One, Two, Skip a Few, 99.. Mendoza!

Heading into Argentina

Colourful rocks - reds greens, yellows; Salta-  meeting with Argentinian friends made in Ecuador, huge gigantic pieces of meat, wine, architecture, cool rock formations; Cafayete - peaceful wine country, slow pace, small town, long siestas, riots, strikes... Long buses - 6 hr rides followed by 10 hour layovers, 40 degree heat, another 15 hour bus ride... And hey, we're in Mendoza!

Colourful rocks near Salta, Argentina

This steak does NOT meet dietitian standards.

Wine with friends

Its hot up here in Northern Argentina, desert actually, and that makes it perfect for - you guessed it - wine. We're in wine country! Unfortunately for the sweet white wine lover, malbec is king here. Most wine here is red. That's ok though, we're in Mendoza, and a wine tour is a must. And hey, lucky us, our tour is private! On the agenda: 4 wineries. A classic tour and tasting at stop one. We become the chemists at stop two as we learn how to produce our own blend and compete for the best blend! (Andrea must have cheated...) At stop 3 you will stagger into the winery for a 5 course dinner with a wine to pair for each course. (how many glasses have we had so far?) Delicious! And the fourth stop we taste the progression from the unfinished in the tanks, to the finished products out of the barrels. I need to sit down.

A Bodega in Mendoza, Argentina

Andrea's special blend.

Seriously, who drinks this much wine at lunch?

Another spin (I know y'all love a good pun now and then) on wine tours is the bicycle. Pretty much everyone who goes through a hostel ends up at Mr. Hugo's to rent a bike. How much wine can YOU drink without falling off your bike?

A self serve biking wine tour.

Seriously though, Argentina is nuts. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's the nicest, cleanest and least poor country we've been to in South America. We love it. But the government is just crazy! Heres the deal: Inflation here is running rampant, and the value of their peso is sinking like a rock. Everyone wants USD, because it's way more stable. The crazy part? The government has actually banned foreign currency! Other then buying it on the street (and it's expensive) you can't get it. Period. (Believe me we have tried) Travelers will go to Uraguay or Chile if they are running out of cash to pull out more USD. An illegal market has developed to supply it. They call it the blue dollar. Legally the exchange rate is 6.3 pesos to 1 USD (right now anyway, its constantly going up though), which is the rate your bank will charge an American using their credit card. But on the blue market (it's blue not black because EVERYONE knows about it) you will get 9.3 to 1. It's crazy, it's illegal but the rate will actually get printed in the newspaper! The government just pretends it doesn't exist!

I gotta say, it felt pretty sketch the first time we went it the jewellery store to get out money changed:

The money changers were lined up on the street. Contact was made, the rate was negotiated. It pays to come equipped with knowledge of the actual rate. You won't get it here in Mendoza, but not knowing is a sure way to be taken advantage of. We're escorted into the shops, downstairs into a tiny hole in the wall jewellery store. The store clears out and the door is closed. Jewellery is not the main business here. A knock on the wall and a small hidden windows slides open. Wads of cash are exchanged. A black light is pulled out for our use if we desire, to check the money for fakes. The changers are more reliable then the banks, their reputation is on the line. Still, to not check would be foolish. The money is good. The exchange complete.

By the way - we're off to Chile. We need some more USD!

Country quirk: In many parts of Argentina they believe strongly in siestas. Everything shuts down from 1-5, often restaurants will be closed from 1 to 8 or 8:30. How annoying.

Argentinian empanadas are where it's at.

Travelers notes: we stayed at hostel Lagares. Good price and fairly close to the main square. It was clean, had a kitchen, and had breakfast (just toast and homemade sweet bread, coffee and tea). Tons of movies available if you wish. Javier the owner will help you with anything, even give you help planning your trip as he's traveled within Argentina himself.

Changing money really isn't sketchy... It really does help stretch your money. Everyone does it, you'll have no issues. You get better value in Buenos Aries.

We did our wine tour with Mendoza Wine Camp, I recommend it.

Riots in Cafayete

Biking with Mr Hugo.

San Pedro

San Pedro

We decided to do a short trip through San Pedro. We are really just using it as a way into Argentina. But hey, while we are here, we might as well stay a few nights and have some fun.

