16/01/08 Today was a traveling day. We had some free time to explore Lima in the morning, but just a few hours. First impressions of Lima: Hot, Dry, and Smoggy! After boarding a very uneventful flight from Lima to Iquitos we arrived in the late afternoon to unbelievable humidity and sunshine. Iquitos is a sea of green, the city is a tiny speck in the vast Amazon wilderness. Iquitos City is the gateway to the Amazon, so from here we will need to take a boat upstream 3 or 4 hours to access the real interior lowland rainforests of the Amazon basin. Here area couple of pictures from our morning in Lima and our arrival in Iquitos:
17/01/08 We made it to the lodge late last night. There is no electricity, a generator charges batteries for us 2 times a day and we have some solar power to help the kitchen and storeroom prepare meals. It is very rustic, but lovely. I can’t say peaceful, because the noise in the rainforest at night rivals a busy city street in the middle of the day. It is loud! The Tahuayo Lodge on the Tahuayo River, a tributary of the Amazon River will be our home away from home for the next 2 weeks.
Today we had our first “jungle” adventure. We hiked in the Varzea or flooded forest. This is a seasonally flooded forest, and since we are in the wet season, the ground is soft and spongey, there are tree roots protruding from everywhere so you really have to be careful where you walk so you don’t fall, especially since when you trip you usually want to grab for something to steady yourself, right? Wrong! Especially if you happen to be close to the Fire Ant Tree! Also, the mosquitoes are terrible. There is no way to keep from getting bitten, and they swarm whenever you stop walking to take a picture, which is why although the humidity is high (96%?) and the air temperature is warm, we are all covered head to toe in gear and DEET!
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Notes from our intrepid travellers:
16/01/08
Today was a traveling day. We had some free time to explore Lima in the morning, but just a few hours. First impressions of Lima: Hot, Dry, and Smoggy! After boarding a very uneventful flight from Lima to Iquitos we arrived in the late afternoon to unbelievable humidity and sunshine. Iquitos is a sea of green, the city is a tiny speck in the vast Amazon wilderness. Iquitos City is the gateway to the Amazon, so from here we will need to take a boat upstream 3 or 4 hours to access the real interior lowland rainforests of the Amazon basin. Here area couple of pictures from our morning in Lima and our arrival in Iquitos:
17/01/08
We made it to the lodge late last night. There is no electricity, a generator charges batteries for us 2 times a day and we have some solar power to help the kitchen and storeroom prepare meals. It is very rustic, but lovely. I can’t say peaceful, because the noise in the rainforest at night rivals a busy city street in the middle of the day. It is loud! The Tahuayo Lodge on the Tahuayo River, a tributary of the Amazon River will be our home away from home for the next 2 weeks.
Today we had our first “jungle” adventure. We hiked in the Varzea or flooded forest. This is a seasonally flooded forest, and since we are in the wet season, the ground is soft and spongey, there are tree roots protruding from everywhere so you really have to be careful where you walk so you don’t fall, especially since when you trip you usually want to grab for something to steady yourself, right? Wrong! Especially if you happen to be close to the Fire Ant Tree! Also, the mosquitoes are terrible. There is no way to keep from getting bitten, and they swarm whenever you stop walking to take a picture, which is why although the humidity is high (96%?) and the air temperature is warm, we are all covered head to toe in gear and DEET!
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