lodge near Puerto Maldonaldo and return home

August 2005

We flew out of Cusco to Puerto Maldonaldo on Tans Peru (which would crash a plane only weeks later).

Left: The thrust reversers on the 737-200 in action.

Right: The terminal in Puerto Maldonaldo.

There were very few cars, but motorbikes everywhere, in Puerto Maldonaldo. We only stayed there long enough to get picked up by the lodge we were staying at and get on their boat.

We stayed at the Eco Amazonia Lodge on the Rio Madre de Dios, which feeds into the Amazon, but is already pretty substantial.

Above: Debarking at "Monkey Island" to see fairly tame monkeys eat bananas out of the guide's hand. Later we would see lots of monkeys that were more wild...

...but not this close up.

The next morning we got up at dawn to go to the "lost lake."

All the canoes used the same jury-rigged motors, with the propeller on the end of a long boom, and the whole contraption being mostly welded together rebar.

Left: Macaws in flight.

We went up a viewing platform built into a tall tree.

Our guide paddled us around in a canoe on the lake.

Above: These river otters were ugly, and aggressive about their territory.

We also saw insects, birds, and several caiman.

Also staying at the lodge at the same time was a group of Spaniards, including the gentleman in the orange shirt standing in this photo, who quickly earned the nickname "crazy camera guy" for his antics with a large flash on a nighttime caiman spotting canoe ride.

We stayed in bungalows with running water, but the power only ran from 5:30 to 10 pm. We ended up taking several naps each day; the whole thing was very relaxing.

We rode the boat back to Puerto Maldonaldo for our flight back to Lima through Cusco.

Right: The mountains around Cusco.

Below: Aero Continente left piles of abandoned jets at LIM when they folded.

We had a few hours in Lima before we flew back to LAX, and went into the city.

We happened upon a large group of locals dancing to music being played over a P.A. in a park.

It was fun to hang out and watch such a big group of people just enjoying the evening, being outside, and being together.