June 22, 2025
Hotel Tambu
Lima, Peru
My flight arrived in Lima at 22:20. It took quite a while to get through immigration at the Lima Airport. The new airport had only opened a week before and they were still ironing out kinks in their processes. This may have been behind the change in my flight time. It was about 23:00 when I finally exited customs and started looking for my driver. There was a mob of drivers with names on signs and tour group logos, but none with my name or that of Intrepid Tours. I had called Intrepid immediately when I discovered the change in my flight time. Unfortunately, they had failed to notify the driver, because he had texted me at the time my flight was originally supposed to arrive. Obviously, they hadn’t checked the airline website, either. I had been in communication with him since I landed, so I knew he had to be around there somewhere. I texted him, again, and asked where he was. He said he was by door number three and had an Intrepid sign. When I exited door number three, I still did not see him. I was tired and grumpy, but I texted him again, asking if he was in the group across the street. About that time, I noticed a young man talking on a cellphone with a small Intrepid sign tucked under his arm. He certainly hadn’t made it easy to locate him. He delivered me to my hotel, but I was in no mood to chat.
 |
| Courtyard at the Hotel Tambu |
The Hotel Tambu was new, clean, and modern, but chilly. It was cool and drizzly out but they had many of the windows open and there was no heat. Neither was there any drinking water in the room. I later discovered there was a dispenser in the lobby, which was certainly better than single-use bottles, but didn’t help me that night. I had nothing with which to take my pills and, subsequently, didn’t sleep much without my melatonin, tired as I was.
I woke up to a cold, rainy morning about 6:00. As much as I wanted to go back to sleep, I could not. I finally got up about 7:30, dressed and went down to breakfast. The breakfast was nice, but it took me awhile to realize it was self-service after having been spoiled everywhere in Ecuador. I needed to go to the bank and take my clothes to the laundry, but it was raining and I had no desire to go outside.
About 10:00, I forced myself to go in search of an ATM to get some soles. A sol is worth about 28 cents. Google seemed to think there were ATM’s all over the place, but they turned out to be inside businesses and most of them were closed on Sunday morning. I finally found one inside a convenience store and withdrew 400 soles. Then I went back to the hotel, hoping to warm up. The cleaning staff was mopping my floor when I returned, so I just grabbed my dirty clothes and set off to the laundry. There was a 24-hour laundry about half a kilometer down the road. They charged me 36.50 soles to wash 6.6 kilograms of laundry, which was considerably cheaper than the roughly 10 soles per piece charged by the hotel. The laundry told me my clothes would be ready by 21:00 and I told them I would probably come back in the morning.
I did go back to the hotel at that point, although I had warmed up considerably carrying my laundry up the road. I took all the heavy items such as my computer out of my daypack, loaded it with a few essentials, and set off to walk the few blocks to the malecon, hoping to find someplace to eat lunch.
 |
| Lima Sits Atop a Bluff Overlooking the Pacific |
Lima sits atop tall cliffs, bordering the Pacific. In the Miraflores district where tourism in centered, there is a nice malecon that runs along the edge of the cliff. Many people were out walking, jogging, and cycling. I walked south. I spotted a marina further south and decided to head there. Unfortunately, when I came to a large ravine containing a freeway, the bridge was closed for renovation and I couldn’t cross. I turned around and went in search of food. The area was primarily residential with a mix of hotels and businesses. All of it was very modern and rather featureless. It looked like a nice place to live, but didn’t
 |
| Deserted Mall |
interest me much. While walking north, I spotted what looked like a shopping mall spilling down the side of the cliff. It looked like a nice place to grab a bite to eat. When I got there, however, the whole place was cordoned off. Apparently, there had been an earthquake and the place had been shut down until it could be certified safe. By that point, I was ravenous and just decided to hit up the nearest restaurant, which happened to be a KFC. Fortunately, I decided to verify that I had brought my wallet before I ordered. While reorganizing my belongings, I had left my purse behind. About that time, I encountered the hop-on, hop-off tour bus office. If I had brought money with me, I might have taken a tour, but the dismal weather was not inspiring enough to make me want to walk back there. I went back to the hotel, munched the granola bar they gave me on the plane, and decided to wait for an early dinner.
 |
| The Lima Marriott |
 |
| Paddington Bear |
I spent the afternoon writing and watching the CNN coverage of Trump’s airstrikes on Iran.
June 24, 2025
Inkaterra Amazon Field Station
Puerto Maldonado, Peru
 |
| Church on the Malecon |
I did stir myself to go out and have an Italian Peruvian dinner of baked macaroni and cheese with chorizo. I drank a glass of malbec and ordered churros and coffee for dessert just to stay out of my freezing room for a bit longer.