How do you have fun in the desert? Well try sandboarding on for size! It's not as easy as you might think. Well actually if you're a beginner it might be real easy. The thing is getting speed is almost impossible. That's what makes it easy for a beginner, but tricky for those who want to go fast! There is so much friction! But I did manage to find the steepest part of the hill, and did get some speed there. That's when the real issues started. I wanted to go fast because I wanted to hit the jump at the bottom. And hit the jump I did! Remember how I was talking about all that friction? Man when I hit that jump my board just stuck! I came to a complete stop in an instant. My body? It did not. As I soared through the air I couldn't help but think: “I hope the sand is as soft of a landing as they said iti was”. And then... Well not sure what happened next, but when I came too I sure as heck felt it.

Sandboarding, the long walk up

What else...How 'bout a sunset. Classic. And what better place then moon valley. It's like watching the sun set over the moon. Why is it called moon valley?

Hmm. Stargazing! So cool. No light in the desert other than natural light. This French astronomer has a heck of a setup. Those telescopes were huge! At 60 centimetres in diameter you won't find bigger around San Pedro. Man, I just loved seeing the tarantula nebula inside another galaxy! Saturn's rings, Betelgeuse – wow it's so big and orange looking through the telescope!

The Southern Cross can be seen just above the horizon

And of course, San Pedro is so relaxed and laid back, that heck, take a stroll through the town. Talk to some jewellers. Have a custom designed ring made. Kick back! Relax! You're in San Pedro!

Travelers notes: We stayed at Mama Tierra. Very close to the bus station, about a 10 minute walk to the centre of town. $25 per person. Nice, free breakfast. I was happy with it. We booked the sandboarding and moon valley with Inca tours. They are right on the square. We had no issues here. 15000 pesos. The star gazing was done with “SPACE”. I highly recommend this tour. Others have little telescopes on the roof of their home, or try to say they have the only astronomer. Don't bite. Go to Caracoles street, towards the end of the street #166, you will find “Space”. Book there. They have Spanish, English or French options. Right beside the stargazing place is Rodrigo. He made a custom ring for Andrea for no extra charge. If you see a silver ring, kind of a little saddle shaped, with two strips of silver filled in with polished stone running down the middle – that's Andrea's design!

Sandboarding

Rock formations at "Valley of the Moon"

One of the greats

He really was one of the greats.

We often reserve this title for the famous. But I think it more accurately describes him, then it does the majority of people we actually use it for. The impact he had on this world is immeasurable. His story was one worthy of being retold.

We all have many fond memories of him. The places he has lived, the stories he has told, the jobs he has had, the laughs we have shared. The predicaments he has been in... Certainly all worthy of being told, and worth remembering. But for now I would like to focus on something more important than what he did. I would like to talk about who he was. The part of his story I would like to focus on is who he was.

He was one of the hardest workers I knew. Whether he was running the feed mill, working the lumber camp, running the grocery store, selling properties... In all he did he did his best, and what was needed to provide for his family.

He was was a gentle hearted, caring man. Caring about and serving others wasn't just something he did, an obligation that he filled. It was who he was. For me, what stands out wasn't so much the service he did, with organizations like Habitat for Humanity, or the Gideons. But more so the direct influence he had on those around him. How many people are going to church, reading the bible, have accepted the Lord into their lives because he got to know them on the bus, on the way to work, or on the C-train. How many strangers did he take the time to talk to, to befriend, to help, to give rides to (even to his own peril), to share the gospel with? As this kindness, this love spreads through others? Exponential growth. Immeasurable.

He knew what he believed in, and had absolute faith. Faith can be contagious. I felt it spread to me whenever I was around him, bolstering my own faith, as I am sure it did to others. His life was testimony, and he openly shared his concerns, his desires for others to walk in the way of the Lord. Being with him, it would have been hard not to share his desires.

It sums up best like this: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control". As I quote Galatians 5:22-23,  I wonder, how is it possible for a man to have ALL of these qualities? And yet, I read the list again, and yes, it's like its a perfect description. If anything was an indication of his relationship with the Lord it's this. 

So who was he? A great man, a true servant of the Lord.

This is why I respected him. But, this is not why I loved him. There was something else.

What made me love Grandpa Penner had nothing to do with what a great man he was. No; rather, it was how he loved his family. It was how his eyes lit up when we visited him. It was how he cared about our walk with God, about who we married, about what was going on in our life. It was his deep desire to see us grow up to be children of God. It was his warmth, his hospitality, his friendly conversations. I knew exactly how much Grandpa cared about us. You could see the glow around his face on every visit. It's these things that I valued most. Things things that bring the tears to my eyes. It was the loving grandfather.

