Chontachaka, in the cloud forest of Peru

The place I visited last week has a volunteer programme where you can help catalog birds, butterflies, plant trees, work on the farm. Please contact us at info@tikatrek.com for more info.

4.30am alarm goes off and its time to get up and go to the cloud forest. The other people are a little late and we finally set off at 5.30am towards Pisac where we have breakfast and head towards the town of Paucartambo where they have a major religious festival every year in July.
We stop for a moment and visit the main square and the church before arriving to the entrance of the Manu national park.
The journey is pretty rough, but this is what helps the rainforest, access is not so easy. We finally arrive at 5pm, and cross the river on the oroya (a basket on a rope), after dinner I head straight to bed.

As I lie in my bed there is a massive storm, heavy rain, thunder and lightning. I really enjoy these kind of storms.
Not too early in the morning we have breakfast before heading off to check on all the different types of butterflies that we can see.
The walk is really nice about 2.5 hours up through the cloud forest and even though it has been raining it is not too muddy.

After the walk a nice wash in the river, with my lovely Tika biodegradable soap.

A nice free afternoon and in the evening an Angel ceremony on the banks of the river with a lady from DC, it was very interesting and people seemed to enjoy it. I slipped off and into bed.

I had a wonderful day today heading off to the small waterfall, it really is delightful with a small pool that you can swim in, delicious.

In the afternoon I spoke to the administrator, Alvaro who is a forestry engineer from Spain, he gives me all sorts of information about the place, its at 960ms and is 190 hectares in size, they have managed so far to reforest about 6000 trees and they have approx 15kms of trails, they are always looking for volunteers to help count birds, plant trees (this takes more work than it sounds), help with farming to feed the volunteers among other things.

The following day I spent going to the small village which is only about a 15min walk and talking to Gloria in the kitchen, in the evening onto the local bus which takes me back to Cusco. twas a bumpy cold ride but I arrived back safely.

If you would like to visit this place please contact us at  info@tikatrek.com and remember to buy your soap at info@tikasoapperu.com

Quillabamba to Iquitos Part 4

I am on the river Sepahua, where there are Piros and Machiguengas living and there is a boat Jiban which will be departing to Atalaya. Okay so that looks like it could be the next boat. I go out to explore the town of Sepahua its quite big and really in the middle of nowhere, there are many families that live along the river, fishermen and farmers. 

I spend a few days here in this strange town that has the chicken places and Chinese food. It is also home to a lodge which I travel across the airstrip on a mototaxi to get to, its all closed up but it may be the time of year. 

I go and check out the local football match, now thats a weird one as you look at the trees and there are lots of sheets hung up, turns out they are actually babies hanging in the trees. 

In the evening I watch a bit of TV turns out it is the priests choice as he controls the cable tv for the entire town. 

The music starts at 5.30am again, I get up about 6.30 for my next boat trip theory says I should be in Atalaya in a day. El Jiban is boat of choice its like a barge that is loaded up with 8 cows, this should be interesting. 

So basically this is a boat that collects animals and takes them to slaughter, these poor animals they are pulled down the high sand banks with 10 men and ropes and put on the boat they go past all the small farms picking up 2 or 3 cows at each, it takes ages I can see that this trip may take longer than expected. 

I am on day 2 of collecting cows and this boat is disgusting, it smells bad can you imagine a floating herd of cows, pigs and chickens, I have to get a pig removed from the bathroom to be able to use it, wow this is all a bit crazy. 

As we continue travelling we hit the penal de Sepa, until 1991 was a prison in the jungle. It was basically open as they flew the worst prisoners in from Lima and dropped them in the jungle, 2 sides are river and 2 sides thick jungle, not much escaping going on there then, there is talk of possibly reopening but with the costs involved maybe not. 

We now have 40 cows on this boat you can just imagine, or maybe better not to, one more nights sleep on the floating farm. 

Time in Puerto and then luxury in Inkaterra

We arrived back into Puerto Maldonado for St Patricks day due to be collect on Sunday at 9am. This gives us time to look for Brazil nut oil (none until May), go to the Municapal swimming pool, which is excellent, very clean, and eat cake as that’s what people do a lot of in Puerto. 

The following morning we get up go for breakfast and then board the Inkaterra bus to the local port where we have a 45min transfer by motorized canoe to the lodge. 

On arrival to the lodge the first thing we see in a little creek is a baby capybara sitting in the water, we disembark and head up to the main restaurant where we are given a delicious fruit juice while we fill in the paperwork. 

We are then shown to our bungalow which is absolutely gorgeous, really stunning. We have a kingsize bed with a mosquito net over it, feels very princess like. We have 2 hammocks, a little sitting room and a lovely bathroom with hot water, almost unheard of in the jungle. 

