Last Day In Peru

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.

Pink Toed Tarantula

Oran, Peru

Screech Owl

Oran, Peru

Around the Lodge

Here are some pictures we took at the Otorongo Expeditions Lodge. Your regularly scheduled programming will resume shortly.

Otorongo Expeditions Lodge

Oran, Peru

Main Room

Otorongo Expeditions Lodge

Oran, Peru

Hammock Room

Otorongo Expeditions Lodge

Oran, Peru

Bed with Mosquito Netting

Otorongo Expeditions Lodge

Oran, Peru

Macaws Playing

Otorongo Expeditions Lodge

Oran, Peru

Anthony with his Toucan 

Otorongo Expeditions Lodge

Oran, Peru

Knee Deep

Wednesday, May 26

Our Wednesday started out with an early (6:30) breakfast of eggs, fresh fried buffalo cheese, lunch-meat, bread, and fresh juice. There were 7 other people at the Lodge when we arrived, and they were all at breakfast. Four were from Belgium, Two were birders (one Peruvian, one Gringo), and then one younger guy from Boston. After breakfast, we joined the birders and the Bostonian on an island trail-hike that was blazed the day before. The hike showed us what a young Amazon forest looks like, as the island had been created by the Amazon several years before. The hike took us through knee-deep ponds (very fun in calf length rubber boots) and through the jungle. We didn't see any wildlife on this hike, but got a very good idea of what we would be experiencing in the future.

After the hike, we trolled along the side of the island for a while, and caught a glimpse of the following:

Yellow Headed Caracara

Oran, Peru

Iguana

Oran, Peru

Young Sloth

Oran, Peru

We went back to the lodge, and relaxed in the hammock room while we were waiting for lunch. Our fellow guests were all packing up, so we had the hammock room all to ourselves. After lunch, the others left, and we were "alone" at the lodge with: Anthony (the owner), Edison (our english speaking tour guide), Randy (our indigenous tour guide), the cook, and the maid. We took an afternoon siesta in the hammock room (That thing is dangerous), then went out for an afternoon of sight-seeing by boat.

Amazon River

Oran, Peru

Amazonian Island 

Oran, Peru

Oran, Peru

Gray Dolphin

Oran, Peru

Gray Dolphins

Oran, Peru

Amazon Bus

Oran, Peru

Amazon River

Oran, Peru

Dinner consisted of chicken with a peruvian seasoning, rice, yucca, veggies, and chicha (a juice made from purple corn). We were alone with Anthony for dinner, and got to update him on New York (his native state). After dinner, we took another boat ride to look for nocturnal animals, however we were skunked (figuratively). All that meant was that we had to be the wild life! We turned in around 9pm, and it started raining shortly thereafter, and rained all night.