Monkeys, otters, and piranhas, oh my
Scott and I woke up early to a hot breakfast of eggs, toast, coffee, and fresh papaya juice at the hostel and headed out to the river with our guide, Milton. We took a 45-minute boat ride to a riverside trailhead, walked two miles through rainforest, and then climbed into a canoe to explore Sandoval Lake, an oxbow lake with tons of wildlife. As soon as we got onto the lake, we spotted a family of the endangered giant river otters we'd been hoping to see (and who we saw two more times that day). They made loud crunching noises as they chewed on fish and hopped in and out of the water with ease.
We also saw lots of birds on the lake, including macaws
and hoatzins, which looked pretty interesting, but we discovered that they're essentially the Peruvian pigeon. There were hoardes of them around the lake, squawking loudly, probably because no one hunts them. They apparently taste bad to both humans and animals, and they're also nicknamed "Stinkbird" for their smell.
For lunch, we climbed up a tower with a thatch roof to enjoy juane (chicken with rice wrapped in a banana leaf) and an incredible view of the lake. Afterwards, we went back to the lake and caught and released a piranha, luring it in with a piece of raw meat.
It actually had a pretty impressive set of jaws, munching through anything that came near its mouth.
We then went on a hiking trail surrounded by huge trees, when I suddenly realized that those ethereal floating wisps in Avatar actually look like the real seeds from the Ceiba tree, also known as the Tree of Life by the Mayans. It only took me a year to realize!
Scott and I had a fun time hanging out with the trees.
After a full day on the lake marveling at all the animals and birds and butterflies, we were exhausted. We hiked back to the river and instead of looking for caimans after dark as the guide had planned (we had already seen them during the day anyway), we just headed back to town for dinner and went to bed.
The next morning, we went to Anaconda Lodge, a beautiful, relaxing lodge near Puerto Maldonado set in a lush tropical garden with individual bungalows. As far as I could tell, we were the only guests staying there since it was low season, so we had the pool to ourselves, and it was very peaceful. Our bungalow included a room with a very comfortable hammock.
One of the coolest parts was the monkeys that wandered around the property. The owners helped raise a number of different kinds of rescue monkeys, in addition to the wild animals that enjoyed their property.
They also served fantastic Thai food cooked by one of the owners from Thailand (one of three Thai restaurants in the country, supposedly). It was a great way to spend our last full day in Peru before our long flights and layovers getting back to Chicago.
We also saw lots of birds on the lake, including macaws
and hoatzins, which looked pretty interesting, but we discovered that they're essentially the Peruvian pigeon. There were hoardes of them around the lake, squawking loudly, probably because no one hunts them. They apparently taste bad to both humans and animals, and they're also nicknamed "Stinkbird" for their smell.
For lunch, we climbed up a tower with a thatch roof to enjoy juane (chicken with rice wrapped in a banana leaf) and an incredible view of the lake. Afterwards, we went back to the lake and caught and released a piranha, luring it in with a piece of raw meat.
It actually had a pretty impressive set of jaws, munching through anything that came near its mouth.
We then went on a hiking trail surrounded by huge trees, when I suddenly realized that those ethereal floating wisps in Avatar actually look like the real seeds from the Ceiba tree, also known as the Tree of Life by the Mayans. It only took me a year to realize!
Scott and I had a fun time hanging out with the trees.
After a full day on the lake marveling at all the animals and birds and butterflies, we were exhausted. We hiked back to the river and instead of looking for caimans after dark as the guide had planned (we had already seen them during the day anyway), we just headed back to town for dinner and went to bed.
The next morning, we went to Anaconda Lodge, a beautiful, relaxing lodge near Puerto Maldonado set in a lush tropical garden with individual bungalows. As far as I could tell, we were the only guests staying there since it was low season, so we had the pool to ourselves, and it was very peaceful. Our bungalow included a room with a very comfortable hammock.
One of the coolest parts was the monkeys that wandered around the property. The owners helped raise a number of different kinds of rescue monkeys, in addition to the wild animals that enjoyed their property.
They also served fantastic Thai food cooked by one of the owners from Thailand (one of three Thai restaurants in the country, supposedly). It was a great way to spend our last full day in Peru before our long flights and layovers getting back to Chicago.