We unpack, get settled in and then got for a short walk in the forest, in the afternoon we visit there 33 meter high canopy walk which also has a VIP tree house (33ms up) that you can spend the night in, how exciting does that sound. 

I sleep incredibly well in my 4 poster bed. 

The following day we decide to go on the Gamitana tour, you can pick whatever you want to do. Our guide Noemi takes us into the farm and shows us all the different types of fruit they have available. As we depart the farm through the jungle we meet a family of Tamarind monkeys, even a very bold little baby. 

Here we have a canoe down the creek for 40 mins and we are very lucky to see a Coati, a very inquisitive looking creature. We try our hand at fishing and head on to the newest in addition to the By Inkaterra range the Hacienda Concepcion. We are here to check it out for clients. Looks like it is for a younger crowd and in the first 10 mins saw monkeys which is good. Be interesting to see it when it is up and running. 

The food is all inclusive at the lodge with some interesting jungle produce, fish that is farmed close by, fruit and special chilies. In the evening fines wines, white table clothes and a wonderful ambience. 

The following day after a wonderful buffet breakfast we have sometime to lounge about before heading back to the port in Puerto Maldonado. We spend the afternoon there watching the world go by before the 9 hour bus back to Cusco and reality. 

Thank you  to Inkaterra for their hospitality. 

If you are interested in this or any other tour please contact me at fiona@tikatrek.com 

Tambopata Jungle

For more info about booking this journey please see http://www.tikatrek.com/en/program/120/tambopata-national-reserve    I did the 4 days 3 nights programme.

I will return to write about my adventures to the Amazon but while I have it clear in my head I would like to write about my latest visit to the jungle of Peru. 

After an apprehensive start to the day we are finally sitting on a BAE 146 on our way to Puerto Maldonado and beyond. We fly over the Andes and down into the jungle over the massive river. I am really excited. 

We are going to stay at 2 different lodges as part of our ever increasing efforts to search out the best vacations in Peru. 

The first is the Explorers Inn in the Tambpata/Candamo reserve it has about 50kms of trails and a wealth of monkeys, birds and all sorts of flora and fauna. 

Upon arrival to the airport we are taken on a small van for the 45 mins to the jungle port of Infierno (literally hell) and onto our motorized canoe for the one and half hour journey through the rain forest to the Explorers Inn. 

The EI (Explorers Inn) is the oldest lodge in the area and they are the custodians of the park, there are around 1200 types of butterfly and 103 mammals, quite impressive i say. 

Upon arrival you are given a bit of time to relax and visit their medicinal garden or just hang out and watch the bird and animal life in the main garden before trekking approx 1 km to the 43metre high view tower that was built by a local University for research purposes. It took 15 men 5 months to bring all the material from the river to the erection site. 

The view is spectacular with the mountains of Puno in the background.  On the way back to the lodge a bit of night time wildlife spotting, lots of spiders, toads and frogs. 

Also the best site we had was a porcupine which was under one of the huts. Here you go to bed really early due to the 4.30am start. 

Just as well I was sleeping at 8.30pm as it is 4.40am and time to get organized, its breakfast and out the door by 5.30am for our 11km walk to the lake and back. 

The path is pretty muddy due to the it being the end of the rainy season but all is forgiven as we see a family of Tamarind monkeys playing in the trees. 

About 5 mins after arriving to the lake the resident family of giant otters makes a fleeting appearance, there is meant to be a healthy family of 8 living at the lake. 

We head back without the guide and the other clients through the forest along the main trail with all its very fun mud. 

I spend the afternoon listening to the sound of the jungle, there is nothing quite like it. 

In the evening we are out and about for some caiman searching in the canoe along the banks of the river. Saw a couple of big ones. 

The following day a lie in for our 5 am start to the parrot clay lick. This is quite a site to see, so much noise many different parrots and also toucans until a Manco comes out of the bushes and scares them all away. 

Later in the day we head off to a local farm, we see Tapir footprints apart from any different types of fruit and vegetable that are grown in the jungle. In the afternoon not a lot as it is ridiculously hot. Another early night for our departure tomorrow morning. 

I would like to thank the owner and staff of Explorers Inn for the fantastic time that we had at the lodge and hope to be back again in the not so distant future. 

www.tikatrek.com   

Kirigeti, Quillabamba to Iquitos Part 3

I wake in the middle of the night in the village of Kirigeti. Its dark out but I have my torch as I need to be on the lookout for snakes, spiders and any other creepy crawlies that may be about. Life here begins about 5am, I can hear the kids running outside the tent. 4 young boys and a month old baby called Rebecca all with mum and dad. 

