hammock room was jumpin and swaying! We made our way back to the dining hall to have dinner with Segundo. Dinner was beef with a wine sauce, lentils, rice and vegetables. After dinner, Segundo told us to grab our flashlights because we would be headed out on a night cruise to look for animals.

After lathering up with bug repellant and grabbing our flashlights, we headed out to a small canoe...just us, Segundo and 2 assistants to help steer the canoe. We headed out in the pitch black night under a blanket of stars. There were more stars then I had ever seen in my life, and we were even lucky enough to spot the southern cross. We made our way through the pitch black, totally in awe of the way the driver was able to navigate without any light, when we turned up a small channel off the river. Segundo told us to turn on our flashlights and just start looking around. We crept deeper and deeper into the channel, passing through vines and listening to the amazing sounds of the jungle around us. Segundo spotted a couple of sleeping hummingbirds, frogs, spiders and even an owl butterfly. He had eyes like a hawk and seemed to spot animals without any sort of trouble.

An Owl Butterfly...side 1.

Whoa! Owl butterfly Side 2. Its´ defense mechanism...

We made our way back to the lodge where we stayed up, talking to Segundo. Segundo was born and raised in the jungle and is the most knowledgable guide at Explorama. He told us that he had taught himself English by listening to the tourists and guides he drove around. His first job at Explorama was filling the boats with gas and eventually moving up to be a guide. After drinking our fill of Iquiteña beer, we headed for bed.

We changed quickly and jumped under the safety of our mosquito nets. Amongst the sounds of the rainforest, we fell asleep. Dad forgot to go to the bathroom before bed and stayed up debating what we the best thing to do. His flashlight had burned out in the night and the 6 beers were catching up with him. He eventually resigned to walking all the way to the latrines, borrowed my flashlight and took off. I´m glad to say he made it back without a problem.

It was a great way to spend my birthday and a great start to our Amazon adventure! We tried to get a good night sleep before our big morning of Pirhana fishing!!!

Adios!