Back from the Jungle

So we emerge from the rainforest, all in one piece and ready to see Cuzco and environs. We had a really terrific experience at the Eco Amazonia Lodge for three nights/four days. We flew from Lima to Puerto Maldonado, via Cuzco, where we stopped briefly. Rather spectacular views of the Andes as we climbed into Cuzco; glaciers, many lakes of otherworldly blue-green from glacial melt. Incidentally two of the best landings I've ever experienced by our Star Peru pilot; smoother than silk in both Cuzco and PM. Easy airport transits, and we were met by our guide from Andean Land Explorers, Carlos Vasquez Salas, and later by his brother Albino and their colleague at the lodge, Victor. After a short time trotting through the streets of Puerto Maldonado (a bustling little gold rush town at the junction of the Madre de Dios and Tambopata Rivers), buying last-minute supplies (rubber boots, ponchos, etc.) we piled into a long, narrow wooden boat for the hour-plus trip downriver to Eco Amazona Lodge. Weather was very hot and humid; probably high 80s, which is what I expected. Along the river we saw many small boats with gold dredging equipment - they scrape the river banks and rinse the earth through thousands of gallons of water, eventually using mercury to concentrate the gold, with predictable effects to the water quality and surrounding forest. The fish from this enormous river are too toxic for people to safely eat (although we saw plenty of people fishing).

We were met at Eco Amazonia, reportedly the biggest of several jungle lodges in the region, by the administrator Rodolfo Berger and his ridiculuosly adorable 8-week old pup, Alco. Rodolfo gave us the rundown about the place and explained that Eco Amazonia had been granted a concession to manage 10,000 hectares of rainforest in an ecologically sound fashion. The lodge, with several large main buildings and dozens of wooden bungalows, only features electrical power for two hours around lunch and four hours from dinner until 10:00 p.m. Food was simple and excellent; lots of rice, quinoa, local vegetables, chicken, some loma beef. We had lunch then climbed into the boat to cross the river to Monkey Island, the subject of our next post.