To the Amazon

     Right when we arrived in Puerto Maldonado, sometime I think around 7 AM we got a tuk-tuk to the main square, saw a tour office called Tambopata which connected to the hostel by the same name and I’d read about it in my Lonely Planet so we stopped in and ended up joining a tour set to leave in an hour or two. We dropped our bags and rearranged at their hostel, we were given rain boots to bring and down to the boat dock we went.

 The boat ride took about 45 minutes on the Rio Madre De Dios. After that, wellies on, we walked a little over 3km and I am so glad they gave us those boots. We were walking through mud and water and lots of it. The small journey took much longer than expected because of all the zig-zagging we were doing. Not to mention it was pouring down rain. But we enjoyed the walk all the same, we were in the Amazon! I was singing the Bear Necessities from the Jungle Book because that’s what it reminded me of :)

Yep, just like this.

Once we reached the next boat dock, well there was about 7-10 boats, all half sunk from the relentless rain. Our guide scooped and scooped as the rain kept falling. 

When it seemed sufficient we got in and went through the little marsh area to the Lago Sandoval. I can’t even tell you how much it was raining, we were laughing because it was so much! We all took turns paddling till we made it to the homestay. 

 An hour later we were given lunch; rice and chicken (cheese for me) wrapped in a leaf similar to banana. They then told us we had to wait till 4pm to do anything again so Tyler and I played Uno with the two other people staying with us; they were a German mother and daughter pair about 45 and 11. 

4pm finally came around just as the rain had mostly petered out. We got back in the boat and slowly paddled along the edge of the jungle to look for wildlife. We saw lots of birds, mostly funny orange and brown ones with a Mohawk. We saw a line of bats sleeping perfectly on a tree.

Sleepy bats

Then came the monkeys. Tons of them; mostly squirrel monkeys, a few capuchins. We watched them play around in the branches and look for food. They have a joyous time and I found myself envious of their ease when swinging from tree to tree. Then we heard a loud noise like a crash, and another one and our guide said “Brown capuchin. Brown capuchin fall down.” And I realized it just isn’t possible to be graceful all the time ;) 

As the sun was setting and throwing beautiful purples and reds across the sky, we paddled towards it, went through an opening in the brush and then it was dark. We used our headlamps and flashlights to search for crocodile’s glowing eyes. We saw many. Tyler was the best spotter and he had a blast doing it! Once we were stopped in a brushy area and everyone was looking in the distance and I decided to look right next to us and sure enough, there was a croc only a foot or two from the boat. I was a little freaked but it was really cool too! 

Can you spot the crocodile?

Dinner came when we were all crocodiled-out. It was very kind of them to make veg food for me, they made something with tofu and rice but it was so salty and really hard to eat. Shortly after dinner we went to bed and I woke up sometime in the middle of the night feeling awful- to spare you all the details I missed the 5am boat ride and hike to look for parrots and the hike at 11am because I was busy being sick. I started to feel better around lunchtime and Tyler took me on a little version of the hike and tried to explain everything to me. It was very sweet. 

Today was hot and not rainy, around 1:30 we went back on the boat and back across the muck with a different group. On the walk back we saw tons more playful monkeys and we heard an awful screeching noise that wouldn’t stop and we found the sound to be coming from two parrots! Bright colored and incredibly annoying up in a tree! The mother and daughter hadn’t seen any parrots that morning and I was grateful I hadn’t missed out on anything and got to see them later!

Hard to see parrots

The boat ride took us back and I saw another perched parrot in a tree. Near the end of the ride it started pouring again and at an angle so even with a cover on the boat we all got wet.  We hurried to get our stuff collected and tuk tuk to the station fast because it was after 5pm and we heard the busses to Puno left at 6 or 6:30. We made it but I’d started to feel awful again. As soon as the bus left, I threw up. I knew it was going to be a long ride.. But I made it, all sick and stomach crampy, and when I woke up in the morning, I felt much better. It was nice to have that over and all I wanted to do was eat! 

