 |
| Refugio Amazonas, outside of Puerto Maldonado, Peru |
Part I: exploring the Peruvian Amazon, August 2014
By amazing coincidence, one of my friends happened to be in Peru for vacation the same dates that I was headed down for a work trip. I decided to tack on a few extra days to my trip to meet her, her boyfriend and a group of their friends in the jungle. They had already booked a 4 day 3 night trip to Tambopata Research Center so I tagged along.
link to Tambopata Research Center
I had little idea of what I had gotten myself into....
I have to admit I had a hard time swallowing the cost of this trip initially, and the fact that it was so touristy. Even into my ripe old age of 30's, my usual vacations involve at least some tents and sleeping bags, cheap youth hostels (and bed bugs..), adventure sports and attempts to get off the beaten tourist path. I pride myself on traveling on a budget. But... this experience was worth every penny!
We hopped on a boat out to the first lodge, Refugio Amazonas. Hot and humid and instantly covered in bug bites... but thrown into a surreal dream-like remote jungle world. We stayed in an ecolodge that had no wall between you and the jungle - awesome! Fantastic food and nice hiking trails to explore around the lodge, before we headed upriver the following morning.
Classic Amber mistake, my only regret is not bring my SLR camera (which I didn't want to lug around while I was working the first several weeks of the trip)... the following photos are from my Olympus tough point and shoot camera.
 |
| Lodge stay, night 1 |
 |
| Tambopata River |
 |
| beautiful lantern-filled Ecolodge accommodations |
Julian, our awesome local guide
 |
| night Caiman viewing |
 |
| platform jungle views |
 |
| Refugio Amazonas |
 |
| tree nuts! |
 |
| on a boat! yeah! |
No comments:
Post a Comment