IQUITOS, WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE!

Bienvenidos a la selva!
No AC.  No electricity.  2000% humidity.  For 3 whole days!  I may have been sweating the entire time but I enjoyed every minute of it!  The Amazon is a wondrous place.

Our journey began at 4:30 in the morning on Friday the 14th as we loaded up and headed to the airport.  The heat welcomed us off the plane in Iquitos and we started off down the only paved highway of the region to Nauta, where we would catch our boat to the Pacaya Samiria EcoLodge.  When I say the only paved highway of the region, I am speaking specifically of Peru's state/province of Loreto, which is about equal in land size to that of California but with a population only a little over one million people.  To finally arrive at our ecolodge we traveled by plane 1.5 hours, bus 1.5 hours, and by boat for 1 hour.

Although we were only there for a short 3 days, we accomplished everything you could wish to accomplish while in the Amazon.  The first day we went downstream to the mouth of the Amazon River, which seems like something you just hear about.  But, there I was in a boat in the Amazon River in the Amazon Jungle watching Amazon river dolphins surround us and large Amazon rain clouds gather overhead.  We saw a lot of river dolphins during our time there.  There were gray river dolphins that are basically identical to a regular dolphin and there were pink river dolphins that were bigger and, of course, pink!  We sat in the boat for a while just enjoying their company and snacking on chifles, dried banana, yucca, and plantain chips!  They're delicious!  Later that afternoon and the next morning we went on two different treks through the forest.  The key to success for these treks:  1) rubber boots and the ability to keep from slipping 2) a machete and a good guide (Rey and Buceel were true Amazon men!) and 3) LOTS OF BUG REPELLENT, just take a shower in it basically!  During our treks we saw several critters:  spiders, millipedes, centipedes, cicadas, bullet ants (aka "10 hour pain and a possible hospital visit if you get bit by them" ants), butterflies, caterpillars, lizards, and poison dart frogs!  Among our other Amazon activities were swimming, fishing for piranhas, visiting a local village, and hunting (not literally) cayman.  Did I mention that we swam in the same place we fished for piranhas?!  As long as you have no open, bleeding wound, you should be okay!  My exact thought while jumping overboard was "how awesome is my life?! I'm swimming in the Amazon right now!"  Every now and then it just hits me how without my scholarship money I wouldn't be here right now and I am so blessed to have had this opportunity.  I had one of these moments while swimming in the Amazon with piranhas, river dolphins, sardines, and who know what else.  I should mention that sardines are agressive little suckers.  Kinda like minnows they nip at you but they also jump out of the water and beach themselves on your back while you are floating on your stomach or slap you across the face while you are having a conversation.  But being attacked by sardines or not, we had a good time nonetheless.  After lunch on board our boats we broke out the cane fishing poles and sardines as bait and began our fishing for piranhas competition!  The sardines as bait were caught by a nice local using his hollw tree canoe, a paddle, and a spear that he somehow managed to throw into the water and bring out 2-3 speared sardines everytime.  But, guess who caught the first piranha?! I did! :) After the competition (our boat won!) we went to the 20 de Enero Village (January 20th - it is very common for village names to be the date of their founding).  This was interesting because these people live in a village in huts with thatched roofs and many times dirt floors unless they are built on stilts without running water or electricity.  It's amazing how developed some parts of the world are in comparison to others, this village as an example.  They still have to hunt/fish/gather for their food and many of the children don't obtain a good education.  This village did have a school house but it relies on volunteer teachers that must move their for months at a time in order to work there as it is too far to travel to everyday.  Our guides explained to us how isolated they really are.  First, these villages are positioned on the river with boats being the only mode of transportation and by boat I mean their hollow tree canoes.  Suppose one has the time to travel, the majority wont have enough money to travel by boat and then by plane, so they are unable to go anywhere.  But suppose someone has enough money to travel by boat but not by plane, in many cases they wont have enough time because by boat to get to a city outside of the Amazon area where they could take a bus would take 4-6 days alone so to return would be another 4-6 days by boat and many don't have enough time to travel this way.  Therefore, a great majority of the people living there have never left that region even to go to other parts of Peru.  But, we were able to tour the village and ride in one of the canoes (caution:  they are very easy to tip over, get in, shut up, sit down, and stay still)!  Our "driver" was Mai, an 11 year old little boy that lived in the village.  Following our village visit we continued downstream to another river tributary where we saw several types of birds, sloths, and monkeys, and watched the most amazing sunset with the sun going down over the river.  At nightfall began my brief experience as "Audrey, The Crocodile Hunter," ...not really, because we were looking for cayman, but that is what I felt like as I was holding one!  It was awesome!  That night we returned for a wonderful dinner (I finally tried ceviche - raw fish that is prepared in a way that it seems cooked!) and some traditional dancing!

Our cabin at the ecolodge.  Why do they bother with putting blankets on the bed? 
It's way to hot to use them!

