Exploring the World One Country at a Time

Stop #3 - Welcome to the Jungle - Peru

rachelstewart2 — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 08:27:00 GMT

Welcome to the Jungle – Manu National Park, Peru

Pre-Inca Ruins

Day 1 –

We had a long drive from Cusco to the edge of Manu National Park. On the way we stopped to see some pre-Incan ruins. They were burial columns used to entomb the leaders. We we're atop the Andes and I was so amazed by the vivid blue of the sky. It was magnificent. In the afternoon we descended from the Andes into the cloud forest. The clouds engulfed us as the desert turned to green. It was a mystical sight watching the clouds billowing upwards and then disappearing into nothing. After searching for quite some time and almost admitting defeat, we finally saw the Peruvian National bird, the Cock of the Rock. It is a beautiful bright red bird with, puffed crest on its head and a black tail. We also saw a Mot-mot, which was coloured in beautiful greens and blues. After another dodgy looking wire river crossing, similar to the one we took on the Inca Jungle Trek, we arrived at our lodge and were greeted by a gigantic highway of leaf cutter ants. It was as if the whole forest floor, and all of the leaves within in, was shifting. After a nice dinner we had a good night sleep.

Cock of the Rock

Day 2 –

We saw a lot of animals up close today. However, we saw them at an animal sanctuary. It was more like someone’s backyard, but the animals weren’t in cages or anything so that was good to see. We saw a tapir, a capybara (the world’s biggest rodent), a woolly monkey (Rosita), a squirrel monkey, a brown capuchin monkey, a very friendly peccary (wild pig) and 2 beautiful macaws – both the blue and yellow macaw and the scarlet macaw. Rosita was the cutest baby monkey and I got to hold her. She was so sweet and she fell asleep nuzzled into my arms. Every time I tried to pass her to someone she would push them away and nuzzle further into my arms. I just wanted to cuddle her forever! After sadly leaving Rosita behind we embarked on a short trek through the outskirts of the jungle. We saw some black spider monkeys and a chestnut-eared Aracari (toucan). We then finally reached the river and headed downstream to an oxbow lake. At the lake we saw a white caiman, a whole troop of tiny squirrel monkeys and many beautiful birds. We saw a hoatzin (crazy, prehistoric looking bird), a horned screamer, an owl, and some beautiful tiny hummingbirds (these were my favourites). Once again we too the boat (we were about to spend a whole lot of time here) to our new lodge perched high on the river bank.

Day 3 –

I was very excited to be going to the parrot’s clay lick that I had heard so much about. However, after getting up at 5am it was very disappointing. There were barely any parrots. Whilst eating our pancakes further up the river we saw some red howler monkeys and I managed to spot an otter as it quickly dashed across one of the rocky islands. After breakfast we hiked through the foothills at the edge of the jungle. It was an amazing sight to be completed surrounded by green everywhere you looked. We saw some saddle-backed tamarins (monkeys) and some more black spider monkeys. In the afternoon we zip-lined through the canopy and perched, rather precariously, on tree platforms. Lastly, we began our night walk and strolled through the forest whilst being watched by twinkling eyes. We saw a few frogs and the huge scorpion spider which looks like the one that Mad-Eye Moody puts the unforgivable curses on in Harry potter. :)

Scorpion Spider Tree Frog

Day 4 –

Today we were headed for the restricted zone of the amazon. Hunting, logging, housing and agriculture are heavily restricted here and there are only a handful of tourism companies with small lodges allowed. This is where the trees get thick, the animals are numerous and the forest floor is flat, all the way to the Atlantic ocean of Brazil. This was certainly the high point of our animal spotting, which made the approximately 12 hours of sitting in the boat more bearable. We headed off at 5:30 am and putted along the meandering river. After a few hours Matt’s jungle eyes spotted a family of capybaras on the banks – very cool. There were birds always darting in and out of the river and we spotted a beautiful kingfisher having his morning feed. After being barely 10 minutes into the reserved zone our boatman spotted a sole jaguar pacing along the banks. We were all excited and amazed as we were sure that we wouldn't see such a brilliant and rare animal. It was beautiful and we were able to observe it from a pretty close distance from the safety of our boat. We also saw heaps of turtles and even a huge black caiman catching some rays on the sandy bank. We camped at the furthest point allowed before the park is completed closed to tourist. We had to camp at the scientist head-quarters at Pakitza because the actual camp of our company had been attacked by a native tribe two months earlier. Our guide told us a very vivid tale of how this happened and were were mesmerised. Due to this the government had closed that entire side of the river and many companies lost their lodges. It is so hard to believe that, within this ever-globalising world, there are still tribes of people in the Amazon who have had almost no contact with the outside world. Amazing.

