View Larger Map
We got up at the hotel - I slept well, either the fireworks didn't go on too late or I was just exhausted! We had a decent breakfast at the hotel,
and then the cab driver from yesterday was there to pick us up (he had planned on it yesterday) to take us back to the airport.
He charged us 60 soles again - special holiday price, although he assured us that if we came back, the price would be back down to 45. I was a little annoyed about being ripped off but mostly glad to have a safe and dependable ride back to the airport. Then at the airport, we wanted more coffee again but once inside security, we couldn't find a place with to-go coffee cups. It turns out that you can take liquids through security on domestic flights in Peru, but we didn't know that then.
We arrived at the tiny Puerto Maldonado airport, and the guide was there waiting for us. He took us back to the office, we were waiting for some french folks who were apparently coming in on an upcoming flight. Then when they arrived we all headed toward our lodge. First, we drove in a van to the river - Madre de Dios was the name of the river.
Then we got in a boat to cross over. They took cars over on these tiny ferries.
Then on the other side we took the road to the driveway, there was another van parked on the other side waiting for us. It probably takes some effort, but they had everything coordinated so smoothly. We turned off to the 6 km. private driveway to our lodge, and it was slow going. Especially when we came upon a tree across the road. They tried hacking at it with a machete that they had in the truck (I hoped that the reason they always kept machetes with them was because of the foliage), but they decided that one of the guys would just head up to the site which was apparently 1km away.
45 minutes or so later (I had time for a little nap!) he came back with another guy and a hatchet. They hacked at it for a few minutes, and we were on our way. It was raining too, the whole afternoon there was alternating hard and light rain. When we got there, they had lunch ready for us right away. It was a good thing - we were starving, it was 3pm by this time! The lunch was delicious, chicken in sauce, rice, plantains. Then bananas and caramel for dessert. YUM!
Later that afternoon we took a walk around the area.
The guide showed us several fruit trees, including lemon, orange, guava, banana, coconut, papaya, and about 3 we had never heard of.
Carnitas were yummy little mango-like fruits, I can't remember the names of the others. We saw a monkey from afar (maybe 40 feet?) eating in the papaya tree, but of course it took off when we came close! I don't know what kind of monkey it was but I was really excited because I really wanted to see some monkeys in the jungle. I wish we'd had our binoculars, I didn't have the big camera with us because of the rain. We also walked over to a lookout tower (mirador) and had a nice view of the canopy of the jungle.
Also a nice view of the pool - we were really bummed about the rain. (Look hard - you can see the pool in front of the buildings.)
Before dinner, they had a little bar area where we could have a drink. Let me explain a little about the place we were staying. There are many different lodges in this area, and generally you book your stay for a few days and they give you some variation on a jungle tour, with meals etc included. We picked La Estancia Bella Horizonte (the site with the beautiful view) because LP described it as "superb" and we weren't disappointed. Many of the lodges are along the river we had crossed, ours was sort of unique in that we were inland and drove to it. But it had an amazing view over the jungle:
We had our very own cabin. (They are duplexes, if they were full I guess there would have been someone else on the other side of a wall on the inside but that wasn't the case.) It was complete with a hammock on the front porch, which Chris loved and took a hammock break every chance he got.
We had a 2 day trip, and it included everything, meals, english speaking guide (for some parts, luckily my spanish got us by at the other times), transportation, etc. They also have french speaking guides. The other cool thing about La Estancia is that they are also a non-profit that takes in children from abusive homes. And their third business is running an ice cream shop in Puerto Maldonado. Anyway I highly highly recommend this place if you have any plans to visit the jungle in Peru. (Doesn't everyone have these plans?)
Back to this evening. So we had a beer before dinner, and one of the guys was making Pisco Sours for another group that was there. It was just us, the older French couple, and a group of 4 french-speaking people about our age. (Two girls, two guys, we found out that one of the girls lives in Peru - they all had workable Spanish and English as well, and one of the group was Italian. I wish we were so worldly!) And the french couple was 69 and 70, with essentially no english or spanish, but they kept right up with us and seemed to enjoy themselves. The young frenchies were ordering Pisco Sours, pisco is a grape brandy that is produced in Peru, and Pisco Sour is one of the main drinks they make with it. Washington, the cook, was meticulously making the Pisco Sours for them. Right before we headed to dinner, I decided that they looked so good, I had to have one too. They were pretty tasty!
We had an AMAZING dinner of asparagus soup, then stir fried chicken with rice and beets.
Dessert was mousse made with one of the fruits we'd tried - mequilla? I should mention here that all of the food we had at Estancia was unbelieveable. Everything was delicious and tasted really fresh, and it probably was! They had a garden behind one of the buildings, plus of course all the fresh fruit trees I mentioned. We weren't entirely clear on the roles of each employee, but I think Washington (the guy who was the bartender) was the cook, and if he was as meticulous about making the food as he was about the drinks, I can see why it was so delicious. They told us they didn't serve fish, only chicken and beef, because there was pollution in the river including mercury.
After dinner, we went straight to bed, knowing we had to get up super early the next day to head to a salt lick and see some birds.
Costs:
cab S/60
airport tax (you have to pay departure tax before leaving any city, both at airports and bus stations) $12
1 beer (we split it) S/8
2 pisco sours S/16
No comments:
Post a Comment