Grandpa, I loved you too. I will miss you. And I look forward to seeing you again!

On December 1, 2013, my grandpa Penner passed away. Our prayers go out to Grandma, and the Penner family. While they are together in Calgary, we are stuck in Argentina. So instead of honouring him with my presence, I have tried to honour him with my words. Grandpa will be sorely missed by friends and family, but those who knew him, know he's having a heck of a time without us right now in heaven. 

2 Timothy 4:6-8

6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Matthew 25:21

21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; ... Enter into the joy of your lord.'

The salt flats and rugged desert land of Bolivia

Salar de Uyuni

Train Cemetery

If your going to be off roading in the desert, the vehicle of choice is the Toyota Land Cruiser. At least that's the sentiment here in Uyuni, A small town in Bolivia that survives on the profits they make on salt collected in one of the largest salt flats in the world. Then all you need is a driver (preferably one who speaks English) and you are good to go.

The first stop the driver will make is the train cemetery. Here you will find a heap load of coal fired trains come from the United States to here, for the sole purpose of finding their final rest. The rusted out, grafitied trains, do make for some great photos.

Salt collections, each pile to his own

From here the driver will head toward the salt flats. But on the way he will stop at a train bridge, where you will get a great view of some volcanoes. Keep driving along these tracks and you will find yourself in Chile. But you will have to wait a while to see a train, they only go once a week. The view is fantastic, its just flat desert, then up shoots a big volcano.

Endless salt 

Shoot some photos and stretch your legs here. Then get back on the truck. Next stop will be the salt flats. The salt flats are a seemingly never ending desert of white. The driver, who will double as a tour guide, oh and be your cook, will tell you that the salt is 150m deep, and came from a giant body of water that was once connected to the ocean. Funny thing to think of in a place that is 4000m above sea level. Everyone here has there own pile of salt that they collect. There really is more than enough for everyone. While in the salt flats the thing to do for tourists, is to take funny photos that play on the fact that in an endless dessert of salt, there is no depth perception. Don't forget to bring some toys!

Roooarr!

After corralling the troops back into the truck, the driver will then take you, along the rubber blackened salt road, to Cactus Island. Literally an island among the sea of salt, it hosts big fat giant cacti. When it only rains in two months of the year not much grows, and these cacti will only shoot up a centimetre a year.

On exit of the salt flats it's time for the driver to find you a place to stay. If you are lucky it will be Hostel de Sal. A hostel made completely of salt. Even the beds are made of salt! Oh, and please,

Ahh, finally big print in Lonely Planet!

take a shower. It's the last one you will get for a while. Be considerate to the other passengers.

In the morning the driver will take you to some wicked rock formations. It may strike you as a great place to mountain bike, but keep dreaming, you don't have a bike. Take a look at the horizon here, as the volcano you see is constantly smoking. Very cool.

Now buckle up and get ready for a ride through mountainous desert. There are no roads here. That's part of the fun. This rugged desert

We are at 4650m here

terrain is straight from Mars. Eventually the path will take you to the lagoons. Red lagoons, green lagoons, pink flamingos, white flamingos, blue lagoons, white lagoons, more lagoons then you can shake a stick at...

By the end of the day the driver will take you to the geysers. Bubbling mud coming out of the grand, 200 degrees Celsius. High pressure steam coming up from the ground like it was a broken pipe at an oil refinery. Then you will go to the hot springs. You will sleep here. Sitting under the stars, in the hot springs is an amazing experience. The

Red Lagoon

desert sky has no light but for the stars. Incredible.

The last day of the tour could see you going back to Uyuni, on a 7 hour trip, or you do as we did, and hitch a ride to the Chilean border. Viva Chile!

Travelers Notes: We booked our tour with Red Planet. We bought it at Kanoo Tours in La Paz, they did make a mistake and told the tour

Steam from the geyser

company we were booked for 1 day when really we paid and had a reciept for a 3 day tour. Probably just simple mistake. Gravity in La Paz will also book with Red Planet. Red Planet I believe is the most expensive, at like 170 person if memory serves. But they also had the best reputation and English guides. English guides aren't completely necessary, but they are nice. The other thing that made Red planet unique was where they stay: They stay at the salt hostel the first night (I think another company does this too) and the second night is at the hot springs. Staying at the hot springs alone made the increased price worth it. Not much going on in Uyuni, minimize your time spent there.

