Last day Lima

Wed 25 May
Arrived Lima last night from Puerto Montanaldo.

It's my birthday today but I certainly don't feel like celebrating as I have lost my (actually, Andrew's) camera ... Setours have checked with the car that brought us from the airport last night. Now they are checking the airline.

So off I went to the police station to make a report - my first visit to a foreign police station. Sebastian at Setours warned me to be patient - that things proceed slowly in South America; that it could take a couple of hours. I was lucky we weren't leaving for the airport until 1:45 p.m.

They were very nice at the police station and we all did the best we could with my little Spanish - watched over by a picture above the door of San Judas Tadeo (Patrono de la Policia de Turismo). They didn't even charge me the $US2 for the report - I think the kind policeman I spoke to earlier as I came into the office said to the girls not to - perhaps when I told him it was mi compleanno (my birthday!).

So the saints were indeed watching over me: at the airport at Lima, even though the agency had checked this morning, just as I walked into the Lost & Found office, my camera arrived (My Friend's camera, that is). Wow! I had just explained to Marco - who had met me when I first came into Lima 5 weeks ago and accompanied us on our departure - that the camera had a woven purple & green Peruvian wrist band attached to the strap (and I also had a photo of the camera on my i-phone that I had downloaded off the internet), when the girl behind the counter muttered words in Spanish to Marco (after he gave her this description) that had him raising his eyebrows - and there it was!

Best birthday present! I was feeling very bad that I had 'lost' My Friend's camera ... Anyway I had enjoyed a tasty alfajor and a birthday cup of lovely Peruvian coffee at a local coffee shop after my visit to the police station; I had passed the shop on my way and promised myself a birthday treat if time permitted after the police station.

Onto our LAN flight which left nearly an hour late which means our already squeezy transfer at Santiago (Chile) just got a bit tighter - and then another passenger alerted me to the news that the Chilean government re-instated daylight saving to start in May which made me even more concerned as our departure time from Santiago was now listed an hour EARLIER!

However, we made the connection - without a great deal of time to spare; upside: no time to mess around...

Watched 3 wonderful films Lima to Santiago and then Santiago to Auckland. One, Youth, directed by Paolo Sorrentino with Harvey Keitel and Michael Caine as leads was superb.  The others - 45 Years with Charlotte Rampling and Spotlight about the abuse by the Catholic Church as exposed by The Boston Globe newspaper - were excellent also. What a bonus to watch one good film let alone 3! Some airlines have very ordinary choices.

Longer wait in Auckland - as new Chilean time (see above) had us into New Zealand earlier than planned but there was an upside to this also as for some unfathonamable reason LAN in Lima had only checked my luggage through to Auckland AND I had to be allocated a boarding pass! More anxiety as this meant filling in immigration forms, going through passport control, picking up baggage, queuing for check-in, putting luggage through again, filling in departure papers for NZ and finally going through passport control to exit.
Finally! Onto Qantas flight to Melbourne.

Photos lovely architectural buildings (Spanish Colonial) in Lima:

Puerto Maldonado

Tues 24 May
From Refugio Amazonas we were taken by boat the 2 hours back along the muddy river to Puerto Maldonado, capital of the southern jungle and a-buzz with maniacally tooting mototaxis (three-wheeled motorcycle rickshaw taxis).

We took a quick (normal 4-wheeled) taxi into the centre of the town which was quite languid in the steamy heat and the river here is very much wider than the one we had just been on. 

The Ríos Tambopata and Madre de Dios converge here.

We enjoyed a relaxing beer overlooking the river before heading out to the airport for our flight to Lima.

Last day @ Refugio Amazonas

Monday 23 May
Well, I never expected the jungle to be COLD but, overnight, a cool change swept in and even the staff are saying 'es frio'.

So warm clothes are the order of the day. And a sleep-in today - bonus!! - although I should have searched around earlier to find the blanket that had slipped off...

Breakfast was yummy - one of the best in Peru: delicious 'muesli', yummy local honey, scrambled eggs and plantain chips. All nice.

Departed at 8 a.m and walked through the jungle and back again for about 4 hours. We were meant to see Mammals - this was the plan but this came up Zero. Instead, we saw blue and yellow macaws streak overhead, white-bellied parrots high in the trees and saddle-backed tamarind monkeys swing past.

A bird shot:
Really, it's not a zoo and seeing anything of consequence is a lottery; photography? - well the zoom lens is useful in the absence of binoculars (which I had taken out at the start of the trip to lighten the load; the camera works fine).

The wind is much less in the jungle; the cool change seems to be keeping the mosquitoes 'at bay' - bonus!

Locals have a permit to grow and harvest brazil nuts in the jungle - these locals are called castañeros.

We look at lots of plants, fungi, ants carrying leaves (leaf-cutter ants) in a long cavalcade (even crossing a creek over a fallen log).

Lunch again is good. We have 2 hours before setting out again - at 3 p.m.

