Jungle: Part 2 (The Journey)

To get from Cusco to the jungle was an overland drive of 8 hours (not including stops) through the mountains on dirt roads. Richard arranged our tour with Vilca Expediciones while I was sick in the bathroom. We left at 5:30 the next morning while I was thinking, "I should really stay in bed." Fortunately, thanks to antibiotics, I improved after lunch that day. It also meant Richard got to eat most of my food for 3 days while I was recovering. The jungle was amazing and it was totally worth it.

We stopped a lot along the way to see things, especially birds. Here is Richard and one of our guides looking at some birds. Our guides were expert birdwatchers. They had guidebooks and showed us all the birds we saw. We saw tucans and parrots and parakeets and hawks and other birds I had never heard of. It's pretty weird to see a flock of birds fly overhead and realize they are parrots. I'm so used to seeing parrots in a pet store. (Although apparently there are wild flocks of parrots in major US cities like San Francisco. I've never seen them, though.)

Our loaded-up van is in the background. We had 4 tourists, two guides, two drivers and a cook. The road made things interesting. There were several places we had to get out so the van could make it through the mud. There were lots of places that seemed super close to scary cliffs. Coming up to a curve around the mountain, you could see how the road had washed out and where they had crudely shored it up. We lost the spare tire from underneath; they tied it to the top. Another time, we almost lost the cooler off the top. Fortunately, the meat for the trip was saved.

We also stopped along the way to try things. Our guide Nino (his nickname; his real name is long and I don't remember it) found a house where they were selling chicha. This is a fermented corn drink. They hang a red flag or flowers outside the house to indicate that chicha can be bought there. Richard tried it. How was it Richard? I think it was not fermented yet.


As we crossed the mountains, we saw them get gradually greener with more trees. Unfortunately, our pictures don't do the reality justice. Imagine this scene with much more vivid blues and greens. I adore the texture of mountains. Gorgeous.

Where we entered the reserve is in the cloud forest: the elevation is still high, but the climate had changed from dry to quite humid. This area is often covered in clouds, hence the name, and also the grey background to this picture.
After descending through the cloud forest, we stayed overnight in a lodge in a town whose name I can't remember right now.

The next day we headed further into the jungle. We drove/hiked to Atalaya, which you can just make out on the river shore in the picture below.

From Atalya, we took a boat. Pictured are Richard, our amazing guide Silvia, and the boat driver. Richard was very happy to be on the water, somewhere, somehow, in Peru. (We had wanted to go whitewater rafting, but there wasn't time. Too bad.)

Finally, we got to our lodge, pictured here late in the day.
We had agreed at the outset that our minimum honeymoon requirement was to have a bed and a shower. This meant no camping. (We have done & will do LOTS of camping later, I am certain.) Well, staying in this lodge was about as close to that minimum requirement as possible. We had a tiled bathroom, but no hot water. We had beds--two single ones! There was no electricity, but candles, and no windows, just screens. We did have lots of good food by our cook, amazing service from the lone caretaker of the lodge, a partially screened-in porch, and an amazing view of birds and butterflies and the river.

The next day, we climed that hill in the background. Pics of that hike next!