El Infierno Verde!

This morning, we grabbed a taxi to Cusco so we could catch our flight to Puerto Maldonado. Puerto Maldonado is over on the Bolivian border in the deep Amazonian rainforest. When we landed, it was a balmy 90 degrees. Oh, did I say balmy? I meant warm and uncomfortable. The heat wasn't oppressive, but it was headed in that direction. When you go to Peru, go to Puerto Maldonado and book two nights at the Lake Sandoval Lodge through InkaNatura. It was incredible. Good work Steve. They take care of everything. They picked us up at the airport and took us back to their office where we stashed the essentials in an overnight bag. Then, it was off to the boat where we puttered down the Tambopata River to the Madre de Dios River. We had a lunch of fried rice in a giant leaf and then hiked two miles through the jungle to get to the canoe. They then paddled us across the beautiful Lake Sandoval to the Lodge. Absolutely stunning. On the walk, we saw parasitic trees, the largest leaves I've ever seen, leaf-cutter ants in a long row, and a family of about six red howler monkeys! On the canoe, we went through a smelly swamp with neon blue algae clumps (seriously) out onto Lake Sandoval. Stunning. Here is a slideshow of the first part of the day. When we got to the dock, we climbed the stairs to the lodge (still sore from Machu Picchu) and had an hour to relax before we went out on the catamaran for an evening of looking for black caiman. You find them by shining your flashlight and their red eyes reflect that light. Fun things that night were the beautiful sunset, the stars later on, a bird that Jesus saved and then left on shore by some caiman . . . so probably didn't save after all, and a whole bunch of caiman. Oh, and a fellow American tourist that said "I guess the north star isn't out this time of year". Actually, the north star isn't out. And . . . doesn't change based on season. We were dying. And hope Jesus didn't hear. When we got back to the lodge, we had dinner and then relaxed and chatted. Back in the room, they already let our mosquito nets down and I pretty much had the best night's sleep of the entire trip as I fell asleep to the sounds of the Amazon rainforest.