More Jungle

The Jungle!

Hot, sweaty, and very, very vivid. First, we arrived in Rurrenabarque via La Paz by very small plane. While having lunch in Rurrenabarque, we casually asked the waiter what type of fish we were eating and he pointed to the head pictured above that kind of looks like a catfish/alligator. Ugly but tasty! From October 12-14th, we visited the Serere Reserve near Madidi National Park. We embarked from Rurrenabarque down the Beni River about 3 hours with Madidi Travel, a company dedicated to conservation efforts through tourism. The founders of Madidi Travel led a National Geographic team through Madidi National Park in 2000. We were able to meet Rosa Marie, one of the founders of Madidi National Park and of Serere Reserve, and some of the local indigenous people who assist in the convervation efforts. At Serere we saw many types of animals and plants including red howler monkeys, chincilla monkeys, capuchin monkeys, spider monkeys, macaws, serere birds, hummingbirds, caimins, pirahnias, bats, toads, beetles, spiders, and butterflies, just to name a few.

Copacabana and Isla Del Sol

Over the Border! We made it to Bolovia and settled in for a few days at a sleepy little town called Copacabana (with no sightings of a showgirl named Lola, but plenty of sun and blue skies). Here we ate delicious, fresh trout from Lake Titicaca and saw many a beautiful sunrise and sunset over the lake from both Copacabana and from Isla del Sol. Isla del Sol is a small but important island with Incan ruins and farming terraces that are still in use. A sacred rock is also located on the island from which the Lake is named. Also, in Copacabana we dined at a restaurant named La Orilla (The Shore) and if you are ever in the neighborhood you must order the Pepper Steak. Don´t let the name throw you off. It tastes nothing like you would expect. It is the best meal we have had on our travels by far! All for $5!

Colca Canyon

Our last hooray in Peru was Colca Canyon. After traveling 6 hrs from Arequipa, we arrived in Cabanaconde, a small town with dirt streets that feels like the Wild West. Early in the morning we boarded a heavy duty work truck and were on our dusty way to Cruz del Condor. There we were lucky enough to see several Andean condors close up. The following day we hiked down a steep, gravely trail 3000 ft into Colca Canyon and stayed the night in Llahaur where we had a refreshing dip in some natural hot springs by the Colca River. Gorgeous! The next day we hike up, down, and back up again 3000ft (a grand total of 9000ft). Luckily, we had a half time break in the Oasis. The Oasis is a beautiful lush, green area in the bottom of the canyon complete with fancy swimming pools!

Lares Trek

From September 21-23, we left for our Lares trek, but not without a few obstacles along the way. Obstacles included protests in Cusco causing us to leave early for the trek and road work closing the road from Lares back to Cusco causing us to wait 4 hours for the road to open to traffic (once we got on the road we were practically 4-wheeling for an hour). The trek itself was a great insight into the rural, Quechua way of life. On top of beautiful scenery, we were able to interact with the local people and see llamas peeing! Also, Adam caught 2 delicious breakfast trout. We were rewarded at the end of the hike by wonderfully relaxing hot springs in Lares.

Moray and Ollantaytambo Ruins

After returning from Macchu Pichu, we took a day trip to some more Incan ruins. Pictured are the stonework from Ollantaytambo, including the handholds they used to move the enormous stones, and from Moray the terracing and floating steps. The terracing at Moray were believed to be used as agricultural laboratories... or as alien crop circles. ;)

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu! After waking up at 3:30 am and booking it to make the sunrise on the fourth day, our group was the first to arrive at the sungate to Machu Picchu. Unfortunately, she was obscured by clouds when we arrived, but we were soon rewarded with a rapid clearing and we could make out the olde girl in all of her mystical splendor. We then tried to stay awake while the guides did their guiding and gave us some history of the site. Later we explored the ruins and enjoyed the spectacular scenery. A marvelous setting for such impressive ruins.