Painful moments can be so hard and it’s so difficult not to lose faith but rough times always come to an end :)

A little heads up if you do go to Puerto Maldonado and look for a tour company, I'm not sure that we'd recommend Tambopata Tours. We were told our guide would speak English and he had a very difficult time doing so. When told about the tour it included more hikes and a wider variety of activities which the guide did not do. We had so much down time, seemingly nap time for our guide and we were not very pleased. They were accommodating for vegetarians and we did see a lot of wildlife but there were also many things we were told that didn't actually come to pass. A bummer, but it happens. We enjoyed our time in the rainforest very much but I'd do a little more perusing my options if I did it again!

Cuzco/ Cusco

We spent almost two full days in Cuzco and it was plenty for us. We arrived at night, took us ages to find a place to stay that wasn't either way too expensive or so nasty that we couldn't imagine falling asleep let alone laying in the beds!

The next morning we started out by going to the Chocolate Museum that I'd read about. We got a lot more than we bargained for! It was a free museum and upon entering we were greeted by a friendly chocolate lover who explained the process from bean to bar. We were interested to find out that cocoa beans don't grow off the limbs of the tree but actually off the main trunk itself. We crushed a cocoa bean in our hand ( I was the first to do it and everyone else seemed to have some trouble, not to toot my own horn or anything) and we tasted the cocoa nibs inside which is what they use to make chocolate, they were bitter and to me had a slight semblance of a kalamata olive. We saw all the ingredients that go in and how they work together. They had us try chocolate made in different parts of Peru and we were surprised at how noticeably different the taste can be just varying on where they're grown.

We sat at their cafe and had some wonderful hot chocolate and a brownie. It was so good Tyler licked the plate clean :p We got some other things too but for the sake of surprise to some of those who read this blog, we'll keep that part a secret.

When we left we visited the Plaza De Armas, or the main square. I  had a long conversation with a man named Fredy selling painting and eventually bought one from him. The architecture in the Plaza is beautiful and we spent some time admiring them.

A little later we walked to the main market where Tyler got a sweater that he looks great in! And we got some of the best dried mango I've ever eaten and corn on the cob, each kernel was at least double the size of our corn at home. The market was crazy busy and very large with people in every direction trying to get you to buy from them. The first section was dedicated to clothing stalls mostly and some trinkets, then came juice and produce, meat, bread, then a section of restaurants and one aisle of  "innards" (we skipped that one). In the bread section we got what looked like a Peruvian pop tart. It tasted sweet, like a sugar cookie with sprinkles.

pop tart!

Many of the restaurant stalls seemed to serve the same things so we chose one with a lady who wasn't yelling at us to sit down. I quickly learned that palta is avocado in Spanish. The avocado here is so good I look for it everywhere! So I had arroz con huevo y palta. rice with egg and avocado, the woman added cucumber, red onion and tomatoes as well, it came with fries also. It was delicious! And very filling. Tyler had similar but his had onion and small pieces of meat. Our meal costs 5.50 soles which is less than $2. We left very satisfied both in our wallets and our bellies.

mine.

His.

The Information desk told us to get on the CorreCaminos bus to the station so we could buy our tickets for the next day to Puerto Maldonado. We got on the already packed bus and at every stop it seemed another one or two people hopped on. I was standing and couldn't hold on anywhere but I couldn't have fallen over either. We got our tickets and decided to walk back to the center.

The highlight of the next day was definitely the Sacsayhuaman ruins. We walked up a large hill to get to them, realized we didn't have enough soles, walked back down to an ATM and came back up again. The ruins were very interesting, it looked like a castle. The massive stones were cut so perfectly and fit with each other just right that it looked like a massive puzzle. There were even stones that they rounded in for corners which were fascinating as well. These ruins were built overlooking what is now the huge, populated city of Cuzco, I can't imagine looking down and seeing only grass and trees.

overlooking Cuzco

fascinating!

We continued to wander, we even went through some underground tunnels they'd created (using the flash on our cameras for light). I spent the day in wonder thinking about the process of building such a fortress.

Later, we ate at a different stall in the market but the same food, we sat on a park bench near our hostel and watched a storm come from the distant hills until it brought its gusts of wind and rain to our bench and we went inside to get all our stuff together and we walked to the bus station. We were ready for the rainforest after all that busy city!

