Into the Amazon

Today I started a 3 day tour into the jungle from Cusco. We’ve now reached our accommodation: a comfortable, wooden lodge in the tropical rainforest, with a cacophony of sound outside from birds, crickets and cicadas.

The journey began at 6am and has taken all day. The first section was in the Andes, passing through villages in which most people were wearing traditional dress and the classic, Peruvian wide-rimmed hats. We had breakfast in one such village, right next to (none other than) the potato museum, showcasing the hundreds of varieties grown here! We also stopped at some pre-Incan funerary monuments, high up in the mountains.

We then descended through the verdant cloud forest, with our driver skilfully navigating the winding roads, and our guide Willy, who lives in the village near to our lodge, keeping an eagle-eye out for any wildlife worthy of a stop. The first sighting was in fact of an eagle, and we then saw various tropical birds, including, very excitingly, the orange-red Andean cock of the rock, the national bird of Peru. I had more success with binoculars than my camera, but I did get a picture of one of the less colourful (though no less magnificent) birds we saw:

As on the Salkantay Trek, there were also many butterflies, as well as spectacular waterfalls (each of which would be a renowned beauty spot in Europe) throughout the landscape.

Eventually the tree-covered mountains gave way to flatter terrain: the start of the fabled Amazon rainforest! We were surprised that there were more signs of civilisation here: our 4G signal returned and we passed through well-equipped, vibrant jungle villages. On arrival at our base for the night, we went for a walk, during which day quickly became night. We saw a flock of macaws, colourful oropendolas, numerous fireflies, bats and a poisonous toad! As we settle down now for a warm and humid night under mosquito nets, we are hoping for many more wildlife encounters tomorrow…