Our afternoon excursion is an hour's walk to a lake; the lake emerges out of the jungle like another world. It is very beautiful and Juan Carlos takes us out on a boat (or punt really) looking for birds and fish - piranha in particular (I think to please me as I had mentioned I had a desire to see them) but in this he failed. We did see some turkey-like birds called hoatzin that flew clumsily up into higher branches of the trees as we approached. But it was the prettiness of the water, the sky and the surrounding grasses that was most appealing. [read on below]

We walked back in darkness with the aid of our torches; again I could not believe I was in the jungle, slipping and sliding in mud and in total blackness - an OH&S risk if ever there was, if someone were to pitch over a tree root or whatever...

Tonight I had a Blue Morpho as my pre-dinner tipple (passionfruit, lemon, blue carazao and rum) - yum!

Dinner was nice and we took the opportunity to thank Juan Carlos and say goodbye as in the morning we'll be leaving for Puerto Maldonado.

In the jungle (yungas)

Sunday 22 May
As I said - up at 4 a.m. Dress, breakfast, put on gumboots and, still in the dark, walk to the river where we emerge out of the darkness. All the way we are accompanied by the constant noise of the Howler monkeys (which we never see); but we do see some cute small brown monkeys called tiki plus some Capuchin monkeys which are apparently the most intelligent of all the monkey species. The noise of the howler monkeys is eerie and soothing all at the same time - it is constant background noise like someone left on a relaxation tape/CD of the ocean.

Further along the river, we are dropped off and step into the gloom of the jungle and tramp through mud to a different spot on the river (or was it a different river?).

Sound like fun? Well, it gets even better: we stay here for about 3 hours watching birds. Let's re-state that: we watch out for birds.

Well really - it was like watching paint dry. We saw a few green parrots (some orange-cheeked). They were arriving to feed at a clay lick. What is that I hear you say? A 'clay lick' is an exposed area of clay where animals gather to eat or lick clay to obtain clays or salts. 

The Tambopata Macaw Project is a long-term multidisciplinary study of natural history, conservation and management of large macaws and parrots. The project was started in 1989 and the lodges like the one we are staying in are sponsors.

Take it from me, this is what we were SUPPOSED to see (photos pinched from the internet):

And we saw - at a distance - some motmots (I think). Maybe we saw a turkey vulture too? And the scarlet macaws - now, they really were sensational!

I was covered head-to-toe in clothing, had a citronella wrist band (thanks Jenny B) and I looked a right 'dork' in the head net My Friend had given me but from within it I felt safe against the constant buzzing of the mosquitoes and other bugs.

All in all, by the time we got back for lunch after visiting a local homeowner and his plantation of all sorts of fruits (and we had tastes of many of them: oranges, grapefruits, star fruit, paw paw etc), we had already put in a full day and it was only 1 pm. The shower before lunch was very welcome and lunch well-deserved after our morning tramping about.

I had a well-deserved sleep after lunch! 

At 4 p.m. we go for a walk through the jungle near the lodge to a canopy tower 32 m high which we climb to be above the jungle canopy and we can see across the top of the jungle for miles. Very peaceful. No mosquitoes. No sunset as it is overcast but nice evening sky nevertheless.

We walk back in the dark; we are shown the tiny fluorescent lights of the fire fly larvae (with all our torch lights off); spiders; a scorpion. I cannot believe I am tramping through mud in the pitch dark swotting mosquitoes. But I think people are envying my mosquito head net - thank you My Friend.

Pre-dinner, I hasten to the bar for an Amazonian Paradise (passionfruit, carambola, curazao, rum). It really packs a punch!!

I decline the outing to the river to spot caimans at night. TOP goes. I just want to relax and enjoy the ambience of the lodge. 

After dinner I have a nice chat with an American couple from Philadelphia who are most interesting.

Electricity will go off in an hour so I have the devices plugged in charging up. 

Fortunately we don't have an outing tomorrow until 7 a.m. although there was an optional extra offered - to start at 4:15 a.m. Pass!!!!

No more llamas: we head to the Amazon

Saturday 21 May
We leave Cusco amidst religious festivals taking place outside the Cathedral. We have 3 days now on the Amazon - something completely different!

For once we don't set the alarm as we don't have to be ready until 9:45 a.m. Had to pack last night the stuff for the Amazon - as you can imagine, a very different set of clothes!

I managed enough time this morning to top up on some Peruvian Soles from a casa de cambio and the charming Jamie who brought us in the car from Ollanta yesterday afternoon collected us to go to the airport.

Alex the Setours contact in Cusco came too. He seemed very keen to see our original itinerary for our trek! I think the matter is still being investigated; certainly Sebastian from the Lima office indicated to me that they were still trying to work it out. He was grateful that I had documented for him an outline of what took place in our briefing with Carlos (the first trek guide who got replaced by Alois).

Our flight left 40 minutes late to Puerto Maldonado which is the capital of Madre de Dios department with the Tambopata River running through it; is a city in SE Peru in the Amazon rainforest 55 kilometres west of the Bolivian border.