Hot springs

La Paz, San Pedro Prison, Presidents and the "Worlds Most Dangerous Road"

La Paz

La Paz

La Paz is a very pretty city built in a valley surrounded by mountain peaks. That is if you can just manage to focus on the mountains and not the unfinished run down buildings! You see if you actually finish your building, you have to pay tax on it... We wouldn't want to do that now would we.

Being that it is a big city, which we came mostly to bike the "worlds most dangerous road", we decided to do a city tour, and get the lay of the land. Red Hat tours is a group that run a free tour, just working off tips. Brilliant, as the tour was pretty good, and they have some good tips! In addition to showing us fruit and veg markets, taking us to get our bag of freshly blended fruit juice to go and giving a run down on the city in general. They also shared some bits that we found most interesting!

San Pedro Prison 

San Pedro prison is found pretty much next to the tourist area. If you have some time and are interested pick up the book "Marching Powder" and give it a read. The gist of the prison is this: It is entirely run by the inmates. The only place that you find any guards is outside!

Now to get into San Pedro, if you happen to be sentenced to there, will cost you 30 Bolivianos ($4 US). There is no free stays. And if you want a cell to sleep in? That will be more. Maybe you are a bit of an entrepreneur? You might want to rent several cells, and start running businesses out of them!

There is lots of room for scams out of San Pedro too! For example, you might want to start producing cocaine, and selling it on the street. Getting the equipment in there is easy enough, you just need enough start up money to bribe the guards to let your equipment in. Then you need a man on the outside, to toss your bag of cocaine out the window too. (Don't overthrow it though, as that seems to cause commotion with the tourists when a bag of cocaine gets thrown onto the square from the prison window.)

Maybe you are more of an extortion guy? Once again get a man on the outside. He steals the car, parks it, gets the licence number and brings it to you. From there you give the number to a guard, with a healthy bribe, and he runs the data. Now you have a name, phone number, address and other info on the car owner. Time for a phone call. We have your car. Say this car owner now goes to the police (after all the guy who called you is in prison, this is not right). Well the police are a bit short on man power, but some extra cash would go a long way. Ok now the cops can call the guards, hey whats going on here, you got some sort of extortion going on here? I'm going to need a cut of the fee or I am going to have shed light on the situation. Guard doesn't want to share his part of the extortion fee, so he needs more. The prisoner has to pay more? Time for another phone call. Listen up we know where you live, the names of your wife and children, where you work, where your kids go to school. The price to get your car back is now this, you better pay it. Now that it's a bit more serious, it's time to pay. Come to the prison. Money changes hands, a beat down transpires (don't talk to the cops next time), and a hand drawn map is given. Time to pick yourself up, get the map and get out. After finding the car, you realize its in perfect condition, nothing is stolen, nothing is damaged. Bolivians really are nice criminals. They will even give you bus money after robbing you, or give your sim card back after taking your phone. (you need your contacts after all).

You used to actually be able to get tours of the prison. These started after one prisoner bribed a guard, went out for drinks with him, the guard passed out, and the prisoner instead of running, picked up an Israeli girl, brought her back to his cell... The Israeli girl after getting a grand tour, asked to bring some friends back. As long as they pay that's ok...Word spread and San Pedro became a tourist attraction. This all quit after some video of tourists and prisoners doing drugs in the prison was brought to the media. Officially there are no more tours, but you can still get in. It will cost you to get in and to get back out however, and it's not recommended.

-My San Pedro source is what I remember from Red Hat tours. I plan on reading "Marching Powder" for a more comprehensive story. 

Presidency - A dangerous gig.

Apparently presidency is a dangerous gig in Bolivia. If the Bolivians don't like you, they have been known to throw you out the window of the presidential suite. (This has happened to at least two presidents). This may be done to cheering of the crowd, as you claim the presidency, only to go down as the worst president ever. (There's a good story of how the president rode the British Ambassador out of town over some funky food that was declined). Well the Brits are pretty powerful, and after erasing Bolivia from the maps in Britain for a period of time, they supplied Chile with some weapons, and oh, Bolivia no longer has a coastline. Or perhaps the people will lynch you just outside the legislative building. But... To be fair, it turns out that president was actually pretty good, so they did make a monument out of the lamp post where he was lynched. Crazy place. To this day the Bolivians protest everything. Really inconvenient for traffic, with all the road blocks and all.

