Another busy weekend, full of adventure has come to an end yet again. This time a group of us decided to go to the Peruvian jungle, called Manu. This is part of the Amazon jungle that spreads across a few countries in central South America. There are 3 different zones within Manu, the cultural zone, the reserved zone and the intangible zone. Because we were only going for 3 days we were only able to see the cultural zone but on longer trips people are able to go deeper.
We booked with a company call Manu Adventures (which had been recommended to us by some other girls) and they picked us up by at the casa at 5:30am Saturday morning. There were 6 of us plus 2 other ladies, a cook, our guide and the driver all packed into a van. We drove for 9 hours up and over mountains and on the side of cliffs. I thought the ride to Paucartambo was bad, but that was nothing! This was much, much worse. We had lunch and bathroom breaks along the way as well as walks to see birds, plants and the pretty views. Finally we made it to our first lodge which was quite nice, it had a kitchen and dinning room, 2 different bunk houses with double rooms as well as bathrooms and showers. There's no electricity in the jungle but lights were needed to prepare and eat dinner, so I believe there was a generator that ran for 3 or 4 hours until 9pm. We had a 3 course dinner including soup, main meal and desert plus delicious bread, after this feast I was ready for bed. Sleeping was so nice because of the sound of running water (from a near by river), all the little animal sounds and the pitch blackness.
The second day was extremely busy. We woke up, had breakfast and headed back down to the vans where we were able to see monkeys in the trees overlooking the road. We then drove another 2 hours to a small village where we would start our white water rafting adventure. It was only class I and II rapids, so nothing compared to the Kennebec but still a lot of fun. We beached at a small river community where the van was waiting for us with all of our belongings. We boarded a typical, jungle looking boat and motored down the river to our second lodge, which was right on the water. We ate lunch and then headed out for our canopy tour (aka zip line). It was quite a hot, sweaty hike up to the beginning platform while carrying all our gear for the zip line. At the top we had a break and an info session and then it was time to go! One of the guides was the first to go, then it was my turn. I was literally hugging the tree for dear life as they were strapping me in and my tour guide was giving me a pep talk. But then I had to sit down with my legs cross and away I went. It was so scary and I screamed like a baby at first but then I got really into it. There were 4 lines that we all went on through different parts of the canopy, it was gorgeous and so much fun. But then when we got to the last platform I was looking around and saw no ladder, no steps but just a bungee with a a j hook. I then learned that we had to repel down this tree using a rope and a figure 8, I almost shit my pants once again. I ended up doing and it though and it was fine, not that bad at all.
It was almost dark when we got back so we relaxed and waited for dinner. At this point I hadn't showered in almost 2 days and was extremely stinky, but we were going on a night walk so I planned to shower when we got back. After another delicious 3 course dinner I had to go to the bathroom so I head to the back of our bunk house opened and closed the door, wiped some ants off the toilet seat and went to sit down. This is when I noticed a MASSIVE, HUGE spider on the wall, I am not exaggerating here. I ran out with my pants down and went to tell the others. Our guide came and looked at it and told us it's called the Scorpion Spider, the largest in the Amazon. Great, just great the bathroom I choose to go into and there's a spider the size of Texas on the wall. Needless to say I did not take a shower or use the bathroom again that night. I did go on the night walk and saw some more nasty spiders, huge ants and frogs.
The third morning we got up at 5:30am to take the boat and view the blue-headed macaws (I think) eat the clay off the side of a cliff. This is good for their digestive system. After that we came back, had breakfast and the 6 of us packed up because the rest of the people were staying for an extra day. On our way back on the boat we stopped at an island and went to a pond to view more birds and butterflies. We arrived at the town we had stopped at with the rafts and boarded the hot van. It was then time to make the long journey back to Cusco. We arrived around 8ish Monday night, which wasn't too bad. Even though I spent most of the time scared out of my mind, I'm still glad I did it.
On the tour we met 2 ladies, 1 from Greece who spoke Spanish, some English and I'm assuming Greek, 1 from Ganada who only spoke French and Spanish as well as a very nice Norwegian man. It was interesting to talk to him especially because he was a junior high school teacher, who taught PE, religion and Social Studies. Everyone in Norway has to take religion as well as English beginning at grade 2 then Spanish, French or German in high school. The last thin he said to us was try not to start a war in Cusco, I'm so glad that's what the US is known for.
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