Jaguar - Orotongo

Capybaras

Day 5

We took a boat to Salvador Lake where we slowly made our way around on another boat. From the boat we spotted a family of giant river otters. We were able to get very close to the otters and even watch and listen to them feeding (a very distinct bone-crunching sound). On our arrival back at the small jetty we had some some black howler monkeys feeding in the trees just above us and a caiman lying silently next to the jetty. Next we walked to Casa Machegenga and on the way saw some monkeys and heard a large rustle and running in the forest which sounded like a jaguar. We we arrived back at our camp and had a pollo feast. Matt required a siesta after and Daniela and I took on the boys in a football match (our crew and a group of Peruvian biologists). As we approached dusk we headed to the mammals clay lick, but were unlucky and didn’t spot anything. We saw many spiders and some monkeys on our walk back to camp. Matt was lucky enough to witness the tarantula grab an easy meal when a bullet ant came too close to its web.

Giant Otter

Day 6

We prepared ourselves to leave this beautiful park of the jungle and our day consisted mostly of a long boat trip to Boca Manu. We stopped once to take a walk on the closed side of the river (not sure if this was allowed or not), but we saw over 30 monkeys. There were the squirrels, howlers, black spiders, capuchins and the woolly which was an amazing sight. Matt is still talking about it. Back on the boat heading downstream we came across a red howler monkey struggling to swim across the river. Our guide said it must have been a young male who had been ousted from his troop. He finally made it but was extremely exhausted from fighting the current. On arrival in Boca Manu we enjoyed our first cold drink in days and had a few beers with our crew. Our sleep was rudely interrupted by some rats running rampant around our lodge and darting across the beams of the roof.

Red Howler Monkey

Day 7 –

Day 7 involved a long slow struggle up stream to Patiti Lodge against the current. This resulted in the boys having to abandoning ship on a few occasions to push the boat against the strong current as we hit the shallow river bed. The day was mostly uneventful and we arrived in our lodge in the late afternoon and played some cards with our guide and boatman. Young Breydi was so intrigued when we showed him out phrase book and he spend the night practicing his English with us. He definitely picked it up fast and has a natural talent for speaking in English. When we returned to Cusco we even bought him is very own phrase book and he was very grateful.

Pushing the Boat

Day 8 –

We drove the 8 hrs or so back over the Andes to the cold of Cusco and enjoyed a nice dinner with Daniela. Overall we had a fantastic experience in the jungle. Daniela was the best tour buddy we could ask for as we all held a mutual respect for the jungle and its serenity. We would definitely recommend Vilca Expeditions for anyone travelling to Manu National Park.

Hasta luego,

Signing out for now,

Rach :)

Extra Info / memory enhancer
Manu tour. Vilca expeditions People- Thomas (Denmark), Uda (Norway), (first 4 days) Daniela (England / Australia) ( last 4 days) Guide: German, cook: Hilario, Boatman: Breydi

Stop #2 - Peru (Inca Jungle Trek)

rachelstewart2 — Sat, 2 Aug 2014 03:41:00 GMT

The Inca Jungle Trek – Our Route to Machu Pichu

Day 1 – The whole tour started with yet another very early morning with a pick up from our hostel. We then headed to Lorenzo HQ to meet the rest of the group and have a breakfast/briefing. Next we drove for a few hours to reach the start of our mountain biking at 4600m. The drive took us through the Sacred Valley, which resembles more of a sparsely vegetated desert, before starting our assent toward the snow-capped peaks of the Andes. We had a great group in our van which included an American family, and Rad and Jac from Canada who would tackle the rest of the trip with us. On arrival at the top of the mountain range we were greeted with some thin air and cool conditions.

