Relaxing in the Hammock House
Arrived at our jungle lodge around 7pm on Thursday, after a 1 hour boatride down the Amazon River. It was dark and raining, so did not get a great view of the river life, but our next few days more than made up for it. We ended up taking 6 or 7 boatrides and just seeing the villages, the fisherman, the interesting boats that somehow stay afloat, the children washing clothes, bathing, the river is the centre of their life for sure. you can be going downriver and every few minutes you will see the top of a building popping thru the jungle.
We stayed at the Ceiba Tops lodge, named after a 300 year old Ceiba tree, I am pretty sure it was the one that Tarzan lived in, lots of vines hanging down, and apparently is host to over 1,000 different plant and animal species. I swung from a vine....that is way harder than it looks by the way.
We visited 2 native villages, one being the Yagua Indian tribe, and they taught us how to use a blow gun, Tom got a bullseye on his first attempt........I had to have a few tries, and my foot is healing nicely. They put on a show for us, and of course I had to get up and join in the dancing.
We went to Laisla delos Monos, better known to us as Monkey Island. This is an island that takes in orphaned monkeys or ones that people have caught and tried to sell. We had to walk about 20 minutes from where we got off our boat, thru the jungle, the walk alone was amazing, passing banana, mango, palm trees, as well as many types of flowers growing everywhere. When they started this project, they spent the first 6 years planting trees and creating the food for the monkeys before they arrived.
The temperature was 107 with high humidity, we were just dripping wet the whole time. There were 8 types of monkeys, and they were so entertaining. There are about 30 or 40 that hang around the camp and are very comfortable around humans. Tom found that out when one climbed up and hugged him, then sat on his shoulder and licked the sweat off his forehead for him. Tom had his camera in his other hand, so he just lifted it up slowly and snapped a picture, and the monkey promptly slapped him upside the head, and jumped off. I guess the monkey thought they were bonding, only to discover we just wanted a good picture. Another one took a liking to Jane and hung off her arm upside down, and stuck his head up her pant leg....he will never be the same.
No luck with the piranha fishing, but Tom did catch a poisonous catfish / I did not know that catfish bark, these do.
We also saw pink dolphins in the river, they are beautiful.
We also visited another village this morning, before leaving the Amazon, and this one, we were able to go into some of the houses and see the school and the soccer field. The men of the village were busy roofing the community center...a palm leaf roof.
We flew back to Lima today, and just had a fabulous meal at our hotel. Tomorrow we are up bright and early to catch a flight to Arequipa, sunniest spot in Peru, 8000 ft. altitude, we have started taking our altitude medication. We will be there a few days, then off to Puno, Lake Titicaca. Should be able to get some internet access there, but who knows. There are 12 people on our trip, and they are all so much fun, we couldnt have a better group. Love to all, stay tuned.
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