Rock, Paper, Scissors in Peru

Three hours on a boat took us to Rio Tihuayo on the Amazon. We were picked up at the Iquitos airport at 7:30 am after our 5:45 am flight from Lima. The scene from the sky was lots of water snaking through the Jungle with the City of Iquitos nestled amongst the trees. There was a shuttle that took us and two others, Nick and Linda from Virginia to the boat at the river where we met our guide Nataly and LLyako who would turn out to be a wealth of information for someone travelling the Amazon.

It was a cold ride, the sky was cloudy and the boat fast. We had picked up two more women from Iceland and the six of us were glad to be on dry walkways when we reached the lodge. The ride had been interesting seeing the many boats of villagers making there way to Iquitos to sell there products. The homes on stilts along the river. Women doing Laundry, children swimming. The river is a huge part of everyday life in the Amazon.

We were welcomed and given a tour of the lodge. Our rooms being wood walls to about my height and then mosquito netting to the ceiling. It made it interesting when anyone who was taller than the local Amazon people walked by and there were a few. Three beds in the room and our own bathroom. The beds had mosquito covers over top and when you went to bed at night it was like sleeping in your own little tent. No electricity with the exception of a generator they used to charge camera batteries. Good thing we had given up on Blow dryers and hair straighteners long ago. The humidity was high and the weather warm but not hot. This was about to change. There was a hammock room which was lovely for quiet afternoons after a busy morning and a dining area where we would all gather for our meals at the sound of the beating drum .

Your are given your own guide per couple and they stay with you for your entire visit. It's a great way to do it as it gives you a chance to really get to know each other. Each day there is an "activity" in the morning and afternoon and sometimes in the evening. They started out by letting us know what kind of activities were available and you could choose what you wanted to do. We didn't really specify and let them make our schedule as it seemed to work out better for us and them.

Without going through each day, we did many things and thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Amazon. So much that I would love to expeirence it again with my family. Canoe trips through the thick Jungle took us to Monkey's, sloths, tropical birds and many disgusting insects. We were fortunate to have two guides as Nataly was in training and spoke English and Roberto did not speak English but was extremely knowlegeable in Jungle. He was born and raised and knew every sound, where to go and what to see. The two together gave us everything we needed. Night canoe trips allowed us to experience the jungle using only our ears. A hike on terra firma ( solid ground) would show us poison dart frogs, walking trees, and the sounds of Monkeys high above but always just out of our eyesight. It was interesting watching Roberto chase the sounds of the Monkey's as he cocked his head and pointed in the direction and took off with Machete in hand not realizing that we were all at least a head taller than him and didn't quite navigate the jungle the way he did. Or maybe he did and just thought it was funny. He did laugh a lot come to think of it. At one point he took two large palm leaves from a tree and plunked himself down in the middle of the jungle and started weaving. Karyn and I just looked at each other and thought what is he doing???? Within ten to 15 minutes he had made a working back pack. They are just amazing at what they can do. As much as it was nice to be on solid ground it was even nicer to get back on the boat. A couple of hours of trudging through the jungle amonst bugs and mosquitos was enough for Karyn to realize that maybe she didn't need to do the jungle camping trip they had talked about on our arrival. This was reasurring as I didn't need to camp again, I already did that on this trip.

Mothers day took us to one of the Villages on the river, El Chino about a 10 minute boat ride from the lodge. The homes were situated around the large soccer field in the village and the locals and our giudes all had a very muddy soccer game. It appears this is a common occurance on Sundays. A couple from our lodge had brought school supplies and small toys for the children and it was intersting to watch as they handed them out. A rubber ball, a small colouring book and some crayons were a treasure to these children. We visited a medicine woman in her home who answered many of our questions. There were young mothers walking around the soccer field and had asked for there pictures to be taken. They delighted at looking at the display and we will forward the pictures to them through one of the guides at the lodge.

One of the highlights of the Amazon was our morning of fishing for Pirahnas. When they told us the night before what we were going to do, we both kind of thought "fishing" I don't want to go fishing. When we awoke in the morning to torrential rainfall I found Nataly and asked if we were still going fishing. Her and Roberto were ready to go, but in the Peruvian kind way she said we could stay here and they could bring someone from the village to show us how to basket weave. I told Karyn we were still going fishing!!!! We had a great time catching many fish, hooks flying in the air, we provided many a laugh for our two guides. I can only imangine what goes through there heads. In the end between us all we caught over 30 fish including the ones we threw back and the ones we used for bait. They had packed breakfast for us that morning and we ate on the boat. On our return to the lodge we stopped at one of the homes along the river and Nataly made bread and jelly for the children who welcomed the boat and gave them the food that was leftover. Again, I see the this in the Peruvian people how they care for one another, whether related or not. Something we as a Country could work on.