Once again my source is Red Hat tours, confirmed by other people living here. Not sure where to read up more on the topic, but feel free to let me know.

The Worlds Most Dangerous Road

Most Dangerous Road

Officially called Yungas road. Named the "Worlds Most Dangerous Road" by Inter-American Development Bank, with 200-300 travelers dying every year when it was the primary road for traffic. Since being opened up to cycling tourists, only a mere 19 cyclists have been killed, with some amazing survival stories of people falling 80 m and coming out with a broken wrist, and with some unfortunate stories like the guide who went to the spot of death of a cyclist to document it, only to go off the edge himself and die.

So naturally, knowing that we were so close to the worlds most dangerous road, we knew that we had to bike it ourselves!

64 km of pure downhill (while being careful NOT to push limits too far on this one...) on downhill bikes down a windy single lane road with hairpin turns, and the occasional car or bus coming back at you made for an exciting ride. Oh to make it more exciting, traffic laws are reversed here. On this road you must stick to the left hand side, which means for bikers, you are riding on the cliff side! If vehicles pass you need to see how many inches you have to spare before your wheels roll off the cliff. Oh and no guard rails here. Bring it on.

Bus is stuck on under the waterfall.

We saw first hand some troubles that happen on this road when we ran into a bus broke down on a single laned corner (funny enough under a waterfall). With the need for our support vehicle to get by there was no choice but to push. At least that's what the Bolivians thought. What none of us understood was why we were pushing it up the hill to get it out of the way, instead of letting it roll down the hill with an engine that wouldn't start. Bolivians....

As we dropped from 4700 m to 1100 m the weather changes from fog shrouded freezing cold, to very warm as you get into the jungle. You pass along shear cliffs, through waterfalls, around hairpin turns, while enjoying some great scenery. Pretty epic ride.

To finish things off our bike company bought us all a beer, and we had lunch at a wildlife sanctuary before heading back home on the new road. (which is closing in a few weeks because of all the landslides and erosion tearing up the road. I guess new does not necessarily mean better!)

The Worlds Most Dangerous Bank Machine

The source of my single most frustrating experiences in South America has been Bolivian bank machines. Many simply are erratic, and sometimes work sometimes don't. But then some actually think that they have spat out money when they have not! I have had some good fights with Visa over this, and I hope that the charges get erased! It came to a head the other day when I went to the bank, and they told me I could use the atm inside their bank to get US cash, only to have it say that it gave me money when it didn't. The bank then didn't seem to see my concerns. Just go to another atm! Meanwhile Visa just keeps charging me! UUUGHHH!

In addition to this, atm's in the tourist area can have some slipped in counterfit money as the atm guards pocket some real Bolivianos in exchange for fakes for beer money later that day. Excellent.

To Read: "Marching Powder" by Rusty Young

Travellers Notes: We stayed at Cruz de Los Andes, for 17$ a person. It was nice, staff was friendly. There was not really a hang out atmosphere, and we only really connected with one traveller during our stay here. Also the wifi was good at times awful at others. This may have been more of a Bolivian thing then a Cruz de Los Andes thing. Was in a good location, in the tourists area. And had HOT high pressured showers. I would say definitely go there if you are looking for a quiet stay, otherwise maybe not.

Gravity mountain biking is known by everyone as by far the best bike company with the best bikes and guides. To do the most dangerous road, you should probably spend the money and use them.

Red Hat tours is a free tour, you can get there info in Gravity's office, as well as other places. They go twice a day, work off tips and give a great tour. Do this if you are looking to fill some time and want some fun facts on the city.

Banco Bisa gives USD out of their ATM, BUT they may not work and may charge your Visa anyway. Apparently Bank of Bolivia (BNB) will dole out USD at the actual bank.

Copacabana and Isla del Sol

Las Olas

Into Bolivia.

We had heard that the buses in Bolivia were unreliable, but breaking down 20 miles from the border? Come on.... After false hopes of getting the bus going again being dashed a couple of times, and an hour or so later, a local repair man figured things out and we were back on our way.

We arrived in Copacabana, and straight away marched up the hill with our 40 lb backpacks to our hotel. The hotel we were staying in was super cool. Annies all time personal favourite. It was the turtle room at Los Olas. It had a great view of Lake Titicaca, a huge king sized circle bed, a sitting area, plants growing through the floor, and another sitting area upstairs. Oh not to mention our own personal terrace. We blew the budget on this one. 48$ a night.