I spent Monday morning working on my blog in the hotel. At 10:00, the front desk called to tell me I would have to change rooms at noon. I packed up and then spent the remainder of the morning in my single room. At noon, I moved to the room I would share with my roommate from the tour. I was curious to meet her. The double room was in a different section of the hotel and, while it was quite crowded, was a lot warmer and had an elevator. I continued to work on my blog until my roommate arrived. Her name was Emily and she was a 23-year old from London. We were both hungry, so I took her to the food court I had discovered the previous day while looking for an ATM. She had lomo saltado and I had sweet and sour chicken and shiu mai. I couldn’t resist Chinese food.
 |
| Food Court in Lima |
We had to be back by 14:00 for our tour orientation. Our group consisted of sixteen people. Only two of us were American. There were two Swiss, two Australians, four English, one Norwegian, and five New Zealanders. Our Peruvian guide was named Holger, but he told us to call him Ollie. He took pictures of our passports and told us a little about what to expect. One unexpected wrinkle was that we Americans needed Bolivian visas. One of the primary reasons I had joined a tour was that there were a lot of visa requirements and I figured the tour company would handle the itinerary and return ticket issues. I had received my yellow fever shot and had my documentation. What I did not expect was that it would cost 650 soles, or about $200. I would have to go to the bank in Cusco.
 |
| The Plaza San Martin |
After our meeting, we all piled into a van and drove to the historic center of Lima. The bus let us off at the Plaza San Martin. San Martin was one of the generals who aided Peru in achieving independence from Spain. From there, we walked down a pedestrian mall to the Plaza de Armas. Along the way, we passed a statue honoring Ramón Castillo, the president who freed all the African slaves in Peru in 1854. After they were emancipated, there was a shortage of labor. Laborers were imported from China, which accounts for the Chinese influence (especially in food) in Peru.
 |
Plaza de Armas
|
One side of the Plaza de Armas is occupied by the government palace, complete with colorfully attired guards. The cathedral occupied a second side. Once grand hotels had been converted to businesses. A large fountain graced the center of the square. The center of Lima seemed a bit grubby after the other cities I had seen.
 |
| Guard at the Government Palace |
 |
| The Franciscan Monastery |
The high point of the afternoon, for me, was our tour of the Franciscan Monastery that was billed as a tour of the catacombs. Franciscan monks, their families, and their benefactors were interred beneath the church. The remains of some 25,000 people rest in several levels. The bones were sorted into brickwork bins, some of which were as much as ten meters deep. The building, itself, was gorgeous, with 17th century hand-painted tiles that reminded me of the Alhambra. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photographs. No tour was available in English, so only four of us went. The two of us who understood Spanish translated for the others.
After we finished visiting the catacombs, we got back in the bus and drove to Kennedy Square where we ate dinner. The square was full of very relaxed feral cats who seemed to be well cared for. One orange tabby even visited us in the restaurant. After dinner, we walked a mile or so back to our hotel and went straight to bed because we had to get up at 4:00.
 |
| My Poor Suitcase |
We left the hotel at 5:30 on Tuesday morning and drove back to the Lima airport. After enjoying coffee while waiting for our gate to be announced, we boarded our flight to Puerto Maldonado on the Madre de Dios River. Puerto Maldonado was an unimpressive town of about 100,000 inhabitants that could just as easily have been in Mexico. My suitcase had had two more wheels snapped off on the flight from Lima and the case torn open. We filed a claim and I was supposed to be reimbursed $60, but it was unclear how that was supposed to happen. I would need to purchase a new suitcase in Cusco. I had been considering doing that, anyway, so this was not terribly disappointing. I only hoped I could find a decent bag in Cusco.
 |
| The Landing in Puerto Maldonado |
We stopped at the office of our jungle lodge in Puerto Maldonado to pack what we needed for the next few days into small duffle bags. Our suitcases would be left in storage at the office. They loaded our duffle bags and us into a canoa and we proceeded to motor up the Madre de Dios River for about 45 minutes. It was rather chilly and began to rain along the way. It was quite cold by the time we arrived at the Inkaterra Amazon Field Station. The river was low and they had to chop new steps into the mud of the bank so that we could disembark.
 |
| Tino with a Heart Palm |
After lunch, we went for a short guided walk in the jungle. Our guide, Tino, explained how the local palm trees were sometimes harvested for hearts of palm. The bark of the trees is very hard, but the center is spongy. They are used in rustic construction because the spongy interior can be hollowed out and replaced with concrete and re-bar to make strong, seemingly natural, columns. Tino explained that the weather pattern we were experiencing was called a friaje. Maybe twice a year, they would get a cold snap like this that could last for a couple of weeks. We had left most of our warm clothes in Puerto Maldonado, thinking it would be hot in the Amazon. I was wearing two fleeces and a rain coat and was still cold.