Here comes the storm!

The 'fake' Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

After flying back to Lima and then getting a flight to Cuzco, we went to Ollontaytambo. We arrived in the Plaza De Armas in the evening, found a hostel there, walked around a little because the little stone town was lovely to see with its few lights lighting up the cobblestones. Our room was very nice and cheap and Tyler was stoked for hot water in the shower! The next morning we were astounded to find that the town was surrounded by massive green hills and ruins. After marveling a little, we found a market and I got a huge avocado and he got a mango and we got on the Veronica Combi (minibus) to the Kilometer 82 stop where we would begin our 30km hike to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu.

The bus ride was a bit long and very bumpy but the end of the road was the train station that shuttles people to and from Machu Picchu. After some arguing with the guy working by the train station who wouldn't let us walk on the tracks when we could see locals in the distance, we walked up and around and began our trek. The trail followed the tracks for the first half but we didn't have to walk on it often. We walked through trails with flora and fauna that reminded me of a jungle. The river to our side was roaring consistently in our ears but I don't mind that sound. We got to stop at ruins along the way that everyone on the bus wouldn't get to see. It was a wonderful hike, we were surprised to see that people lived a long most all of the trail.

Starting the trail!

 

We went through a few tunnels quite quickly to make sure there wasn't a train to bother us! The second half of the trail we walked along the tracks or right next to them for the most part. We camped out in the tent we borrowed from my brother David once it started getting dark. We'd made it to the kilometer 104 mark and it seemed like a good time to rest. I slept so bad! My back on rocks and the trains feeling like thunder when they came. But the next morning was Valentines and I got a nice treat of some chocolate bars and a beautiful ring.

My pretty moonstone ring :)

We finished the hike, found somewhere to stay in Aguas Calientes, a hotel called Margarita's House that we highly recommend! We then set up our tent in the room to let it dry out because it rained hard all night long. We bought our tickets for Machu Picchu for the next day and went to the Hot Springs. They were nice and soothed our muscles after having carried our bags so long. There were quite a few different pools at different temperatures, we liked the warmest ones!

At the HotSprings

We had a wonderful dinner, Tyler had alpaca burritos and I had papa rellenes which is mashed potatoes that they form back to look like a potato but with veg and egg inside and then cook again. It was really delicious! The town has music playing in the main square, love songs to celebrate.

My dinner

We got up early on the 15th. I wanted to do the hike up to MP and not take the bus. Tyler wasn't feeling well so we left later than expected, around 6AM. the hike up was nice, it was foggy and very rainy and we were sweaty! He still wasn't feeling too well so we stopped a lot, but actually passed quite a few people so I was proud :D

When we first entered I saw a sign for the sun gate which I'd read about so we hiked for ages away from the main ruins for this gate. Honestly, we weren't too impressed. The hike was long and wet and there wasn't much to see, maybe because it was so foggy and we couldn't see any kind of a view, but we made the long walk back to the main ruins where the fog had just barely started to lift and we began to catch small glimpses of the infamous ruins.

There was a sign to the 'Inca Bridge' and after signing in (maybe to make sure everyone comes back?) we walked probably 15 minutes to a really cool "bridge" created by the Incas. It was built into the side of this massive cliff and it was just a walkway so they could get across. It was blocked off from us which was pretty disappointing but it was still amazing to see it. It looked really dangerous!!

When we reached the main ruins once again, the fog was really lifting for us. We then saw what all the hype and talk is about. The ruins of Machu Picchu are breathtaking. They're just sitting there nestled in the middle of massive foresty mountains on all sides. It looks like the ultimate safe haven. After marveling from above, we descended into the heart and spent the next few hours exploring.

enjoy :)

Awesome architecture

Lots of people

Once we were done with the up close experience, we went back up high and sat and just looked at the Inca's home for ages. Eventually we hiked back down, and got a train back to Cuzco.

I am so thankful for this guy right here! He's kept up with me and been the best friend and travel companion I could ask for :) Hope you all spend a little time being thankful for the wonderful people who've been placed into your life :) love to all!