21st November
We set off early in the morning on our Jungle Tour which started in Cusco and drove down through into the cloud forest for night 1. We actually did see the Cock of the Rock which is the Peruvian National Bird, bright red – very pretty. Our trip was booked out of season so we were only a group of 4, a Swiss couple in their 40’s and us. But we are polite and ask them some questions to pass the time at our candle lit dinner.
Cock Of The Rock
22nd November
Once we had driven all the way to river level, we hop into motorised dugouts and start a 7 hour boat ride down the river. Beautiful!
Cannot get over the size of the trees, they are all monstrous – even the banana plantations – the trees towered above us.
Manu Wildlife Centre is abandoned besides our little group as far as tourists go (it holds about 60), some wildlife biologists and a National Geographic photographer who had been literally waiting for over a week in a hide for the Tapir and Spider Monkeys to come eat clay at the clay lick. He has food brought to him and just waited (no showering clearly)........apparently his American NatGeo Producer had seen a clip from ’94 of a baby spider monkey slipping off the branch and falling into the mud and this was now the script and she would settle for nothing less and he (Alistair McCuin) was sent out to refilm this in high definition!! Caused much shaking of heads in the camp.
Cannot get over the size of the trees, they are all monstrous – even the banana plantations – the trees towered above us.
Manu Wildlife Centre is abandoned besides our little group as far as tourists go (it holds about 60), some wildlife biologists and a National Geographic photographer who had been literally waiting for over a week in a hide for the Tapir and Spider Monkeys to come eat clay at the clay lick. He has food brought to him and just waited (no showering clearly)........apparently his American NatGeo Producer had seen a clip from ’94 of a baby spider monkey slipping off the branch and falling into the mud and this was now the script and she would settle for nothing less and he (Alistair McCuin) was sent out to refilm this in high definition!! Caused much shaking of heads in the camp.
We went and watched macaws and parrots eating clay early in the morning (assists in digestion) which was very cool. The Swiss are going off already.
23rd November
Our guide is excellent as far as spotting wildlife goes as well as teaching us all sorts about the plants, butterflies, mammals, frogs and mainly birds. Couldn’t fault him. English wasn’t great but certainly good enough. We didn’t see as many animals as I was expecting but we did see Capaibara, Aguti, Tamarins, spider monkeys, brown cappachin monkeys, woolly monkeys......no tapir after hours of waiting at the hide and no jaguar even though they were around. The Swiss still haven’t asked us one question but we’ve had to trawl through pictures of their house, children, dog.......
24th November
Awesome ox bow lake raft ride – saw plenty birds and even the Agami Heron which was apparently enough to give an ornithologist a reason to visit as it skulks around at the edge of the water, very slowly and of course the edges are seriously overgrown – still not sure how Klaus even saw it in the first place.
We couldn’t find any DEET with more than 7.5% - not that I am sure anything would keep the mozzies away, we are being noshed alive, but no potential of disease, just itchy and irritating. I’d rather sit in silence than try and have shallow comments stating the obvious with naive and stupid Swiss.
25th November
More travelling down river, by boat, then road, then boat to get to Puerto Maldonado where we fly back to Cusco.
I thought Andrew was going to murder the taxi driver as he drove an automatic car with one foot on the brake and the other on the accelerator – simultaneously and accelerated and then slowed down continuously for 140km. I got to watch from the back (squashed next to 2 smelly Swiss) as he also expanded on the uses of an ear bud. First, you swivel it in one ear, inspect the success of the dig, then hold it between 2 fingers while you hold onto the steering wheel. Then, pop it into the next ear, inspect again. Once satisfied, push the cotton part off each side and flick those out the window, and finally chew each end into a tapered point which you can use as a toothpick. Once process complete, throw out the window.
I refuse to try to be nice anymore, the last straw being when Swissie asked me whether I thought the driver flicked his lights and hazards as we went past other drivers to let them know that he had important people in the car. I just nodded and said probably, what was the point? The naughtiest thing she had ever done was let the service light in her car stay on for 3 days before doing something about it.
26th November
Fly Back to Cusco.
Jungle tour was fantastic and I think we really got a good feel for the real jungle, it was expensive but worth it, and one can understand the expense when you look at the logistics of supplies and the empty boats that go back up the river and all staff including boatmen are employed all year round even though there is no revenue for the rainy months of the year.
Spent the last day travelling with an English Wildlife Biologist who lives in Peru who told us a bit about the gold mining activities and the impact on the river. Unfortunately tonnes of mercury are being dumped into the river every year as the daily process of extracting the gold results in the miners just allowing the mercury to evapourate into the air which condenses and goes into the river. They are finding mercury in fish that “uncontacted” villagers are eating on a 3 day boat trip up the river. The miners could use equipment to either reuse the mercury or at least save the environment but as Rob said, mercury is about 0.5% of their operating costs and all they are worried about at the end of the day is how much gold they have and whether it means beers and a prostitute or just a stripper. We say good bye to the Swiss, and 6 days later, they still don’t even know what we do back home. Adios!
Hop onto an overnight bus to make our way into Bolivia. We have arrived in Copacabana which is 3800m above sea level and both of us can feel it a little. Fuzzy headache and getting up to our hotel room is exhausting stuff up those stairs but the view is beautiful of the little village over the edge of Lake Titicaca with all the boats and restaurants.
Our hotel is USD$20 for the night and we have a double bed, single bed, TV, view and on suite bathroom – we just ordered room service pizzas and decided to stay in, acclimatise and watch TV J
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