After a short rest, we congregated in the bar for drinks and hot tea before going on a short night jungle walk. We didn’t see a whole lot, but did see a catydid, some spiders, and one large salamander. Dinner consisted of farm-raised trout that tasted like salmon with quinoa soup, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, some sort of vegetarian stew, and salad which I avoided after having suffered for four days after eating the lovely salad in Ecuador.
 |
| Katydid |
Immediately we returned to our cabanas, we crawled under the covers and I wrote while the electricity was still turned on.
June 25, 2025
Inkaterra Amazon Field Station
Puerto Maldonado, Peruvian
 |
| The Inkaterra Conference Center |
It rained in the early morning hours but had stopped by the time our alarm went off at 6:30. It was too cold to even dream of taking a shower. Those who did reported barely warm water. We had a nice breakfast at 7:00 and then got ready to walk across the jungle to the canopy towers and suspension bridges provided by Inkaterra. Inkaterra’s property covered 200 hectares and included three separate lodges. In the center was a conference center where we stopped to hear a short lecture on the stratification of the rainforest. Then we completed our walk to the suspension bridges and saw an Amazon red squirrel along the way.
 |
| Me Atop the Tower |
 |
| The Tower Steps |
 |
| View from the Tower |
We began our canopy tour by climbing 200 steps up a wooden tower. This got us to the highest level of the rainforest, that of the emerging trees. We didn’t see a lot of wildlife up there, but could hear parakeets camouflaged by their leaf green color.
 |
| Emilie on the Suspension Bridge |
One by one, we descended from the tower via a series of suspension bridges that took us through the canopy layer. Eventually, we came to a treehouse where guests could sometimes spend the night. There was even a restroom at the end of the next bridge. Finally, we climbed down another tower to terra firma. There, Ollie made us try eating termites. They were tiny and only slightly spicy. By 10:30, we were back at the lodge.
 |
| The Treehouse |
I spent the time until lunch working on my blog. And finished the post before we headed for the canoa at 13:45. The river had risen considerably since we disembarked and the steps they had carved for us were completely submerged. We boarded the canoa and proceeded upstream for half an hour before crossing the river and stopping at Reserva Nacional Tambopata. The rain upstream had washed a lot of debris into the stream and the river was full of floating logs and, unfortunately, plastic bottles and styrofoam boxes.
 |
| The Rio Madre de Dios After a Rain |
We walked a couple of hundred meters to the ranger station, used the restrooms and then set off on a two-mile long walk over a mostly well maintained boardwalk. There were just enough holes and unevenly spaced boards that we had to look down the whole way and saw little of the jungle through which we passed. Ollie stopped us a couple of times to show us things like a termite mound and edible fungus. We did see some red howler monkeys towards the end of our walk. They were mostly impossible to photograph.
 |
| Into the Swamp |
We reached a canoe landing at the end of the boardwalk and loaded our group into two canoes. We slid through a swamp filled with aquatic palms to Lago Sandoval. Along the way, we saw a caiman and many birds, the most impressive of which was a rufous tiger heron.
 |
| Aquatic Palms |
 |
| Racing Towards the River Otters |
 |
| Lago Sandoval |
 |
| On the River at Night |
Once we emerged from the swamp into the lake, our guide heard news of giant river otters on the far side of the lake. We raced across the lake, but all we really saw was some splashing in the distance. The lake was beautiful. It was kind of a gloomy afternoon and the lighting was dramatic. We poked around the edge of the lake, looking for birds and monkeys, until it started to get dark about 17:00. Then we headed back the way we had come. Blue and gold macaws were coming home to roost in the palms along the lake and squawking noisily as they landed. It was half dark by the time we left the canoes and full dark long before we reached the end of the boardwalk. I was leading and we dashed across the boardwalk, eager to get across before dark.
It was full dark on our return trip to the Amazon Field Station. Our guide stood in the bow of the boat with a flood light trained on the shore, looking for nocturnal animals. We supposedly saw some capybaras, but all I saw was a dark shape retreating into some tall grass. Still, it was beautiful on the river at night.
We had dinner in the lodge upon our return and were then briefed on what to expect the next day before heading back to our cabanas. I spent the next hour writing.
No comments:
Post a Comment