Las Olas

Wasn't too much to do in Copacabana, other then catch some beautiful sunsets. Very Pretty.
Two nights later and we were out of there, to stay a night on Isla de Sol. The people, and the pre-Incas worshiped the sun and the moon, hence the name. We were just going cause we heard it was nice.

It felt like the stairs at Huayna Picchu again, only with our big bags this time. Too many stairs! We finally found a beautiful hostel with a great view. Thank goodness for dri-fit shirts, because by this time I was a sweaty mess!

Isla de Sol was beautiful. It had ruins at both

Upstairs in Las Olas

sides of the Island, and people usually walk from the North to the South and then book it out, but we stayed a night at the south side of the island. The ruins were pretty piddly after Machu Pichu, but this is the origin of the Incas, so it had some significance. The views on the island were beautiful. You could see Lake Titicaca on both sides of the island from the top. We experienced an absolute gorgeous sunset! And the town was really neat too.

By the way the only method of hauling things around here is by donkey, no cars, quads, or bikes. Or you could haul things by hand. And if that was happening, it was not the husband doing the work, it was the ladies who did all the grunt work here. These local ladies are tougher then nails and stronger then the men. Incredible. Show a beefy calf and the men come running to these ladies. Ha!

After a night at Isla de Sol, we booted it out of there, and boarded a bus to La Paz. (We really want to get to

Sunset at Copacabana

Argentina, so Bolivia might be quick!

Travellers notes: Las Olas was sooo cool. But if you want to spend the 50$ for this neat place, you better book more then 1 or 2 days ahead, as it is always booked. Mira Flores is another nice hostel for 20 bucks a night. (per room) The Mirador at 15$ a room a night was just awful. The fact that it included breakfast was a very small consolation, as it was just fruit and bread. I suggest stay away.

Internet is terrible in Bolivia. Just expect it. And Bank Machines are even worse! (I am currently trying to convince Visa that I did not get money 2 out of the 4 times I tried. The bank thinks I did however. Pain!

We didn't think there was too much to write home about at Lake Titicaca, so we moved on out pretty quick.

Sunset at Isla del Sol

Down was easier than up!

The Jungle Book - Beware of Spiders... Big ones...

The jungle is a strange, scary place. But altogether fascinating.

As I rock in the hammock at our jungle lodge,  I can hear a macaw saying hola, a parrot making its noise, crickets, a bird (I think)  hammering on wood, a bird that sounds for all the world like a very loud water droplet dripping, and various other noises, from birds and insects that I can't identify... There can be peace here, but if you're looking for quiet you've come to the wrong place.

Enjoying the hammock

The Amazon Basin stretches from Brazil, through Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. We entered through Peru, which is said to have some of the most bio-diverse jungle in South America. We came in through the town Puerto Maldonado.  At 9 AM on arrival, it was 35 degrees Celsius. From there, an hour boat ride down the Rio Madre de Dios (river), and we were at our lodge, at the border of the Tambopata National Park.

Our jungle lodge

It's now time to rest up, put on pants (you can choose death by sweat or death by mosquitoes... Bug spray hardly seems to phase them) and bug spray. In 1 hour we get our first introduction to the jungle. The jungle can be a strange and scary place. Knock on this tree and you get fire ants, chew this leaf and your tongue goes
numb, don't stand there or the army ants will get you... Plants that are poisonous, plants that act as Viagra, tree strangling vines, termites, stick bugs, praying mantis.... Oh and whatever you do don't put your hand there. Welcome to the jungle.

Stick bug

It's dark now, and we go searching for caimans along the river by boat. Their eyes glow in the beam of a flashlight. They look like small alligators, and can be found all along the rivers shoreline. As you near, they slowly submerge into hiding. One stays on the bank. Still as a statue it sits, waiting for our boat to pass.  It's a white caiman and can grow up to two meters long. Fully exposed, It's quite a site.

White caiman

We wake up at 4:30 AM. Breakfast at 5, and on the boat by 5:30. The jungle wakes up early. A short boat ride and brief hike bring us into Tambopata National Park, where you can find Sandoval Lake. Today we seek the giant river otter. On the way we see a tree lick for parrots and macaws.They get essential nutrients from the dead tree. Several macaws squish in to feed from the hole in the dead tree. Nearly 20 others sit on top or circle  the tree waiting for a spot at the table. The sound of howler monkeys in the background would scare the bejeebers out of someone who didn't know what they were hearing, sounding like something out of a horror movie. Actually the sound of the howler monkeys was recorded and used as the dinosaur roar in Jurrasic Park movie.