The people at the other end were very efficient. I had my stuff in bags in my suitcase ready to put in my duffel bag - it was a quick transfer. We were given a basket of snacks and after the 30-minute drive to the river we were given a rice-based lunch wrapped in papaya leaf for lunch on board the boat.

It was to be a 2 - 2.5 hour trip to our lodge which we arrived at in the dark after a 15-minute walk from the river. We lit our way with various devices - I had to use my i-phone as my torch was in my duffel bag being transported by the porters. [read on below]

The lodge looks amazing, appearing out of the darkness all lit up - 2 storeys high in the midst of the jungle: a real paradise. Wood floors. Lounge areas. Bar. Reading room. There are brown agouti running around. [read on below]

We had a lecture on caimans before dinner. We had seen a white one earlier, lying on the river bank as we motored to our lodge. We had also seen 2 jaguars (a rarity in these parts apparently) relaxing after a feed of capybara, the carcass lying nearby; also butterflies feeding off the salt on the clay riverbank. [read on below]

It was nice to get in. I ordered a Maracuya Sour before dinner (pisco, passionfruit, egg white, angostura bitters).

It was a nice dinner. Our guide is Juan Carlos and we have been told the start time for tomorrow is 4:45 a.m. for breakfast. Ugh!

Lights out early; the robust mosquito net over the bed looks very reassuring, especially given the room is open to the jungle on one side and the windows in the other walls have no glass... Dengue is prevalent in these parts; they are saying Zika is not such a concern ...

Leaving Cusco

Saturday 21 May
We leave Cusco amidst religious festivals which are leading up to Corpus Christi, the BIG festival about to start soon here.

Awesome! 2nd day at Machu Picchu

Friday 20 May
Up at 4 a.m. again!!! Quick breakfast and checked out as we go back to Cusco later today.

We even managed to get on an earlier bus - the 7th according to a fellow (more observant) traveller - possibly a 'bus spotter'?

Our aim was to try and get to the Sun Gate (Intipunku) - a climb of 290 m - as the rising sun crested the mountain - a feat we pretty much managed to do.


The hike follows an original Inca Trail that steadily climbs though Machu Picchu’s agricultural terraces high in to the mountains. Intipunku was once the main entrance to Machu Picchu. This site was the main entry point from the south into Cusco, and the gate would have been protected by its military. Intipunku is dedicated to the cult of the Inti, the Sun god.

As we climbed up, a few Inca Trail trekkers were making their way down - no doubt an emotional moment for them.

We also enjoyed the moment on reaching the famous Sun Gate and joined the throng of trekkers there doing the same thing. We sat around enjoying a pastry from our very early breakfast - and the views and the experience. It was very serene: so peaceful compared to the chaos of tourists below - I think I heard a guide say 5000 people visit Machu Picchu daily.

We spent quite some time here watching the last of the trekkers go. Then, as day trippers like us started to come up, we set off back down. Very relaxing. A lovely morning. Cool and quiet.

Down below I enjoyed wandering back through Machu Picchu complex and I met up with TOP (who had gone off to do something else) at the start of the climb up Huayna Picchu (a climb of 652 m).



The Incas built a trail up the side of the Huayna Picchu (which means 'young peak') and built temples and terraces on its top. According to local guides, at its summit, Inca priests once performed rituals on special dates as well as liturgical greetings to the Salkantay apu (god). And every morning before sunrise, the high priest with a small group would walk to Machu Picchu to signal the coming of the new day.

Only 400 people per day are allowed to do this walk. The view from the top is superb and gives another perspective of the Machu Picchu complex below.

And wow! We did it! Despite our concerns regarding its safety, it really wasn't so difficult after all - we just needed to take a lot of care. There was plenty of scrambling using hands to climb some of the steps and holding onto cables; coming down we watched carefully where we were putting our feet to maintain balance. We were chuffed with ourselves, constantly keeping in mind Sam R's accident coming down when she injured her shoulder badly.

It was a lovely shady walk out of the hot sun. We ambled behind the crowds back through Machu Picchu complex - our last look.

But really, the time up at the Sun Gate this morning was the most special time here at Machu Picchu.

The queue for the bus back to Agues Calientes was immense but we waited patiently and had a nice light lunch back in the township - and found a French patisserie!!!

Then the Hiram Bingham vistadome train to Ollanta: another hub like Agues Calientes - businesses doing lots of wood-fired pizzas and pisco sours.

Our driver Jamie took us back through the Sacred Valley and then ascended up and up with the valley below lit up like fairy lights from the dwellings down below. It was a full moon so the landscape shone. Jamie decided to give us a Spanish lesson as we descended into Cusco - I had to work hard on my listening skills and I got lots of 'muy biens (=very goods)! He took us through old cobble-stoned streets almost as if he was giving us his own personal city tour, dispensing historic pieces of information as he went - like how Calle Pizarro is named after the Spanish conquistador (who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Incan Empire).

We had a wonderful dinner at Cicciolina. Superb food!! We even tried guinea pig (cuy) which was magnificent in this entree dish that we shared.




















More pictures Picchu Day 2: