The Parrots That Weren't There

This blog post is in honor of my new friend Rafaella. Rafaella is a young lady from Lima and I met her at the parrot lick in Peru.  To get to the parrot lick we hiked from the lodge 10 minutes to the river and took a 20 minute boat ride upstream and hiked another 45 minutes to see all the birds in the poster John is pointing to.

What we saw was this.  What's that you can't see all the birds?  That's because there were no birds.  We waited and waited for the birds to arrive.

Rafaella (who I didn't get a picture of while in Peru) was waiting patiently with her mom hoping to see birds.  Needing to do something after I took pictures of the blank wall and this curleyq on the plant,

I showed Rafaella the on camera picture I took of the macaws the day before

and I offered for Rafaella to look through the binoculars and she spotted a lone parrot in a tree.  Nothing terribly exciting for our time at the salt like with the non-existent parrots.

To communicate with Rafaella I did the caveman grunts and pointed to things because I know zero spanish and since I had only heard her mom speak english I assumed Rafaella didn't speak english.  Imagine my surprise an hour later when I learned she spoke english and spoke it VERY WELL.

From that point forward I spoke to her in english and asked her questions and learned she's about the same age as my neighbor and niece.  I got my first penpal when I was 10 years old and thought the three of them could also be penpals and got Rafaella's address in Peru.

I wrote Rafaella when I got back to Arizona and today I received her reply.  I suppose I should rename the title of this post to 'The parrots that weren't there but my new friend was.'

R.O.U.S's Rodents of Unusual Size in Peruvian Amazon

The Princess Bride is one of my favorite movies.  It's a classic, one that everyone should be able to quote at anytime.  If you too are a fan of The Princess Bride, you'll know all about the R.O.U.S's.   Outside of a snake slithering in the grass (it looked quite huge too), the first animal I saw in the Peruvian jungle was a rodent of unusual size aka R.O.U.S.   At first I thought it was a wild pig but hairy.  Our guide explained it was a capybara...a giant rodent.  Luckily it didn't have a giant rat tail and wasn't chasing me wearing my princess buttercup dress.

The next animal was the caiman.  Like an alligator but a lot smaller.  Now maybe this was a young one but all the ones I saw weren't that big.  Regardless, I wouldn't want to go swimming with one.

Speaking of swimming, people can swim in different areas but need to watch out for the anaconda's.  Our guide said he'd only seen one 2 or 3 times in his life and we were fortunate enough to see one on our kayak trip.  Our guides were wonderful looking for animals and spotted this little guy warming up in the tree and singing trust in me while his eyes dilated and made crazy designs.

People used to swim in Lago Condenado, also known as Oxbo Lake, but when it became a protected area people no longer swam in it.  I personally think it's because of the piraña's we saw in the water eating the crackers we were feeding them.

Around the lodge we saw monkeys jumping from tree branches and I saw a red howler monkey too.  It was sleeping in a tree by where we were eating lunch and the lodge brought out their telescope. It was amazing seeing the monkey just sleeping there.  We also saw another rodent running around the lodge grounds. It looks like a size of a squirrel here but it was the size of a small cat.  I wouldn't be surprised if these came into the room which is open to the jungle.  They are probably the reason we were told to lock our food up in the lockers.

I didn't see any animals in the room but our friends Scott and Michele were in the next room and Michele said she heard something eating in her room.  It should have been eating the termites that were building a nest in their bathroom which crashed down all on their bathroom counter leaving termites and yummy looking larva all over the counter and floor.  The termites can build a gigantic nest in a couple hours.

At Oxbo late while Jose Luis our guide was paddling us around, we also saw these little bats hanging out on a log.

One evening we took a night hike and saw creepy crawlies like the pink toed tarantula

And these very gross whipless scorpians.  Or maybe they were tail-less.  Regardless, I didn't see the appeal in them and wouldn't want them for pets.

One of my favorite things on the night hike and I don't have a picture of it the leaf cutter ants.  Just like in A Bug's Life, these 4 little ants were carrying pieces of leaves larger than them walking on a branch. I'm easy to please and these 4 little ants with 4 leafs walking with the leaves was a highlight of the jungle for me.

Tomorrow I'll share the birds I saw in the jungle. 

Just Like Jungle Book: The Peruvian Amazon

When I started blogging about my Peruvian vacation, I explained there were two parts to the vacation.  Part 1 was the 5 day, 4 night hike to Machu Picchu.  Part 2 was 5 days, 4 nights in the jungle in the Peruvian Amazon, the rain forest.

We flew straight from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado and the climate difference between the two locations was noticeable immediately.   Living in Phoenix, Arizona, we have almost no humidity except a couple months and even then it's not much when compared to other places, like the rain forest. I knew it would be humid but I didn't know it would be really humid. 

The boat we took to the lodge

On the Tambopata 

We booked our trip with Rainforest Expeditions and stayed at the Refugio Amazonas lodge.  Rainforest Expeditions picked us up at the airport and took us to their office where we repacked luggage to only take what was required and we were loaded onto a bus. I wish I had pictures of the homes we passed.  The homes weren't even shacks.  They were more like 2x4's with plastic tarps.  I don't know if they ate there or what or maybe, hopefully, they were temporary shelters for the field workers.  After the bus ride we climbed into boats for a 2 hour boat ride.  Our plane arrived late which meant we were arriving to the lodge late and wouldn't be able to do our caiman hunting unless we did it on our way to the lodge.  We did see baby caiman and momma too.  

A caiman sunning himself.  Or is it a herself?  I can't tell with that smile

We finally arrived right before dinner and had our orientation.  Wear bug spray, put snacks/food in the lockers and don't go into the jungle without a guide otherwise you might get lost.  To be honest I was very miserable that first evening.  It was hot.  I mean very hot and humid and sticky.  The bugs were attacking me and I was NOT a happy camper.  I wondered what the heck I got myself into.

The lodge supported ecotourism and being one with nature.  There was electricity in the main area twice a day and the rooms were lit with kerosene lanterns.  The soaps were biodegradable and made brazilian nuts and smelled wonderful. The rooms had three walls with the 4th being open to the jungle and you sleep under mosquito nets. Imagine falling asleep to the sounds of the jungle where dozens of things come to life at night and it is right next to you.  Literally.

Our room number and the light for our entry and bathroom

Out beds, mosquito nets and the outside jungle with our clothes hanging out to dry

I slept well under my mosquito net and woke up the next morning with a better mind set than the evening before.  Day 1 of the jungle adventure begins.