Five nights and 6 days take us to the end of our Amazon Journey through Peru and it's time to go home to our families who we missed tremendously. Another boat ride to Iquitos, a flight to Lima, 5 hours in the airport and we are off on our Journey back to Canada. The anticipation of being home is comforting.

We sit here at the airport at 4:50 am waiting for our next flight that will take us to Iquitos in Northern Peru. We thouroughly enjoyed Arequipa and are now taking our final destination flight that will take us to the end of our 3 weeks in Peru. We are not sure what to expect other than really hot humid temperatures, lots of bugs and no hot water or electricity. Therefore, we will not be emailing or adding to the blog until we return. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone and sharing stories. Be back in a week!

It is about 4:30 am in the Lima airport and we are waiting to board our flight to Iquiotos and the Peruvian Amazon. We are being picked up and driven directly to the dock in Iquitos and then taken 4 hours by speedboat down the river to the Tahuayo Lodge. Sounds like a bit of a jaunt from here. 4 hours in a speedboat... I hope there will be lots to look at. I was reading about the Lodge online yesterday and discovered that there is no electricity, and no hot water. I am not sure I am fully prepared for this week! I keep sort of trying to get my head around it but I think I am in denial. Last night we spent the 7 hours we had in Lima getting some sleep in a hotel called Las Suites in Miraflores. DON'T GO THERE...It was dirty, the bathroom hadn't been cleaned and had hair all over the floor, and Tracey´s bed had little hairs in it too. To top it off there were cockroaches running around on the floor. EEEEEW! I consider myself a fairly rugged girl (I can see that raising some eyebrows) but I was pretty creeped out by the bugs. Don't like bugs. Tracey sat calmly watching me freak out and then gently pointed out that perhaps I wasn't quite mentally prepared for the jungle as she imagined that perhaps we might see a few bugs there. Maybe. At any rate we are full speed ahead here and it is coming, ready or not. We have been at higher altitudes in dry air and relatively cool temperatures so this will definately be a big change in climate. It is expected to be 35 degrees and very humid where we are headed. I was reading some reviews of the lodge online yesterday and read stories about peoples cameras going into 'moisture protection mode' and not working any longer, warnings about peoples clothing not drying for 3 days, and someone complaining about 347 mosquito bites(they counted them???maybe there's not much to do there...we started our malaria meds last night!), and O.K., there were a few snake stories. Eveyone
sounded like they had a good experience though so-off we go. We will be completely off the grid for the next 6 days so there will be no enties on the blog. No phones, no lights, no computers...aren't there a lot of horror movies that start out that way?
We will catch up when we come out...if we come out!

We are in Arequipa today. Tracey and I have decided not to go out to the Colca Canyon. I am pretty disappointed as it was one of the things I was most looking forward to on this trip. Once we got to Arequipa and tried to book a tour out there we found out it takes much longer to get there then we thought and our only options were either getting on a bus at 1am and returning the same day at about 5pm, spending about 12 hours of that time on the bus, or going for 2 full days which would leave us no time to see Arequipa and maybe not get us back in time for our flight north to the Amazon. Disappointing but I guess I will have to come back sometime when we come back to South America and see it then. I am really liking Peru, the people are great, very friendly, and the scenery and history spectacular. Irequipa is a lovely little city nestled in the Andean mountains and surrounded by volcanic peaks. There are a lot of them in the area and the two closest loom over the city and add drama to the skyline. The city has a beautiful Plaza de Armas in the center and is full of colonial architecture. Lovely to walk around in, it is known as the center for arts and culture in Peru. Very different from traditional and timeless Cusco, it has the feel of a bustling modern city.
This morning we went to see Juanita, the Incan Princess that was found frozen but completely intact on the top of the Ampata Volcano in 1995. They have a phenomenal exhibit built around the viewing of the body and it was fascinating. We went first thing in the morning to beat the tour buses and it was worth the effort to get there early. The entire museum is darkened to protect the artifacts and Juanita herself is encased in plexiglass and kept frozen at -20 degrees to preserve what is essentialy an intact human body. Because she was encased in ice shortly after her death she didn´t mummify like the bodies of other Incan sacrifices that have been found in this area (they have found 18 and it is believed there are many more. All are children between the ages of 7 and 15, both boys and girls). All her internal organs, her brain, her skin and nails and everything are all preserved. She is not a mummy but a frozen body. It was fascinating and they were able to reconstruct much about her life because she was so well preserved. She was an Incan princess, the daughter of royalty, sacrificed on the top of the volcano to appease the mountain gods the Incas worshipped. She was found to have died from a single blow to the head that fractured her skull after being given a drink that likely drugged her. She was about 14 years old, had travelled from Cusco and the clothing she was wearing was of the finest cloth made at the time. They had all her garments cleaned and on display and all still had the original colors intact, even the feathers. The display begins with a 20 minute National Geographic Video that was filmed when Johan Rhienhold went back to the top of Ampato to find 2 more bodies he suspected were there still. It was a good presentation and really brought to life Juanita and her final hours. Being alone with the guide in the room with her body felt a little like being in a funeral home. Very hushed and solemn. We were lucky to have the entire place to ourselves which gave the visit a silent, almost sacred feeling. An amazing thing and the best thing we have seen in a museum here yet. I was disappointed in not being able to see the canyon but that was pretty cool.
Spent yesterday afternoon at the Santa Catalina Convent, where 30 nuns still reside. It is a city block square and a world unto itself. Built in the 1500 by a Spanish widow, it as a beautiful little village with twisty winding passages, false staircases and walls of sillar stone painted in rich deep rusts and mediterranean blues. Santa Catalina was for a long time a convent for the second daughters of wealthy Spanish families. About 450 young women once lived in relative seclusion from the world outside the convent walls but definately not in isolation. They each had 3-4 servants and often entertained musicians and other visitors. This revellry went on until the 17th century when the Pope finally sent a no-nonsense nun to free the servants and whip everyone else into shape (enough fun girls, this is the Catholic church we are talking about!). It is a lovely place to walk through and has a timeless feeling to it. It is a world unto itself and one cannot help but feel it sits in the middle of the city and remains unchanged while outside the walls the world continues to evolve and grow and change.
It is sunny and warm here. A lovely change from the high altitude and cold of Cusco and Puno. We are a thousand meters lower than Cusco now, and almost 2000 lower than we were on the Inca Trail. Virtually wallowing in oxygen!

