#21| peru: amazon adventures

Adventures:

Our home for four nights. Note: One open wall to the rainforest in every bedroom and open ceiling in the bathroom. One day after our adventures, we came in and found footprint evidence that an animal had been hanging out in our sink (most likely was a monkey).

Very tall tree. Very hard work. Very out of shape. But we loved it!

A mountain bike incident left me with some bruises, but an immediate kayak adventure (including jumping into the river) made everything okay.

Up before the sun: Very early morning boat ride to fish for piranhas with a stick. Our guide showed how they bite through the leaves with such ease. Not everyone caught one (nor did they want to so early in the morning), but I was super excited to have succeeded!

Up before the sun: Very early morning hike to a hut to watch the sun rise and patiently wait for the parrots to come eat clay. Here is a brief article on the Tambopata Macaw Project (in the same area where we spied on the parrots). We were very close to leaving without spotting them, and then they all came at once:

This was our very first activity in the Amazon. I wasn’t so sure about it, since it is obviously man-made. I did take this challenge to prove to the Mister that I can run up a set of stairs when the altitude is on my side. After climbing to the top and letting us just sit to take it in, I felt like I’ve been properly introduced to the Amazon. On our last evening, all of the other guests in our group had finished their tour package (we were the only ones who stayed for 4 nights), so we had the guide to ourselves. He asked if we were game to wake up before sun, hike in the dark for 30+ minutes, and catch the sunrise on top of the Canopy Tower. Yes, and yes. We climbed up to the stars, settled in, and watched the sun wake up the entire Amazon (the sound of the birds and monkeys came alive).