Poison Dart Frog :)

Me and one gigantic Amazon tree!  And my awesome rubber boots!

Amazing sunset! Agreed?!

I forgot to mention we saw this huge snail! So cool!

Drinking filtered Amazon water from a vine...so refreshing!



Again, swiming with piranhas, river dolphins, sardines, and who knows what else...

My prize piranha and me :)

My "Crocodile Hunter" Moment!!

Daybreak in the Amazon...the river dolphin that popped up in my photo was just a plus!

The Amazon was amazing!  Sweat, bugs, bats (in our room at night) and all!  I don't think I have ever loved cold showers so much or been so thankful for a mosquito net and a flashlight at night!

This weekend I am headed north to Mancora, almost to Ecuador and very close to the equator, to enjoy white sand beaches and sunshine! Chau! xoxo!

~ON TOP OF THE WORLD~

If I have ever visited a place that can only be described as breathtaking, Machu Picchu is it.  I have never before experienced something so incredible, words to try and explain it really won't do it justice and it's hard to understand unless you've actually been there.  I have never visited the Rockies or any other mountains so maybe I don't have anything to compare them to, but the Andes Mountains are gigantic.  They have no problem making you realize just how small you really are.  So, first to be surrounded by these overwhelming mountains and then to see the ruins of a civilization hundreds of years old still intact and perfectly hidden amongst the Andes was just the absolute most amazing experience and the highlight of my trip so far. 

We arrived in Cusco and immediately began our journey to Machu Picchu.  Along the way we stopped at a local's house to see how textiles from alpaca are made and dyed, had a traditional lunch, and visited the ruins in the Sacred Valley of the Incas in Ollantaytambo.  Then, we boarded a train and arrived after dark to the town of Aguas Calientes, the town closet to Machu Picchu.

The next day we boarded our last bus that would finally take us to the entrance of Machu Picchu!  And, what a great year to visit!  2011 is the 100th Anniversary of the rediscovery of Machu Picchu by the American explorer, Hiram Bingham.  Before the guided tour we had the option of climbing Waynapicchu...


This is Waynapicchu.  Don't underestimate her.



Now, I just happened to be one of the few lucky enough to experience a stomach bug during this trip so on top of a high altitude headache, I wasn’t feeling quite at 100% this morning.  But, who knows exactly how many chances I will have to climb this mountain again so off I go and there is no turning back.  It is a long, hot, steep, step after step after step process, but the view from the top was completely worth it and unlike anything I ever seen!  The reward was a 360 degree view of the Andes, Machu Picchu, and the Urubamba river running in between it all.  There were ruins on the very top of the mountain that have basically been untouched…it is not “fixed” at the top for tourists, you have to jump/walk from rock to rock or at some points go under them and just watch your step because it is so steep.  Those Incas had to have had fantastic thighs because I don’t know how they went up and down these mountains everyday.  And, I don’t know how I did it, especially not feeling well, but I did and once I could see the top and the “finish line” I forgot about basically everything and just started sprinting up the steps as fast as I could go.  It was such an awesome, indescribable feeling to be at the top, like being on top of the world…



Proudest picture of my LIFE!

Awesome, isn't it?!



 After conquering Waynapicchu, we began our guided tour of Machu Picchu.  The only reason Machu Picchu even still exists today is because it was never discovered by the Spanish explorer, Pizarro, and his conquistadors.  Machu Picchu was built into the mountains in a way that it was naturally camouflaged from below.  So, because it was never discovered, it was never destroyed by the Spanish.  We got to see the temples believed to be for the nobles, the sundial, used to tell time (like many of the ancient civilizations, Mayans, etc. the Incas studied the stars), an area called the Condor (the three sacred animals for the Incas were the Condor, the Puma, and the Serpent), and, of course, a lot of llamas.  After our tour, despite being hungry and thirsty, I sat for a while and just enjoyed the scenery, tried to take it all in, it was just so incredible.  I can’t fully explain the feeling. 



The view from the other side, looking back at Waynapicchu!



He's posing...



And a view of the other side (opposite of Waynapicchu) from within
 the ruins, the mountain Machu Picchu...perhaps I will climb it one day too.



After a wonderful day spent at Machu Picchu, we boarded the train to head back to Ollantaytambo for the night.  The next day we got to enjoy some shopping at one of the markets (blankets made from alpaca fur are the best ever), visited a llama and alpaca farm, and visited the ruins of Sacsayhuaman (or “sexay woman” as English speakers like to pronounce it) on our way back to Cusco.  In Cusco, we had a full day free to visit museums, markets, and just explore.  In the morning, by accident (not that it could be missed) we watched the parade that happens in Cusco every Sunday with the military and people from all different regions and backgrounds dressed in their traditional clothing, dancing, and playing music!  It was quite festive!

Market shopping anyone?

 This trip had no problem in making me fall completely in love with Peru.  It is a land to be explored there is no question about it and I definitely see another trip to Peru in my future.