Blog

Yesterday — our first day in Pilcopata — was fun, but it wasn't a jungle tour. Playing with animals, yes; horse riding, yes; but jungle tour, no. Today, we had the real deal. Hike through the jungle, bizarre plants, deadly insects, dazzling waterfalls — you name it, we saw it. Pretty fascinating, just what kind of exotic stuff you can find out here. And also pretty scary, to think that this is what you find on the edge of the jungle, where it's still relatively tame. I wonder what the middle of the Amazon must be like?

Although our friend the monito was cute and cuddly, and although he seemed to warm to me more than to anyone else, it seems that me and monkeys just weren't meant to be. After dinner tonight, back in Pilcopata, I suddenly broke out in massive spots of swollen skin rashes, which became totally, unbearably itchy. I also started feeling dizzy and light-headed. Luckily, someone gave me a few anti-histomines; and the next morning, after a solid sleep, I was feeling fine once again. But it must have been an allergic reaction to the monkey. Looks like despite the fun and games, I'll have to try and keep my distance from monkeys in the future.

Went on a long horse ride through the jungle of Pilcopata today, after we were done playing with the animals, and checking out abandoned planes on the farm. Definitely the longest and the most fun horse ride that I've done on this trip, and possibly in my whole life. In the morning, we started at the farm, and rode out to a local village a bit deeper in the rain forest; and then we rode back in the afternoon, through (what eventually grew into) pouring rain.

After we said hello to all the animals on the farm in Pilcopata this morning, we went on a little walk through the fields at the back of the property. In one of the (many) pineapple fields that we passed through, we were shown the "old airport". This consisted of a single abandoned, overgrown Cessna plane, which apparently hasn't moved from its resting place for about 15 years, and which is totally covered in vines and bushes. Would have been good fun landing one of those around here, once upon a time.

This morning, we began our jungle tour with a visit to a farm-slash-tourist-retreat just outside Pilcopata. The farm is home not only to a very nice family of humans, but also to a large and varied family of animals. As well as our friend the monito, they also have a few other monkeys, some dogs, some macaws, some ant-eaters, some tortoises, and some tadpoles. And we got to meet and greet 'em all. A very colourful start to our time in Manú.

We had lots of fun with the monito that we met this morning in Pilcopata. And he had lots of fun with us, too. Little bugger couldn't help but show off his acrobatic skills, by swinging through the branches of his favourite tree. Luckily, we got him on video. Check it out.

The real part of our jungle tour began this morning, with a visit to a farm and tourist retreat just outside Pilcopata. There, we met the most gorgeous monito ("little monkey") you ever saw. Don't know what his name was; but all he wanted to do was climb up all of us, wrap himself around our necks, and cuddle up to our heads forever. He took a particular liking to me (because of all my hair, I guess — something of a jungle growing on my head), which unfortunately didn't turn out so well for me later tonight. Also very fond of bananas, of course.

This evening in Pilcopata, we were wandering around the main (and only) street of town, when we saw an ambulancia parked in the middle of the road, lights blazing and loudspeakers blaring. The driver was saying through the loudspeaker that they were offering Yellow fever vaccinations to the locals, on-the-spot, and 100% free of charge. As Pilcopata is on the edge of the Peruvian jungle, I guess it is technically a Yellow fever endemic area. Great to see that they're making a real effort to try and curb the prevalence of this illness, and to protect the locals from contracting it.

Also known as Cassava, yuca is a starchy, soft white vegetable that's eaten in many parts of the world, but more than anywhere else in its birthplace of tropical South America. It tastes like a bland potato, it's usually served boiled, and it's surprisingly filling. I ate quite a lot of yuca during my jungle trip in Pilcopata, where it's a staple food for every meal of the day.

Today began our three-day trip to Parque Nacional del Manú, and to the jungle town of Pilcopata therein. The trip has been organised by Ashley, who has someone in her family that works for the tour company that we're with, Selva Inka. The people on the trip are: myself; Ashley; Wil; Stephan; and Chris. Our first day consisted, more than anything else, of a very long, very trying bus ride from Cusco to Pilcopata.