Welcome to the Jungle

Expect 4 blog updates in the next 24 hours as we've just returned from the jungle where there was no Wi-Fi!

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Monday 5th January 2015, 7:30am - Time to visit the Amazon Jungle!

The big day was here. The start of a 4 day, 3 night trek into the Amazon Rainforest! 

The chance to see thousands of different types of fauna and flora, the likes of which in many cases, cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Also, no hot showers, limited power and no Wi-Fi for 4 days! A huge challenge for me!

We awoke early once again and were met at 7:30am by Ronald, our guide.

Lauren following Ronald, our guide for the next 4 days, to our van

We got in the van and met the 3 other people we'd be spending the next few days with:

Andrea (male) from Italy

Letizia (Andrea's wife) from Italy

Jean-Marc from Belgium

We settled in for a long, 10 hour drive from Cusco into the first level of jungle, the cloud forest.

First, we stopped at Oropesa, on the outskirts of Cusco, to pick up some Chota (bread) for the next 2 days.

Oropesa is famous for its bread making and each year hosts a national bread making competition.

'Chota', the name of the bread we bought, means, 'Come and eat'.

Ronald holding up one of the Chotas. It's a cross between sponge cake and white bread. It's quite sweet tasting but Peruvians eat it with everything from an evening soup to breakfast with jam.

We soon left the outskirts of Cusco and headed up and up into the new mountain road which would eventually lead us to the jungle.

The road was very narrow and windy. We were told by the agent when we booked  that, as it was the start of rainy season, there was 50% chance of a landslide which could block our path. If this happened, they would try and clear the road but if it was not possible, they would have to arrange a replacement vehicle from the other side of the landslide!

As we drove along the 18 month old road, we saw lots of small landslides that strew rocks and mud across the tarmac. They were easily avoided but we could see that, as the road had only recently been cut out of the mountain, much of the mountainside was clearly unstable.

Lauren looking worried about the dubious looking rocks above our van.

This was proved a mile later when we witnessed the aftermath of a 2 day old landslide which had covered the whole road. The repair workers had made a very thin path that you could just about for a van through and were working on clearing the rest of the boulders.

We passed through and stopped an hour later at a pre-Inca site and had a 30 minute stroll around the ancient tombs and storage rooms.

Dead funny

Paucartambo was our next stop where we looked around the small town for 30 minutes. This was another Inca town that had been colonised by the Spanish. Their Catholic faith now very visual in every street and of course, in the central church.

There was a line of about 300 of the region's poorest ladies, all in traditional dress, outside the bank. They were queuing to collect their monthly government benefit allowance. This is $100 Peruvian Soles, about £21. 

Alongside them was the local market with

dozens of different stalls including a lady selling live, scrawny chickens. I couldn't help but get a picture, which also shows the common way for Peruvian women to carry their babies, shopping, clothes and anything else they can fit in there!

Indoors there were 4 or 5 meat sellers, none of whom had fridges and all of whom used axes to chop the meat!

One very large, un-refrigerated carcass of an unidentified animal...

Next stop was lunch, right on the border of the start of Manu National Park where Ronald explained what we were going to be doing for the next few days.

We tucked into our packed lunch which included a 'Granadilla' each which is an Amazon equivalent of a passion fruit.

It has a brittle skin which you peel/pick off and then suck out the fleshy seeds.

We were now in the "Cloud Forest", called so because the humidity in the air causes a misty cloud all around.

As we continued, we could clearly tell we had arrived in the jungle! The views were stunning!

This rainbow lay beautifully across the valley, right in front of a stunning waterfall

Ronald then took us for our first jungle walk to discover some fauna and flora

This is Galinsoga or 'Golden Bottom'. Ronald got us to chew the yellow flower which is used by locals as a local anaesthetic. It instantly made our tongues numb! The fact that we're still alive is witness to Ronald's trustworthyness!

Elephant Ears

Umbrella Tree 

Beautiful butterflies were everywhere and flew inbetween the regular rain showers

Campernola 

Costus (so did this trip)

Lauren starting to feel rough but a lovely view

We drove a little further and came to a 'watching post' that had been created by Ronald and other guides. It overlooked the tree tops where native birds would regularly visit. Thank goodness for Lauren's camouflage jacket!

We climbed up onto the rickety balcony and within a few seconds Ronald pointed out 4 of the most beautiful birds I'd ever seen! 

See them in action here: 

http://youtu.be/K_JKyywID1E

These birds were nicknamed 'Cock of the rock" and were bright orange with black breasts.

We saw the middle bird below

Then we saw this beautiful one

We finished our walk and were led to our jungle cabin where we had dinner together.

Left to right; Me, Jean-Marc, Lauren, Letizia and Andrea.

As I write this post I'm lying in my bed with my mosquito net tight around all 4 corners. 

View from in my bed

I've checked Lauren's bed 3 times for tarantulas, tucked her mozzie net in so not even the most determined of insects could squeeze in and convinced her over and over that she will wake up in one piece in the morning. She's now fast asleep, no doubt dreaming some kind of mash up between King Kong and Aracnaphobia. I wait nervously for the panicked shriek as her own hair brushes across her face in the middle of the night!

Lights are powered by electricity stored by solar panels here so they use them sparingly. All lights automatically go off at 9pm here so an early night is encouraged ready for another exciting day searching for monkeys tomorrow!

The river is a constant, soothing sound in the background, perfectly complimented by a harmonic jungle chorus from frogs & crickets. Once again I'm pinching myself at how blessed we are to experience this.

Lauren's thoughts:

For those if you who know me well, know how apprehensive I was coming into the jungle. I knew that it would be a chance of a lifetime but I also knew that the jungle would be infested by spiders, snakes and other deadly creepy crawlies. My intrigue of the place won and I decided to give it a go.

Gareth's description of my dream is hilarious as just before I went to sleep I prayed really hard to get the scene of aracnophobia out of my mind so I wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. Thankfully, I woke having had a really peaceful night's sleep. So far, no spiders to report. Phew.

I have to say, the cloud forest is spectacular. Exploring nature with just a small group and your tour guide on site felt like such a privilege. Whilst this kind of trip would have probably bored me silly as a kid, I was absolutely fascinated and captivated with this beautiful place of mystery.