This morning was again an early rise in order to catch a plane. This time, Ginger and I flew out to Puerto Maldonado, one of the Amazon’s most visited regions. When we arrived at the airport, it was as if we were royalty. There were tons of indigenous people screaming, waving, and blasting air horns at us… I now understand what animals in the zoo must feel like. I did NOT want to go out of the airport into the mass of people. Later, we found out that they were expecting a presidential candidate to be on our plane and that all the chaos was not actually just for the arrival of Ginger and I.
Thankfully, we found our tour guide and headed on the journey to Tambopata Natural Reserve, a three hour boat ride upstream. On our way, we saw many species of birds, caiman (both black and white), red howler monkeys, and capybaras (like gigantic gerbils). We learned that the majority of the Amazonian people either mine gold or farm near the riverside for their income.
A sort of chicken fried rice lunch was served wrapped in palm leaves on the boat… it was very good and fit well into the nuance of the place. All the fruits and vegetables here are small and home-grown, so they were juicy and flavorful.
Once we arrived to Wasai lodge, we were assigned cabins and sent off to make ourselves at home. At 7, we were to reconvene and head out into the jungle (at dark I might add) for a night walk. On this walk we were to look for birds, reptiles and insects. Among the highlights were three tarantulas, a butterfly, a couple birds, and a huge gray spider (that I found) that is one of the most poisonous spiders in the region (15x more poisonous than a black widow.)
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