They are extremely curious as you can imagine they don’t see a whole lot of white people down here, we are a long way form any central place and probably 2 days from the closest police station, hospital or anything similar. 

The family close by is staying in the communal room, it is a small hut, with a mattress or maybe an old metal bed that is available from any travellers of the same tribes, on occasion you are allowed to stay in them as a foreign traveller, they are available in most communities. 

They are watching as I make food, they watch the camping stove and chatter away in their own language, laughing the whole time. I offered them some hot chocolate and bread and they devour it, a big hit. 

I go for a walk and come to the control post of where they measure the speed of the boats that are going up and down the river, the have speed limits.  The reason that a child has been killed on the banks of the river when a speed boat went past, there is quite a flow of traffic due to the gas plant that is in the area.

During the day the Ashaninkas become braver coming to touch my things and see what they do,  I get all packed up and get a lift on the local tractor to the beach.

I sit on the bank of the river waiting for a boat to come even though the locals say no its too late. A boat finally arrives that is going to Sepahua, next destination, its different to the canoes I am used to its more a little speedboat. 

Quillabamba to Iquitos part 2

day 4
Got up and packed, had coffee egg sandwich and coffee and go and find a boat, luckily there is one departing in 30 mins. Funny boat Evangelists stopping all over the place to organise their meeting for the night in Bajo Pongo. Stopped at schools, houses, town.
We passed the Pongo in high waters, highest I have ever seen. The Evangelists (yes there were some interesting conversations) dropped me off on a beach to wait for the next boat that was coming past.
As I get on the next boat I realise everyone is very drunk, they are a group from the ministry of health that come to do 2 month health camoaigns in the jungle, there are 2 docs, 1 gyne and a lab technician. With them I pass the Machuiguenga village of Timpia and Las Malvinas (the town where they extract the Camisea gas) and end up in the village if Camisea. The village is about 20 metres above the river which is a nightmare with luggage but we all settle into the school for the night.

Day 5.
Got up ridiculously early, not sure why as the docs seem to take forever, so I used it as an opportunity to take photos before jumping back on our 20 metre canoe to the town of Kirigeti a small Machuiguenga community.
Quickly dumped stuff before heading to the village of Nueva Luz where there isa a reasonable size shop to stock up.
When I get back to Kirigeti I take advantage of the small river to do some washing and freshen up as the heat is infernal.
Walk about and meet another boatman as I am leaving the doctors and heading further north to Nuevo Mundo, also the first time I get to try masato the fermented mandioc drink, interesting.
Tomorrow further north.

Quillabamba to Iquitos Part 1

This time in my wee blog I thought it might be nice to start writing down stuff from the diary I made in October 2004 (I think) of a crazy trip I took into the jungle for a month living on cow and pirate boats. People have often asked me about the trip so time to get it written down.

Sun 17th October

After an interesting bus trip with women of all ages selling gaseosas and choclo con queso and me under the influence of a valium I slept until I arrived in Quillabamba. A quick taxi ride with my 5 million (only actually 5 but feels like 5 million) bags until I get to the good old Alto Urubamba hostal. I fall into bed as it is 4am and doze in the humid airless room until 9am.
I have a quick shower, cold but refreshing, it is a shock to the system but you do get used to it. After a quickie breakfast I hit the swimming pool at Sambaray, a pretty sports complex on the banks of the Urubamba river. A quiet afternoon and an early night in the stiffling heat.

Mon 18th October
Last minute shopping, packing, bus tickets to be bought and a couple of beers before starting on this crazy trip about 2500kms throught the jungle and past the old penal colony of Peru. A moment of fear realising that I am heading off into the unknown. Yikey.
Got on the chicken bus which took forever and also stopped at a party in a small village where the driver got out for a couple of hours, doesn't really install much confidence does it.

Tue 19th October
Its my birthday and well I woke with a shock. The bus had arrived but not to the door, a long bridge had to be crossed, so I stood beside the bus and organised my things ready to cross the bridge however as I am waiting I hear a rumbling noise move a little to the side and a tree comes crashing down the hill, thank goodness I moved or I would be well not here I reckon, the bus roof was caved in and the windows broken and I was covered in leaves. Happy birthday Fiona.

I finally make it to the village and dump all my stuff at the hostel while I wait for a boat going to bajo Pongo. Boats are not daily and you just have to wait so while I waited I went off to the pool in the river to cool off and also to get out of town. Ivochote is the weirdest little town has one street going up the middle with 4 sad looking little shops and hotels

Tomorrow I will continue on my journey, I get on the Evangelists boat.