Please excuse the salty title, it will all make sense soon! We were told last night that wake up would be extra early and to be at the boat by 4:30 am for our morning activity. This was new info to the four of us, as our itinerary didn’t line up with what Allen was telling us. In fact, the itinerary hadn’t matched what we’d been sent since pretty much the first day… Our new morning activity was to go via boat up river about 2 hrs to observe parrots licking salt from a clay bank. I’d set the alarm for 4 am but was awakened around 3:45 am by the rumble of thunder. Being in the rainforest, this wasn’t a complete surprise but we laid there and contemplated “do parrots even lick salt in the rain??” before we hauled ourselves out of bed and into the deluge. Allen was waiting for us on the porch lodge and said we’d pause until 5 am to see if the rain was letting up because apparently, parrots do not lick salt in the rain! By 5 am he called it and sent us back to our bungalows to sleep a couple more hours. So, now to the title of this post – you get the salty language part but let me explain the whole thing! Back in 2019 when the four of us made our whirlwind tour of New Zealand (both north and south islands) we had one hellaciously long day of driving, ferrying to south island, and then more driving. https://theramblinghamblings.com/2019/03/15/day-6-march-15-forking-ferry-day/ This became know as the f@cking ferry day, which is still used to explain that the day will be long and mostly just traveling. Since none of us were super stoked to travel 4 hrs to see the salt licking birds on the last day, when we still had a 1 hr boat ride plus a plane to catch, today is f@cking parrot day!

Breakfast was again delicious, especially since we knew not to eat so much bread this time! Allen said we had one last activity before we departed at 11 am, which was earlier than we thought. I’m guessing the timeline is fluid since they coordinate with guests leaving and arriving, not wanting to make multiple trips back and forth. Our last activity was a short visit with a family of native people living just outside of the lodge area. I was worried it would feel like too much like visiting a zoo in that we’d be just observing people going about their day. Luckily it was more interactive and not totally fabricated. The women demonstrated the spinning of fibers (some fluff that seemed cotton like) and then helped us try it ourselves. It was a lot more challenging than they made it look! Next the main guy showed their fire making method, the hand drill, for us. Having some knowledge of this, it was really cool to see how the people in the Amazon did it. Instead of kneeling and putting his foot on the board, he saw and leveraged it with is thigh. He also didn’t carve a notch, just angled the drill (a branch from a tree I think) so that the dust collected at the edge or into another hole. It took a lot of spinning to make the coal! Steve and I gave it a go, me mostly just keeping it warmish on my turn while Steve did the main work. Allen was super excited, I’m guessing we were his first tourists who knew the method and got it to work! After fire, we were instructed in their bow hunting method. The arrows were easily 3-4 long! With the language barrier, I couldn’t get what the bow was made from but it was a lovely self bow with a strong draw!

This was another activity that I would have enjoyed for a longer time, but I’m sure it is disruptive to the lives of the people. It did leave a lasting impact on all of us as too how much non-necessary stuff our lives are filled with, and how little we actually need. Coming from the land of consumerism and commercialism, I felt a bit icky.

Back at the lodge, Allen was all like time to GO!! None of us had packed since we thought we’d be having lunch at the lodge. Nope, it was throw all the crap into the backpack and run to the boat. Seems like this is pretty much the way, super chill then all of a sudden a flurry of go, go, go! We now had more hours to burn in Puerto Maldonado than planned, so we stored our bags at the shop and wandered town for lunch. Having already eaten at the first placed recommended, we went to the second most popular place. It’s a cute coffee and sandwich place but unfortunately Steve didn’t have the best experience. He started with a frozen fruit drink but it was full of ground up pieces of plastic! He then went off the rails and got a frozen coffee drink that was made with milk… whatever the combo, he did not have a lovely time for the next 24 hrs!

After lunch in town we got our ride to the tiny airport, like so small there was only one lane for security! Surprisingly though we did find lounge we could access! This turned out to be a definite boon since the flight was delayed two hours and the main lobby was super crowded. We invited Izi and Jannic from the Amazon tour in with us as our guests.

We finally made it to Cusco a few hours late and checked into the hotel. Due to the plane delay, they had to give us dinner, which turned out to be a delicious piece of grilled chicken and french fries. Ashish didn’t luck out with any vegetarian options so once in Cusco we headed to a fully vegan restaurant!

Now that we are all safe and sound back at home, I want to tell you about Mike! At the start of the Amazon trip, as we were boarding the boat, this guy comes down and I was like holy crap, what the hell is wrong with him?? His face was covered in scabs and he was limping. Turns out Mike is a crazy SOB with a story that could turn out really great (or incredibly tragic). He is from Switzerland and was escaping what he feared was a quick route to the grave due to addiction. He decided to just say F it and fly to Peru and then take a year to hike up to (I think) Columbia. On his last night in town, he went to a local bar and stayed out late (2 am). As he was waiting for the taxi, two guys jumped him and took everything, even his shoes! He then had to walk the crusty streets back to his hostel, leaving his feet a mess. We chatted with him the next couple of days, a solid dude on a mission to out walk his past and make a better future. I hope I can WhatsApp him once he gets a new phone just to check in!