To the Jungle!

I am finally able to post from my actual journal again! Here is my next entry after the one about Machu Picchu:

Monday, June  4 6:55 am

"Our adventures in M.P. and Arequipa will have to wait until we are back in Cuzco, I have been having the best time now and want to write about it.

After getting back from Arequipa on a ten hour night bus, we had the day to rest and wash clothes before getting on another ten hour night bus in the other direction. We were headed for Puerto Maldonado, in the tropical jungle region along the Peruvian border with Bolivia.

We got in at seven in the morning, and immediately got into three motorcycle rickshaws. Marla's husband had come with us, so we were a party of seven (Marla, Anna, Ismael, Katie, Derek, Travis and me). Our rickshaws took us to the travel office, and we left our bags there to grab breakfast around the corner. The biggest differences between the jungle and mountains are present in the food- the bread here is very soft and there are all kinds of fresh tropical fruits here. In comparison, the mountain bread is much firmer and very flat due to the altitude. Puerto Maldonado is at a similar altitude to Lawrence I think, and the ground is "Peruvian flat". 

After breakfast of eggs, bread, and fresh papaya juice, we walked to the port and got on a long, skinny river boat. They make them narrow for better control on the strong river currents. We rode for about an hour and got out at a small wooden platform in the mud of the riverbank (it is the dry season, so the river is much shallower and the water has receded from the shoreline about 20 feet). 

^Here is a video of what it looked like on the boat!^

We followed a path through the jungle for about five minutes and continued on a small boardwalk until our lodge came into view. The main building is a large wooden dining hall with screened walled and doors. We were given fresh starfruit juice and rested while they finished preparing our rooms.

The lodge has a few mascot animals: two macaws that hang around, and a small howler monkey named Lalo. Everybody loves the monkey, and he loves to explore people and their things. He is currently sleeping on Travis, who is resting in one of the hammocks."