The biking was all downhill which allowed us to descend while taking in the sights of the Andes and slowly feeling the temperature rise. Rachel managed a concentration lapse which almost saw her end up in the large road side gutter but recovered with style and blamed it on the quest for good GoPro footage. We reached the end of our biking at 2000m and the last few kilometres flattened out on the valley floor and required some hard pedalling. We then jumped back in the bus and headed toward our accommodation for the night in Santa Maria. We dropped off our bags and then headed off for white water rafting. Our team for the rafting was the same as that from our van ride, Rad was especially nervous and she had never rafted before and it only seemed fair that she was at the front of the raft and the first one to be thrown out. The water was a touch on the cold side as it was fresh from melting off the ice-capped Andes, which was enough incentive to hold on tight to avoid falling in. The rafting ended right on dusk which was later than expected and made for a few cold wet bodies. Unfortunately after the biking footage there was minimal GoPro battery left to film the rafting. We then went out with the entire group for dinner, the dinners on this tour were Masterchef quality with proper plating which was the last thing we were expecting in the Peruvian highlands. A poor night sleep was to follow.

Day 2 –The start of day two consisted of hiking on Peruvian flats (uphill gradient), however we all jumped on the back of a truck to quickly knock off the first few kilometres of the hike. We then made a long stop at a local house for the cultural activities which included a talk on local coca, cacao and coffee farming as well as exposure to local wildlife (giant guinea pig) and some traditional dress. From here we hiked up hill and met up with one of the old Inca trails along the trail we could see the craftsmanship that went into snaking these trails along the steep mountainside. We has spectacular views down the valley, with the snow-capped Mt. Salkantay on one side and the edges of the Amazon on the other. We followed this trail along the mountainside and into the valley where we crossed the river on a zip line basket and headed to the hot springs. Here we were able to have a rest and watch the sun set. From the hot springs we jumped into a van as night fell and headed for 30 mins to Santa Theresa our accommodation for the night. As dinner time came we were again greeted with immaculate Peruvian cuisine and another poor night of sleep.

Day 3 – Today was a day we had both been looking forward to as we got to tackle the longest zip lines in South America. They definitely lived up to expectation as it wasn’t long till we were lining up to set off on a 1.5km line 800m above the valley floor and reaching speeds of 90km/h. The view was spectacular as we crossed from one side of the valley to the other over the roaring river. From start to finish we tackled 4 zip lines and we were both able to superman, which involved laying facing the valley floor whilst attached to the guide behind, this allowed for some great GoPro footage (coming soon). After this we crossed the valley floor on a long suspension bridge with sparsely spaced wooden planks. This allowed for a great opportunity to jump around and shake the bridge which resulted in a new, albeit small, scar for Rach (whoops, partly my fault). From here we jumped back into the van and headed along some steep cliff-side roads passing through Peru’s hydroelectric area. This area has a vast tunnel system running through the mountains to divert river systems to power Peru. We reached the end of the road and commenced our walk along the railway tracks en route to Machu Pichu. After just 10 minutes we got our first glimpse of the incredible Inca ruins far in the distance, on the top of the mountain range. After this we reached our lunch stop were yet another masterchef quality meal awaited. After lunch we headed to the football pitch which was cleared out of the thick vegetation on the valley floor for a game of 3v3. Great fun, but we all ended up dripping with sweat. The three girls Rach, Rad and Vera definitely impressed our guides who assumed that women couldn’t live up to their standard. (We sure showed them – Rach). After lunch we continued our trek along the train line, occasionally having to dash of the track for a passing train. Sound dramtic, actually thre train was moving very slowly and sounded its horn km before reaching us. Whilst walking this track we experienced an extremely rare sighting of a spotted bear coming down to the river to drink. Our guide said in all his years of taking tours he had only ever seen 2 others. Then it was back on the tracks for our final dash to the town of Aguas Calientes, which sits at the foot of Machu Pichu Mountain.

Day 4 – The big day arrived and we were up before 5am to start our trek up to Machu Pichu for sunrise. We paired up with the Canadian girls and Matt and Rad had planned to be some of the first to reach the top. 1700 steps later Matt and Rad arrived at the gates to the Inca Ruins, Rad obviously in in much better shape than Matt resulting in suffering some exhaustion and nausea which quickly passed. (Who are you kidding Matt, you very nearly spewed, all because you couldn’t let yourself be beaten by a Girl). Jac and Rach arrived at the gates 15mins later and we waited for the gates to open. We were greeted with some bad weather for the first few hours but this cleared and the remaining clouds added to the majestic feel of the ruins. The following hours were spent walking amongst the ruins, admiring what the Incas were able to achieve and taking many, many photos (even the ’illegal’ handstand photo which the guards actually made us delete. Lucky Rad had a copy). The time flew by and soon it was time for the girls to head back down the mountain to catch their train back to Cusco. We stayed on for a couple more hours before heading back down the mountain by which time hunger and exhaustion were setting in. At about 4:30 we too headed back down the mountain and then headed to the hot springs to recover. We had dinner with some of the other people we met on our trip, Sebastian, Lily and Andreas. A fun night of travel talk, jenga and impromptu rapping in our restaurant followed and then some well-deserved rest.

