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| View from our terrace in Cuzco |
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| View from the Cuzco terrace just right of the one above |
Tomorrow is Independence Day in Peru and the Cuzco locals got an early start last night. They were blasting some of the loudest fireworks I have ever heard . . . all night! The explosions took place in loud, rapid succession that made it sound like we were in the middle of a war zone. It actually sounded like they were lighting them right outside our terrace room. So that, combined with fatigue, some altitude sickness (my own, personal, uneducated diagnosis), left me with yet another lousy night’s sleep. David has been talking in Spanish in his sleep every night. I must be a very light sleeper because it nearly always wakes me up. He never remembers much about what he dreamed when I ask him in the morning, but he is quite the Spanish sleep talker. We got squared away at the Cuzco airport to make our 9:30 a.m. flight to Puerto Maldonado.
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| We worked really hard on this trip . . . and needed a break! Here at the Cuzco airport awaiting our flight to the jungle |
Something about Cuzco: it is a pretty cool place, much different from anything else we have thus far seen on our trip. I would say my personal highlight of Cuzco was attending church and watching David reconnect with Elder Fiestas. Those kind of moments have, by far, been the best. Seeing sights is fun, but I would have been happier at Machu Picchu just hiking around and taking pictures. Oh, by the way, there are so many death traps at Machu Picchu - sheer drop offs with no rails, no warnings - nothing. And there were a good number of small children in our group who were allowed to walk freely through the area. We walked along some stairs that had a death drop off one side, again with no handrails or other protective barriers - not even any
caution signs. (Yes, I know the Incas were not aware of the Uniform Building Code when they erected their great cities.) One of the drawbacks of being engaged in civil litigation is that I tend to notice safety hazards and focus on them. We saw them not only at Machu Picchu, but everywhere: workers on ladders with one end propped up by a rock, narrow streets where cars just fly by with pedestrians having the burden of keeping themselves out of harm’s way, the driving (especially in Lima). Oh and there were some doozy unprotected drop offs at the temple in the Sacred Valley. It was all interesting, though. Regardless for my present personal fatigue and discomforting symptoms, it has been great. Thank goodness for David and his Spanish. He has been our guide all the way, taking charge. I have been very impressed with his ability to communicate with others, resolve problems for us, etc. We just look to him to handle about everything - and he does it with ease. So, we say goodbye to Cuzco with some fond memories, despite a few quirks related to effects of the local water (we were so careful about that, but it is just too easy to be exposed to the local, unfiltered water in some way), and the altitude. Cuzco is all about tourism, and there are a lot of tourists here. We were happy to be among them, but only because David was by our side.
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| Snow caps around Cuzco en route to the Peruvian Amazon |
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| The jungle was a different place from Cuzco - warm and humid |
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| We were apprehensive about the jungle portion of our trip, but it was the most relaxing |
We arrived in Puerto Maldonado at noon. It is in the Amazon. We landed and got on a bus that took us to the Posata Lodge. It is a nice open lodge area in the middle of the jungle, complete with mosquito nets over the beds, kerosene lamps and candles, hammocks, and an open wall that exposes us to the jungle. We were so tired by the time we arrived. I cannot begin to describe how cool it was to lay down on my jungle bed and fall asleep to the sounds of monkeys and jungle birds.
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| Our favorite BRAND of cracker in Peru - go figure |
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| David introducing himself to the members of our group, advising of his missionary service in Peru |
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| The main portion of our lodge in the jungle |
We did a little tour of the river and saw some caymans. We saw a lot of monkeys, climbing up some scaffolding to 120 feet above the tree level so we could look over the Amazon horizon. Just below us was a family of monkeys scrambling around the trees.
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| We could see well into Bolivia from the tower |
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| The jungle tower of death - 191 steps, 120 feet, great view |
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| Monkey city! |
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| Hey, hey we're the Monkees! |
Some Monkey Video taken from atop the tower
We saw some beautiful birds as well. Most importantly, we have met some wonderful people. We were not together with our group long when I saw David addressing a group of five people, telling them about his missionary service in Peru. Those kind of conversations continued throughout the day and evening. We also met a family from Belgium and David told them of his missionary service. It was really fun being involved in these casual gospel conversations. There are a lot of people here from Europe who are “on holiday” for two to three months. (How does anyone do that?) Two sisters from England are on an 11 month vacation. Eleven months of travel around the world. (Again . . . wow.) Interestingly, we were probably ready to get home after 10 days away. We miss our family and want to get David home to his siblings. We were so tired when we got up this morning, and were dreading two days in the jungle. But, this is going to be fun. It was quite the experience trekking through the jungle, following a path of ants that was about a foot wide and several hundred yards long.
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| We finally get to see cool stuff without having to hike to the moon |
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| Atop the Amazon tower of doom - great view |
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| Colorful mushrooms |
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| This is actually a palm tree, the trunk breaks up far above the ground to trap water |
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| These ants were busy moving leaves - lots of them |
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| The ants here go marching home (top left), this trail was about a foot wide, several hundred meters long |
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| Our open air room, with mosquito nets - very inviting to man AND beast |
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| The bathroom was complete with a freezing cold shower - boo ya! |
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| Hammocks in the jungle are just what the (witch) doctor ordered |
We retired to our room rather early, got under our mosquito nets, and David told Maralea a bedtime story to help her get to sleep. (Essentially, he just yacked and yacked about some craziness and allowed his soothing voice to put his mother to sleep.) It was going great until a bat (or what thought was a bat) came flying into our room. But, that was only temporary. We are in our mosquito nets. What bad could possibly happen? We have a busy day tomorrow. I am looking forward to it. Not only will it be fun, but we will be one day closer to home. By the way, I am feeling a bit better at day’s end, which is encouraging.
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| Goodnight from the jungle . . . |
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