From SATA-Peru-2007
Waking up was strange, because not only did I not wake up from the sounds of nature, but also I didn’t wake up surrounded by a mosquito net. Last night we had finally made it to the last stop on our month long trip and stayed in Puerto Maldonado before heading back to Cusco. For the first time in a month, we didn’t have morning plans and I luxuriously woke up around 8:30, packed my things up and headed to breakfast. We rushed through the buffet at the hotel because a few of us were in search of PVP piping to store our bows and arrows that we bought at Casa Matsigenka. Mike, Rick and I jumped into a three-wheel motorcycle taxi and asked him to bring us to the nearest hardware store. He brought us to a street with about 10 hardware stores and we jumped out, asking him to wait for us so he could take us back to the hotel when we got what we needed. We had a little bit of trouble because after a young kid made the pipes for us, we realized we needed caps, but they didn’t have the right sized caps. So, the plan of attack was to send someone out to buy the caps from another hardware store and then sell them to us (standard practice throughout Peru). It took a lot longer than all of us had expected and at this point we were already late for the 10 a.m. departure to the Puerto Maldonado airport. We rushed back to the hotel and noticed that everyone was already in the bus ready to go to the airport and Waldo (one of our guides) was screaming nonsense at us. Fortunately our other guide (Daniel) was very relaxed and told us to take our time and we would catch the next bus. Daniel was a little too relaxed and when the next bus came he wasn’t there, but instead off in a 3 wheel motorcycle taxi buying something. Luckily, he came back just before the bus was set to leave and later in the trip stopped to get some nuts and cookies on the side of the road because even though we were way behind the rest of the group he was sure we were not pressed for time. Daniel was right and we had plenty of time to catch the plane. The plane left at 12:15 and it was a crazy plane ride because at first we saw the flat rainforest and the rivers and then the plane was in the clouds. About 25 minutes later, the plane broke from the clouds and we see no trees, but instead the Andes. The transition is amazing and very quick. We got back to our hostel around 1:30 and we had lunch as we said hello to all the employees of CBC that we have missed during the past month. Later that afternoon, Varun took Hans and me to this traditional Andean restaurant that is really close to our hostel, but we hadn’t been there before. We had frutillada, which is traditional Andean corn beer mixed with fruit to make it sweet and delicious, and after two large glasses we were feeling pretty good and went back to CBC. I spent the rest of the afternoon doing errands like laundry, buying soap/shampoo as well as writing emails among other things. Later in the night, we all went out to a restaurant on the other side of the plaza for some good food and drinks. We ate a little later than we all would have liked and were beyond tired when we finished dinner. The night ended immediately right after dinner.
November 21, 2007November 28, 2007