Day 5 –Our trip back to Cusco didn’t quite go to plan but was a fun trip none the less. We misread our train ticket but lucky this meant we showed up over 1 hour early for our train to Ollaytaytambo with Sebastian and Lily. Train broke down for almost 3 hrs. Luckily we did not have to rush to be back in Cusco and we just passed the time playing cards. We arrived back in Cusco with no hostel booking any many hostels booked out, one hostel tried putting us in their dodgy staff quarters. By some stroke of luck we walked past a restaurant and a glimpse inside of some shiny blonde hair revealed the Canadian girls grabbing some lunch which was a very welcome sight. We grabbed a bite to eat whilst searching the internet for a hostel and found a very nice hostel just around the corner which was very lucky. We then met up with Alex and Ginge, 2 girls the Canadians had met previously, and being the small world it is, Alex being from Sydney, shared some mutual friends. We had some dinner (which some would regret more than others) and then headed back to the hostel for a game of king of beers before bed.

We had such a great time on this leg of our trip and saw and experienced the amazing things Peru has to offer. To top it all off we were so lucky to meet such great people so early in our trip. (You created big shoes to fill Rad and Jac)! It is so heart-warming to find people from the other side of the world that you just click with. And lucky for Jac, great to have friends that will rush to the airport to give you your forgotten money and credit cards – haha. (Radost and Jac, thanks for the awesome times. You better come visit us in Aus)!

Signing out,

Mostly Matt :)

Personal Notes
Inca jungle trip Lorenzo expeditions Guide: Juan Carlos
People: Radost and Jaclyn (Canada), Sebastian and Lily (Austria), Nick, (South African), Vera and her dad (Germany) Casey (USA), Andres (Colombia) Family from USA,

Stop #1 California

rachelstewart2 — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 04:19:00 GMT

I´ve been to California almost 5 times now and I can safely say that I am no fan of Los Angeles. The city is smothered in thick smog and well Hollywood is disgusting. However, the main reason we have visited the sunshine state the last two times was to visit our dear old friend Camaron. This certainly did not disappoint. It was so good to see her again after what felt like such a long time, and yet felt like no time at all. With the truest of friends time lapses never matter.

What we have discovered though, was that California has some of the most beautiful and pristine National Parks in the world; and by this, we certainly were not disappointed. Now the plan was to head to Yosemite National Park for a take 2 (after a couple of years earlier our tour bus broke down on the way). In the end we did not make it to Yosemite, but that did not matter.

So, we picked up our hire car, a Jeep Patriot and after a few days of hanging out and feeling queasy at Six Flags, we set off northbound. We spent our first night in the foothills of Sequoia National Park where we discovered that indeed every piece of food and toiletries has to be locked in a secure bear-proof box, as if we would see a bear. We had quite the set up in the back of the car with 2 blow-up mattresses, pillows and blankets – we were comfy! The next morning we ventured through the park and saw the world´s true giants. Sequoias towered over us as we drove through the beautiful forest. The General Sherman Tree, the world´s largest tree by mass, left us in awe as we were completely dwarfed in its presence.

We were so lucky to see a total of 8 wild bears whilst in the park, including 4 teeny, clumsy and adorable cubs. The deers, marmots and tonnes of squirrels kept us entertained. We met some wonderful people whilst camping and twice they took pity on us after seeing us cook our cans of soup over the fire. We were fed a Filipino Feast and even a rib-eye steak complete with mash and veges – spoilt!

After 3 days we ventured further north and were amazed by the sheer cliffs of Kings Canyon. We hiked to the beautiful Mist Falls which gave us the perfect vantage point to gaze over the entire canyon. We swam in the crystal clear river, gazed at the endless stars and even were entertained but some country campfire songs, courtesy of our new American friends.

Feeling completely refreshed (although filthy), and not at all ready to leave, we headed back down south. We spent our last weekend in California once again hanging with Camaron. We were lucky to have a delicious home cooked meal, courtesy of her lovely mum. Our last couple of days we relived being kids and played some awesome mini-golf, killed it in an arcade and stuffed our faces with Jolly Ranchers.

With a sad goodbye to Camaron, but with excitement for our onward journey, we boarded our plane to Peru.