I sat, amazed, at 3pm the following day, when I realised this time yesterday I was strolling the European-style streets of Cusco, and now I was in a jungle lodge in the Amazon, listening to monkeys and wildlife in my open lodge.
That morning, we had left Cusco airport to fly to Puerto Maldonados (after a very late start, only just making the plane) and arrived to the sunny, heavy, tropical heat and humidity of the jungle. Arriving at the Rainforest Expeditions head office, we packed a small daypack for the next two nights, and drove down to the port where we took a longboat ride 1.5hrs down the river. Our lunch pack was made by local communities and contained juice, local Brazil nuts, banana chips and fruit, as well as delicious rice and vegetables wrapped in a banana leaf. It was so, so good, and as we ate we watched men gold panning in the river, and women doing the washing, and I smiled, breathing in the sunshine and warmth. This was nice.
After arriving at our lodge, we were welcomed with cold hand towels and fresh passionfruit juice, and listened (or not, in my case) to a briefing by the assistant manager about the lodge. We were each given a pair of gumboots to wear in the jungle, so our hiking shoes would stay clean, and allocated our rooms so we could settle in. The rooms were lovely, filled with wooden carved furniture and a bathroom with a porcelain toilet and basin, with no roof or outdoor walls. The room was dotted with candles instead of electricity, and the large double bed draped with white mosquito nets. So beautiful. Except, I wondered, what exactly stopped the jaguar, or bear, or some other wild jungle animal just hopping into my room? Nothing, the rainforest guide told me. But they won’t. Which sounded very reassuring but a bit of a vague statement to me. They won’t? They just…won’t? I hoped not.
That afternoon, we donned our gumboots and walked for 15mins through the jungle to a lookout tower 120m high, which had spectacular views through the jungle and over the river. We spotted a sloth, Macaws, other birds and butterflies and tried to spot the ‘Puma’ jaguar but didn’t see one. Which I for one was very grateful for, because we then had to walk back through that jungle to get back, which would have been a bit scary.
That evening, I discovered the best part of the jungle lodge – the cocktail bar. What other jungle lodge has a cocktail bar! Brilliant. The ‘Banana Monkey’ was my favourite, and we sat back after our buffet dinner to settle in for a fun night. Until our guide came and told us we would have a 4am wake up call. Damn. Bedtime.
– Sarah
Sarah