April 20th- We make it to the Amazon

Today we left Cuzco and started our journey into the Amazon. We first took a plane to Puerto Maldonado, where we repacked our bags and took a smaller duffle with only the essentials we would need for our five day stay. Because the lodge where we were staying was a 7 hour boat ride away, our trip was broken up by a one night stay at a closer lodge Refugio Amazonas, 'only' 2.5 hours away. We met our new guide for this trip, Listen (pronounced Lees-ten) and received box lunches (stir fry rice wrapped in banana leaves). Earlier on we had also been given a snack of sugared Brazil nuts and fried banana chips. We are really in the Amazon and everything is delicious! Along the way we saw several white caiman on the river banks and capybaras which are large rodents about as big as a medium sized dog. The students loved the boat ride and soaked in everything, from the vastness of the landscape to the grandeur of the river and the trees to the animals we spotted along they way. It was fun to watch them and see them process what they were witnessing. 

The company that I chose, Rainforest Expeditions, is one of the best in the area in terms of minimizing the impact of ecotourism whilst also utilizing the resources that the rainforest had to offer in a sustainable way.  The area that we are in is called the Tambopata National Reserve; the river that flows through it is the Tambopata River which is a tributary of the Amazon. As we journeyed down the River we saw local communities living along the way. Some of them had tracts of land where they were growing papayas and bananas which they sell either to the town of Puerto Maldonado or to the numerous nature lodges along the river. We entered the buffer zone where the local indigenous population is allowed to fish, hunt and harvest trees such as Brazil nuts. In fact, Rainforest Expeditions contracts with the local communities in the area and allows them to harvest the trees around its property; they later buy the produce back from them. They also share 60% of their profits with the local communities and keep only the remaining 40%.  Listen told us that ecotourism was one of the best ways to ensure the preservation of the rainforest. Not only does it provide employment for the local population, it also competes with other activities like mining and logging which are destroying the rainforest and the habitats of many species. I can't tell you how fortunate we are to be a part of something that is not only pleasurable for us but is also helping to preserve one of the most remarkable habitats in the world. All you nature lovers out there, the next time you are contemplating a journey somewhere, consider the rainforest. You won't be disappointed.

After registering at our first checkpoint we finally arrived at Refugio Amazonas. After settling down and eating dinner (Easter dinner) we listened to a lecture on caimans before setting out on a boat to search for caimans at night. Basically one of the guides shines a really powerful search light and you watch for two red eyes shining in the water. We saw several small white caiman, but none of the larger, rarer black caiman. 

We returned pretty tired from a long day of travel and exposure to a dramatically different environment from the one we had just left. Day 1 in the Amazon was pretty amazing.