TUESDAY – HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY FROM THE AMAZON

While we are located in the Amazon jungle, we are nowhere near the Amazon River. The river up which we came is the Tampopata River which eventually finds its way to the Atlantic Ocean even though we are relatively close to the Pacific Ocean. The Amazon jungle covers an extraordinarily large area over nine countries.

The lodge is fantastic. As I suspected, the internet signal is not sufficiently strong to enable me to post photos so they will have to wait. This morning, we were to get up at five to go exploring in the jungle but it was pouring rain so the exploration was postponed until a little later as the weather appeared to clear. We now have two guides allocated to us being Reni from Peregrine and Ederson, a guide attached to the lodge whose responsibility it is to look after Trish and I while we are here.

 

Unfortunately, the rain intensified again after we started out so our exploration was cut short but we were able to spot some tiny Tamarind monkeys high in the trees. Unfortunately there was no opportunity to get a photo in which a monkey could have been identified. We had to be satisfied with a video presentation on the Amazon which showed much more than could ever be seen in the time we have here.

This afternoon, the weather improved dramatically and we enjoyed four hours of exploration. The highlight of the afternoon was an encounter with some Howler monkeys significantly bigger than the Tamarind monkeys seen this morning. Another significant event was the sighting of an Harpey eagle high in the jungle canopy. Apparently it is the second biggest flying bird in the world. The mud under foot was incredible but, fortunately, they supplied us with very efficient boots which enabled us to wade through quite deep mud without any grief.

 

 Tomorrow we head back down the river for a short flight to Cusco en route to Macchu Picchu.

 

We have started our course of medication to deal with the risk of altitude sickness which we will be susceptible to when we get to Cusco which is located at an altitude of approximately 11,000 feet. Hopefully the medication will be effective.