La Casa de Margott has proved to be a good choice of sleeping arrangements. Right in the heart of Araquipa, close to everything, it´s much easier to take in the city. Do miss those comfy beds though. I would highly recomend this hostel to anyone as the room and beds are comfortable, the staff very friendly, hot water, private baths and most importantly a very good price. Ninety soles per night, including breakfast.

Im starting to feel much better and even had dinner last night. Zig Zag restaurant that serves only crepes. Many different kinds to choose from. I had the Hawaiin and Karyn the ham, cheese and spinach. Not very creative , but delicous all the same.

We took a walk through the Monestary (Nunnery) yesterday. It was amazing. A huge place that at one time hundreds of years ago housed up to 450 nuns that had been brought over from Spain. The nuns apparently had been carefully chosen from the upper class families and were sent with a dowry of some kind. Sounds like the nuns were living the high life with anywhere from 1 to 4 black slaves per nun who appeared to have some pretty sofisticated digs for the time. Apparently the nuns threw parties, with music and entertainment and were living the life they were accustomed to back home. In the mid 1800´s a Dominican nun was sent by the church to straighten things out and sent many of the nuns home and freed the slaves whom many of them stayed on as nuns. There were many rooms that appeared to be suites as they had a place for sleeping, cooking and lavatory, some even had laundry. Personally I could loose the Laundry bit. It was amazing walking through this old Convent that still houses 30 nuns to this day. They live in a newer area of the Monestary which you don´t see. In approximately the 1970´s the government apparently forced the Nuns to open up the Monestary to the public. Before this time they did not leave the confound of the Monestary and had no contact with the outside world. It was like walking through a maze with all the different streets and rooms, a small town within a town.

After this we aquainted ourselves with the town of Arequipa and took in one of the upstairs Restaurants in the Plaza des Armas, the view was spectacular, the food okay! We wondered the town again and made our way back to our room. We have decided it will not be possible to take in the Colca Canyon this trip, as much as this is something we would really like to do, we just don´t have the time. We are enjoying Arequipa and looking forward to another day here as there is still much to see. We have been on the move so much since this trip started that we took a few hours to just relax in our room before dinner. After dinner we thought we would try something crazy and stay up past 10:00. An Irish Pub in Peru? We gave it a try. Along with the other 6 people in the pub we had a drink and headed home.

We have just come from seeing Juanita the sacrificial body that was found high above the mountains in Arequipa fully preserved as she has been frozen for 500 years and still is. It was an amazing walk through the museum with a guide who was very informative and easy to listen to. We arrived early and virtually had the place to ourselves which made the information we were hearing that much more moving. It started with a 20 minute video done by National Geographic on the finding of Juanita and how they believe the sacrifice was done. There have been 18 children sacrifices found over the years througout Peru, Chile and Argentina. What makes Juanita so special is she is the only one that was completely preserved as she had been frozen all these years. The other children anywhere between 7 and 15 years old had been mumified. As we walked through the museum we were shown all of the diffent clothing, offerings to the gods etc..... that had been found in the burial sites with the children. The final room takes you to Juanita herself who is in a temperature controlled case with very low lighting to protect her. Because we were alone in the room, it was dark, cool and felt almost eerie at seeing this child, between 12 and 14 years old that was completely intact and had allowed herself to be sacrificed to the gods for her people. This was definately one of the highlights of the trip and will be fondly remembered.