The Amazing Amazon Jungle Experience

Native Village Along The Amazon River

When I booked a trip to Peru for a travel conference, I decided to go to the Amazon Jungle prior to my conference in Lima. I have been waiting a long time to go to the Amazon River to experience nature and the true jungle life.  So I took an evening flight from Lima, Peru, to Iquitos.  Here I stayed at the Victoria Lodge.

Using Solar Energy to Dry The Laundry

The next morning I met my tour guide-- Llagner (meaning Black Jaguar) Manihuari Pacaya (Big Rat).  His nickname is Llyacko, which is pronounced Jacko.  He has 27 years of experience working as a tour guide, but believe me, he does not look a day older than 27.  He speaks fluent English, Spanish, his local village dialects, and surprisingly, some Portuguese!  He is a local resident of the Amazon Jungle, and he has tremendous knowledge of the jungle!

Yummy Grub Worms!  Am I Brave or What?

On the way to the Iquitos Port to catch our speed boat, my group had the chance to experience some exotic fruit in the open street market like passion fruit, guava, mango, and papaya.  I noticed that there was cooked food everywhere.  Llyacko mentioned that one booth was grilling a 2 inch grub worm.  Well....you guessed it...I had to try it....but only after a few other people tried it first!  As the saying goes, it tasted just like chicken, but it had a bit of a sausage flavor with some gluey oil mixed in.  I was told it was good for the digestion.  I don't know about that, but at least it did not make me sick, so that's good!  But, I don't think I'll be flying back just to eat more of that!

Typical Village Transportation

After the exciting food experience, we took a 1.5 hour speed boat ride to Heliconia Lodge, a sister property to the Victoria Lodge where I stayed my two nights in the jungle.  We passed many impressive jungle landscapes of bushes and tree, as well as rustic hut homes along the river's edge.  You can also can easily see the brown turbid waters of the Amazon River mixed in with the dark waters of the Nanay River. At the first native village our boat made a stop-over.  Here I had a chance to learn about their culture and even dance with the natives.  There was a lot of hand crafted jewelry available to purchase.  What a great way to help support the village!

Learning the Native Dance...Fun!

Upon our arrival at the Heliconia Lodge, the entire staff greeted us with fresh fruit juices.  Even Pedro the parrot was there to greet us!  

So what is there to do in the jungle?  There is a lot!  First, Llaycko took us on a hike, and he identified many of the botanical species, including the Heliconia flower and medicinal plants.  He also told us the names of the birds, small monkeys, iguanas and other animals we saw.  There was another excursion where we went to see the pink dolphins.  I was lucky enough to get to see them jump from the water, but I wasn't quick enough to capture them in a photo.  Oh well.

Llaycko caught a Piranha for dinner!

How about fishing for Piranhas?  We got to do that!  I had many bites on my line but was not able to catch anything.  After much perseverance, I finally caught one, but when one of the staff members grabbed the big fish for me, the piranha bit a piece out his finger!  Ouch!!!  That marked the end of our fishing trip.  We had to hurry back to shore to get his finger bandaged!

How about going early morning birdwatching?  Yes, we did that too!!  We left early one morning by boat to go to one of the smaller streams to go bird watching.  I was rewarded by much more!  I got to see the glorious Vitoria Regiaplant flower (Giant Water Lily) on Yanamono Island.  These flowers reminded me of Lotus Flowers in a water pond.  Ironically my name, Lin, in Chinese is "Lotus Flower!"  I was told that the locals use this flower for relaxation during child birth.  There is a purpose for everything in God's creation!

Giant Water Lily on Yanamono Island

                 At night I hiked around the perimeter of the lodge to look for tarantulas, fire flies, and other nocturnal jungle animals like snakes.  I enjoyed seeing the tarantulas and holding fire flies in my hands, but I am not sure I liked the evening hike because it was dark and slippery with mosquitoes flying all around me, though I did learn a lot! Most importantly I leaned that it is important to stay put if you ever get lost in the jungle, as the staff will look for you.  However if you do get lost and keep moving you will most likely get lost further, making it that much harder for the staff to find you.  It may even take days!  This actually happened once at this lodge!  Luckily the person survived, but it was a hard leaned lesson for him!

  

Isn't he cute?

How about a restful night on the river?  We had the opportunity to take an evening boat ride down the Amazon.  As the boat floated slowly downstream, Llyacko told us to close our eyes and listen to the surroundings.  I enjoyed listening tho the magical sounds of the jungle so much, that when I opened my eyes (about 20 minutes later) we had already arrived at the next lodge!  I was able to take several beautiful sunset pictures.  What an evening.  So calm and relaxing!

The Beautiful Amazon River Sunset!

My three day trip to the Amazon River far exceeded my expectations!  I loved all that I learned about the jungle, the plants and wildlife, the local native culture and their lifestyle.  Most of all, Llyacko made me feel like I was the queen of the  jungle.  I have a lot to be thankful for, for having had such and unforgettable Amazon jungle experience!  There is no doubt, a trip to the Amazon can definitely broaden ones horizon, and give one an opportunity to explore, learn and enjoy!  I guarantee a trip to the Amazon will be very rewarding!

 Lin can be contacted at lin_travels@sbcglobal.net