Jen & Mark's Travels: 2010

Maui

Ka'anapali Beach

Ka'anapali Beach Bums

Sunset on the Lanai

Night Shot from our Condo

Twin Falls Area

Road to Hana

(It's not nearly as bad as they make it out to be)

Waianapanapa Park

Wailua Falls

Cheeseburger in Paradise

Sunset off the Lanai

Sunset

Top of Haleakala (10,023 Feet)

Mark & Jen

Kauai

Jen & Mark

Na Pali Coast

Waimea Canyon

Mom & Dad

Barking Sands Beach

Na Pali Coast

Barking Sands Beach

View from our Condo

Poipu, Kauai

Santa Monica

We had a 5 hour layover at LAX, so what better way to spend it than to rent a car, and go exploring. (and go to Fry's)

Ferris Wheel on Santa Monica Pier

View of Santa Monica Pier

Friday May 28

We started our day with pancakes, eggs, fried buffalo cheese and papaya juice for breakfast.

Shortly thereafter, Randy and Edison took us out on a final excursion to look for wildlife. Once again, some of us ended up knee high in water, and had to empty our boots out.

Edison Emptying his Boots

Oran, Peru

One of the interesting parts of the Amazon rain-forest is that there is no topsoil. While we're used to fertile topsoil in the States, in the rain-forest there is just a layer of organic material sitting on top of the clay that gets reabsorbed too quickly to compost out.

Notice the lack of Topsoil?

Oran, Peru

We didn't really see much wildlife this time, and headed back to the lodge for a while to relax and pack up.

Wild Parrots outside the Hammock Room

Oran, Peru

To our surprise, while relaxing in the hammock room, in walked a family who just arrived that had been in our hotel in Cuzco. What a small world.

Our final spectacular lunch was chicken in red sauce with spaghetti, rice (very Peruvian to have both), fresh veggies, and of course, fresh squeezed juice.

Anthony delayed our departure by insisting we meet some of his pets. The most feisty being one of his caiman.

Smiling Caiman

Oran, Peru

We said our goodbyes to the staff at the lodge, and Edison joined us on our trip to Iquitos, his hometown.

Randy, Mark, Edison, Jenny

Oran, Peru

On our way back to Iquitos, we passed the Peruvian coast guard attempting to right a ferry that had capsized earlier in the week due to overloading. It had approximately 250-300 people on board.

Capsized Peruvian Ferry

Indiana, Peru

Edison took us around an open air market in Iquitos, and after that we met Ivy for some ice cream made with the local fruit. Edison dropped us off at the airport, and we made our way back to Lima.

Once safely back at the convent in Lima (or so we thought), Sister Catharine attacked our sunburns with fresh aloe. We took the assault in stride, and percolated as much as possible.

The next morning we hung around the convent. Sister Josephine took us on the roof where we took some pictures of the surrounding city.

Lima, Peru

We said our goodbye's, and Sister Monica took us to the airport, and bid us a fond farewell. Thus ended our Peruvian adventure!

Rain Rain Go Away

Thursday, May 27

Our plan was to wake up early, and go trekking on a remote island to look for wildlife. Unfortunately, however, it was raining. We had an amazing breakfast of buffalo cheese, eggs, toast, fried yucca, starfruit juice, and these really great pancakes. The pancakes had vanilla in them among other things, and they were the best pancakes we've ever had.

After breakfast, we decided to brave the rain and wander around near the lodge. We trekked through the rainforest near the lodge a little bit, then came to a field. As we were walking, the rain finally cleared up. We followed the field to the Oran cemetery, where Randy said some of his family was buried. After that, we walked past Randy's house and were able to eat guava straight off the tree!

We went back to the lodge and prepared for another boat ride. On the way to our destination, we came across some pink dolphins.

Pink Dolphin

Oran, Peru

Pink Dolphins

Oran, Peru

We visited San Gregorio, a local Yagua village, and purchased some hand crafts from the villagers. We were invited into the hut of one of the villagers while our guides enjoyed a bowl of masato, a fermented yucca drink. (We were advised to politely decline, as the drink is made by chewing the yucca root, and mixing it with untreated river water)

Yagua Village

San Gregorio, Peru

Back in the boat, we saw many birds, sloths, monkeys, and followed a few dolphins. We stopped to trek a little ways down the river from the Yagua village. Randy and Edison had a surprise for us up their sleeves. They showed us a tree that was several hundred years old. This tree was easily the largest we've ever seen, making the giant sequoias in California look small in comparison.

Juvenile Black Collared Hawk

Oran, Peru

Juvenile Black Collared Hawk

Oran, Peru

Squirrel Monkey

Oran, Peru

Termite Nest

Oran, Peru

Rainforest Canopy

Oran, Peru

Trekking in The Rainforest

Oran, Peru

Mark, Randy, Ceiba Tree

Oran, Peru

Jenny, Mark, Ceiba Tree

Oran, Peru

We went back to the lodge for a lunch of beef stew, rice, yucca, fresh veggies and.... jello! After our afternoon siesta in the hammock room, we headed out looking for giant water lilies and to do some fishing. Unfortunately, we didn't find any water lilies. The piranha fishing went slightly better, with Jenny bringing one in. It's entirely beside the point that it was a vegetarian piranha and it was subsequently used as bait.

Amazonian Tributary

Oran, Peru

Water Plants & Flowers

Oran, Peru

Piranha

Oran, Peru

On the way back, we got caught in a small rainstorm that passed quickly. A treat for us was seeing a complete rainbow.

After the rainstorm, we caught the best sunset of our trip.

Amazonian Sunset

Oran, Peru

Amazonian Sunset

Oran, Peru

Dinner was schnitzeled chicken, rice, yucca, and veggies. After dinner Mark, Edison, and Kalie (the dog) went out to take a look for nocturnal wildlife. This time we found a tarantula and an owl.