In The Jungle, The Mighty Jungle

Our last stop in Peru was Iquitos, a small town on the Amazon River that can only be reached by plane or boat. We headed to the Lima airport where we were told that we did not have any tickets, even though Michelle's mom had booked them online a couple nights prior. After complaining, in English to a man that only spoke Spanish, we begrudgingly bought new tickets. There is always a few bumps in the road of travel, but every bump is worth it when we finally get where we are going. We try to remember this while we are hitting them, but sometimes it is hard.
When we arrived in Iquitos we were greeted with a city full of moto-taxis. We caught a cab and settled into our new temporary home and decided to explore the city. Iquitos is right on the Amazon River. You could tell the Spanish had colonized and built a lot of the buildings there. It was very beautiful, but a little run down. We found the tourist information building, where they told us some cool places around town and gave us a list of reputable Amazon Lodges to stay at.
The next day we booked our stay at the Amazon King Lodge (it was recommended by a friend Michelle and met in Lima and on the list). Then we took a moto-taxi to a zoo. The zoo was unreal, the cages were close enough you could stick your hand through, which we did once to pet a squirrel monkey. We also got to play ball with a dolphin. When we arrived at the zoo a little boy started following us, then we realized he was giving us a tour. We couldn't understand what he was telling us, but we humored him anyways, and of course, gave him tip, which is really what he was looking for. He was adorable. After the zoo we went to a Manatee Rescue. We were able to feed the manatees banana's and milk, all for FREE! They also spoke pretty good English and taught us a little about the manatees and the work they do.
The next morning we were off to the Amazon Jungle. We met our new friend/tour guide Larry, and hopped on a little boat to the lodge. Larry explained, in very good English, about the river and all the great things we were going to see in the next couple days. We arrived to a little paradise right on the river. The manager came out to greet us with a sweet grapefruit juice, and showed us to our room. There was no electricity, only gas lamps, two beds, one shower... all that we needed. That evening for out first excursion, we headed out on the river to watch for pink dolphins. Chell had been told about these dolphins, but we were still in a little disbelief that they existed. But after a long search on the river we spotted one and soon after that, we saw another. They were too quick to get a photo of, so I recommend that you Google them:). They were quite amazing. We stayed on the river for sunset, which was stunning, and Chell took the opportunity to swim in the river.
The next day, we took another boat down the river to the village, Caserio. We were greeted with song and dance from the members of the tribe. They also taught us how to use a blow-dart gun, which is what they use to hunt with. Michelle was very accurate, she was able to hit the target on the first try; I would want her in my tribe. I on the other hand should probably just stick with knitting. Even though we could not communicate with words, they speak their own language; they were so warm and welcoming. We headed back to the lodge to get some lunch, and a little nap. That afternoon we walked to an animal rescue. Immediately two monkeys came up to us, Larry had warned us not to wear sunglasses or jewelry, the monkeys jumped right on us and one tired his best to take my camera case. They were so adorable though, you could’t get mad. After the run in with the monkeys, we continued walking further into the rescue. We saw 2 toucans, a pre-historic turtle, several different kinds of monkeys, an anaconda, and a boa constrictor. Our favorite though was a sloth family; the mother was carrying a new baby sloth on her back. We have decided that sloths may be the cutest animals ever, even before monkeys:). After our long day; we retired to the lodge for dinner and rested up for our night-time jungle walk. We were a little uneasy to trek through the jungle after dark, but once we got going it wasn't to bad. Larry could spot anything, we saw a few baby alligators, a woodpecker, and several different kinds of insects. He pointed out a tarantula,which I thought was quite large, but Larry explained it to was just baby. My favorite thing that I saw on the trek was a sleep tree, I would not normally describe a tree as cute, but this tree was. When night arrives she folds her leaves down to go to bed, well at least that is how I like to think of it. After the long muddy trek, we returned to the Lodge for our last night:(
The last day at the lodge we began the morning with piranha fishing, once again Michelle was quite good, she was the first and last to catch a piranha. We used chicken skin as bait and had wooden fishing rods. After our last excursion we went back and had lunch, which included Michelle’s catch, packed up and headed back to Iquitos. We caught our flight to Lima and off to Brazil we went.
Peru was absolutely AMAMZING! There are so many different areas, and all well worth the visit.
Chell will catch everyone up on our 2 week adventure in Brazil
Miss you all!
Xoxoxo
Lindsay