Red bellied macaw through binoculars

The rain forest is aptly named, we find, as we paddle through the channels into the lake. The sudden downpour discourages all but birds and a few howlers from surfacing. The river otter would elude us.

As night comes,  the jungle starts to show its scary side. Even the guides are nervous of travelling the trail into the jungle at night. Poisonous snakes are dangerous and plentiful. Here the bushmaster boa constrictor rules the night. Tonight we don't look for snakes.  No, tonight we hunt tarantulas. Tarantulas come out of there nests at night to hunt. We need not travel beyond the gardens of the lodge to find them. They nest in the palms right in front of our noses. The pinktoe tarantulas are big furry, and can be very aggressive if agitated.  Nothing sounds better after a tarantula hunt then a bottle of wine! Happy second anniversary sweetie!

Nesting pinktoe tarantula

In the morning, a short half hour walk from the lodge brings us to the parrot clay lick.  The parrots get there early so we head out at 5 AM. Once there we wait. As the minutes turn to an hour, suddenly a parakeet jumps to a nearby tree, another one, and another. One jumps to the clay, followed by two more... 5, 7, 10, 15. Up to 20 parakeets are now feasting on the clay. The parakeets will get their much needed nutrients from the clay before starting their day. After about 15 minutes of feeding, one wrong noise from the jungle and they're gone. Not to return. Time to head back for breakfast, then Monkey Island awaits.

Dusky Headed Parakeets eating clay

The government had a program to rid Puerto Maldonado of pet monkeys.  The next generation now resides on Monkey Island.  We get there and a feast of bananas are offered to the semi wild monkeys. The monkeys greedily come down to snatch them up. All but the lone squirrel monkey are fed.

one of 12 species of monkey in Tambopata

We spend the rest of the day learning about the culture of the indigenous people, and visit a local orchard. The day has been exhausting. The evening of free time is spent resting. Tomorrow I go back to the clay lick.

5 AM. We leave for the clay lick hoping to see different parrots or parakeets, sometimes you can see up to 50 at a time. A Brown Bugauti keeps the parakeets high in the trees as it takes the clay lick for itself. A noise. The parakeets are gone. They don't return. It seems we can't bend nature to our will.

Brown Bugauti slinking around the clay lick

Today is our last day and we leave after breakfast.  Its been a good trip. Birds, plants, rodents, reptiles and insects (not to mention the 8 roaches, 4 frogs and army of flying ants in our rooms - it was a nice place, honest, but this is the jungle...). The bigger animals (jaguars, capybaras, tapirs and giant river otters) have managed to elude us. This time.

To read: Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book

Travelers notes:

Corto Maltes was a very nice lodge with well maintained rooms and grounds. Its advertised price was $450 US for a 4d 3n stay, but the rule is the closer you get the cheaper it gets. We bought in Cusco. We paid $295 pp, probably cheaper in Puerto Maldonado.  Bring snacks, as meals are far between. Don't expect much from the indigenous tribes and farm you visit on the third day. Its not really anything to write home about. I wanted to see the macaw clay lick, but you can't get very close, and photos are very tough without a telephoto lens. With the parrot lick, you can get pretty close. I loved the jungle experience, and now I am inspired to go deeper. If you can do a 6 or 7 day tour where you travel further in, I recommend it! Happy travels!

The local macaw, Julio, charges . (He can't fly)

This tree features a giant ants nest!

This vine will eventually take the tree over.

The lodge was a bit of a refuge for macaws

Toucan

This trees spikes protects against the killer vines

Large spider webs can be found in the jungle

This cute little guy is hanging on for dear life!

Andrea enjoys the sunset over the Rio Madre de Dios

The night hunt

The possum hunts at night too!

The possums prey, unfortunately won't last the night.

To celebrate our second anniversary, a tarantula night hunt
followed by a glass of wine...romantic. 

Our lovely guide arranged an anniversary gift,
garden flowers and a fruit basket!

Andrea, our guide Jose and myself.

That's a big slug!

Peppers found at the farm

Back at the lodge we play with Lola the parrot.

Lola hanging out with Andrea