First things first. Arrived in Peru and got to spend the night in the airport to catch a 6 am flight in the morning to Cusco. Flying in to Cusco in the morning is gorgeous, with the sun hitting the mountains. You have to take it easy in Cusco because of the altitude, so the first day there you are supposed to eat little, drink coca tea, and move slowly. Well I for sure drank alot of coca tea and only had a minor headache. I did chew some coca leaves (mom, dad, don´t worry, I´m not addicted). They were interesting, they make your tongue go a little numb. Got to see one of the plazas and walked around for a bit. We caught a ride out from Cusco on a bus with tourists on a one lane dirt and rock road. They dropped us off at Esperanza, which is the research cabin. You have to walk 2 km or so up the road to Wayqechas. We walked some trails and saw beautiful orchids. There are only freezing cold showers, so I won´t be using a ducha often. Only when necessary. We took a truck down to Atalya where a boat took us down the Alta Madre de Dios River to a lodge called Pantiacolla. It is nice, but you do have to contend with some blood sucking flys. We spent 2 nights there and took a 5 mile hike to Mirador, which looks out over the region. Also swam in the river, and while waiting for my turn at the shower, got eaten alive. But it was worth it. We did more boat travel and got stranded for a bit waiting for the AABP (
BRIT) boat to pick us up. Camped that night on a beach with more moscas (flies) and mosquitos. We went by more boat to Los Amigos (Cerca) which is a large research station. The town we stopped at before that is where I ate some food I shouldn´t have. So my time at Los Amigos was spent puking and sleeping. But it only lasted one day. So we took another boat to Labyrinth and a taxi to Puerto Maldonado. A very tiring trip because of all the traveling, but it was worth it. In two days we´ll fly to Lima.
Pedro, the guy studying moths, was with us for 6 days, and we would sit on the boat or talk on walks. He has been helping me with my spanish. I like him alot. Of course, it would only take a few days and the truck driver was asking john if i had a peruvian boyfriend. At times, I feel like I have bright face paint on or a giant birth mark because of all the staring. Not a problem, I just ignore it. By the way, the pictures people have seen of wayqechas don´t do it justice. Hardly any bugs, unlike Pantiacolla where I got tore up after swimming in the alta madre de dios. I did have a little minor batch of food poisoning, but that only lasted one afternoon. It was from eating fried fish from the river. I didn´t even think anything at the time, but I will now. It was pretty brutal. So overall, I´m having a pretty good time. I itch alot (picaduras) but I will survive, which is important. Because I don´t speak well enough spanish, there is no one to laugh at my fantastic wit. Sarcasm doesn´t come out well with hand signals and a few palabras.
This whole experience has been unreal. The lowlands are fascinating, but the heat and the bugs are a lot to handle when I had just come from the cold and no insectos in Wayqechas. Cerca has too many people but better amenities. It was more like a little community and John says that not enough research is done. Wayqechas is very isolated, but it is glorious. I want to videotape it so you can get the whole perspective. I have never seen anything like it.