Amazon – Puerto Maldonado
The last part of the trip brought the traveller to Puerto Maldonado, where one enters the Madre de Dios National Reserve and Tambopata National Reserve in the Amazon basin. It is also one of the most biologically diverse spots on the planet. A canoe ride up and down the Tambopata River was a tour of incredible flora, fauna (caymans to agoutis) macaws, parakeets and almost everything in between.
One of the Amazon’s most memorable moments has to be when we spotted a shy, Brazilian Salmon Pink Tarantula – you will only find these guys slinking around in moist rainforest. The region is also home to many species of birds including the silver and black caymans, the Kampuchea monkeys, glossy ibis, and the great egret which all contrast strikingly with the rainforest’s green.
Here in the Andes it is just one more step to the Amazon valley and the river is a mirror of the sky. The people who call this place home — the Ese Eja — can still decipher airwaves into readable signs like birdcall and breeze. To them, everything has a spirit — an invisible strand in the living web of the rainforest.
“It’s an irritating reality that many places and events defy description. Machu Picchu for instance, seem to demand silence, like a love affair you can never talk about. For a while after, you fumble for words, trying vainly to assemble a private narrative, an explanation, a comfortable way to frame where you’ve been and whats happened. In the end, you’re just happy you were there – with your eyes open – and lived to see it.“ – Anthony Bourdain.
We missed the Condor, but we came back with memories of a lifetime.
