Next up was a hiking and paddling trip to Gamitana Creek.
After a couple days to recover from our jungle night walk, we were ready for a night-time boat trip on the Madre de Dios River. It wasn't the right time of year to see anacondas (giant snakes) but we did see a couple cool things.
Our last stop was "Monkey Island". It's a small island in the middle of the river that's home for a dozen monkeys. The monkeys used to be pets but were no longer wanted by their owners. They didn't have any place to go and the island was good monkey habitat with no native monkeys or predators so a tourist attraction was born! The island became "Monkey Island", the pet monkeys had a place to live happily and us tourists get to see monkeys up close!
We thoroughly enjoyed our rainforest experience and a big reason was our guide Moises. He grew up in the area and knows everything about it. He's also a great entertainer with lots of hilarious stories. His tales of dealing with bug bites made us laugh and cringe at the same time.
After the rainforest, we continued our migration south and headed to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Vanessa and Blake
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| Hiking past some very big plants |
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| The trees are big too |
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| Red sap is known as "Dragon's Blood" and is used to treat wounds |
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| Blake trying to help Moises with the paddling |
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| View down the creek |
After a couple days to recover from our jungle night walk, we were ready for a night-time boat trip on the Madre de Dios River. It wasn't the right time of year to see anacondas (giant snakes) but we did see a couple cool things.
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| Caiman - a type of crocodile, over 2 metres (6 feet) long |
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| Capybara - largest rodent in the world weighing up to 65 kg (150 pounds) |
Our last stop was "Monkey Island". It's a small island in the middle of the river that's home for a dozen monkeys. The monkeys used to be pets but were no longer wanted by their owners. They didn't have any place to go and the island was good monkey habitat with no native monkeys or predators so a tourist attraction was born! The island became "Monkey Island", the pet monkeys had a place to live happily and us tourists get to see monkeys up close!
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| Capuchin monkey |
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| Capuchins are very smart - they'll pull food out of your bag when you're not looking |
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| Momma capuchin with baby |
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| Blake in the thick jungle |
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| Vanessa blends in with her green and grey clothes (the white hat stands out!) |
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| Happy travellers after seeing the monkeys |
We thoroughly enjoyed our rainforest experience and a big reason was our guide Moises. He grew up in the area and knows everything about it. He's also a great entertainer with lots of hilarious stories. His tales of dealing with bug bites made us laugh and cringe at the same time.
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| Us with Moises |
After the rainforest, we continued our migration south and headed to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Vanessa and Blake
