Vamos a la selva!!!

So they say third time's the charm... and my third visit to the Amazon rainforest was quite an unforgettable experience. My awesome teammates from Macalester College, Cara and Annie, and former flatmate in London, Jackie, came to visit me for a few weeks. While they were going to Machu Picchu, I was busy getting my heart attack chart review study done (yes, I do actually do a lot of work here) and then we met up in Puerto Maldonado for the weekend.

Oxbow Lake
The heavy rains the days before we arrived made the road to Infierno inpassable and so we had to climb down the mud banks to the boat to get to the Posadas Amazonas Lodge. Jackie and Cara had a very different image of the jungle than Annie and I (and clearly didn't read my packing list that included pants, head lamps and bug spray). We were the "Wilderness Explorers" in our REI gear and binoculars and they were the "Fashion Specialists" in tank tops, mini skirts and flip flops. Luckily, Jackie packed two pair of hot yoga pants that they wore with their sexy rubber boots. "Mind the gap." :)

Me, Annie, Cara and Jackie hiking in la selva

Friday we arrived at our luxurious lodge with our rooms that are open to the jungle. We climbed the tower and watched parrots and hawks from above the canopy. Fortunately, none of us are afraid of heights.
Jackie and Cara at the top of the tower

After dinner we took my flashlights and went on a night hike. Big insects and jumping poisonous spiders were some of the highlights and turning off the lights and standing among the darkness and listening to the sounds of the forest was an experience I'll never forget. Luckily for Cara, we did not see any snakes.

We woke up very early on Saturday and watched sunrise over the Tambopata River and hiked to an Oxbow Lake - an old part of the river - that currently is home to a family of river otters - an endangered species with fewer than 200 left in Peru. We went piranha fishing, birdwatching, and took lots of photos of a black caiman. Later we hiked to a macaw clay lick and sat in silence for an hour and saw nothing. On the way back to the lodge there were lots of dusky spider monkeys and saddle-backed tamarins. Next to the lodge was a big anteater climbing a tree. I love the jungle!








Taking a nap on the hammocks


Giant anteater


Cara and Jackie on the Tambopata


Trouble with a capital T
It was Annie's 25th birthday in the jungle and we racked up a 350 soles bill in one night (and put another 15 large beers on another group's bill and played dumb the next day). Whoops! What a crazy night! I'll leave the details to them as I did the typical "about to be married and go to be early" thing.

The next morning...


I love Peru! How many places in the world can you live and fly slightly over an hour for about $120 and be either land where there are gorgeous white-sand beaches in the North, snow-capped mountains in the Andes, deep canyons with condors in Arequipa, or the selva (rainforst)? Not many!

I'm getting ready to leave. I started packing my two large suitcases. Today, I'm going to have lunch at my empleada's (cleaning lady) house in the out-skirts of Lima and bring her and her nephew lots of "gifts"(stuff I don't want to take back to the US). My friend Annie and I went last weekend and had a great time playing pick-up soccer with the street kids - I bet they never thought two "sisters" and a little girl could take on 8 boys and win. Go girls!




Annie, Cara and Jackie - thanks for coming to visit! I love you girls!




It's going to be very sad to leave as I really love it here and I found that between soccer and learning Spanish, I can really connect with people and "fit in." Peruanos are the nicest people you'll meet and if you haven't been her before and you ever get the opportunity, I would not miss it for anything. Thanks for reading.