Puerto Mosquito.. I mean Puerto Maldonado

Gday viewers!
Plenty has been happening, however not a lot to post about.
Since Arriving back in Cuzco after surviving the Inca Trek, travelling life has turned back to the bed hopping, sketchy food eating, sardine-taxi way of living. And that's just fine by me! There was also a short stop over in the Amazon jungle.
Our flight was greeted in Puerto Maldonado by a short sharp downpour just to remind us that we had stepped in to the jungle in rain season. After seeing that, the rest of our jungle stay was in fact quite dry, comparatively.

The first wildlife encounter

Gecko's normal lodge was approximately five foot underwater, so we were bumped up to a better, and higher lodge. The bar was good, the food great, and the wildlife even better. Wild Guinea Pigs were often seen scrounging around, and if you're a regular reader of Steph's blog, then you'd already know about the few different species of monkeys which could be seen from the hammocks in our rooms.
The first day we trekked in our very fashionable gumboots to a 37 meter lookout tower. We slugged our way through thick jungle, and even thicker Mozzies. When we reached the top it was made apparent that it was definitely worth every bite. At the top you could see over the jungle all the way to the horizon, without a building in sight. We could see monkeys jumping around below us, vultures circling above the river, and we were lucky enough to spot Macaws flying in threes, with their beautiful reds and greens on full display in the sunset.

Best spot in the jungle

The next day was a long one. Days are made longer when you have to rub every part of bear skin every 20 seconds, or the average length of a mosquito bite. On a lake near the river, we attempted some Piranha fishing, and maybe my luck had run out, but all I could manage was one dismal sardine. Considering we put half a cow on hooks, we probably should have bared more fruits of success. Our luck was reinstated when a six-foot otter swam right up to the boat, and through the reeds that we were anchored in. None of our guides had seen one up that close before and, just ten minutes earlier, were stoked to see a spec through the binoculars. Now we could make out which of the ten people on board it was looking at.

No piranhas, just huge sardines!

The only worthy wildlife picture I took

Later in the day we ventured to a premium Macaw watching area right on the river... usually. With the abnormally high rivers the hut had about a foot of water, and had been about four foot under the day before. Standing in the almost knee deep water, and seeing not that many birds, was a problem for these two fun and outgoing cousins with shorter than average attention spans. The mud was just asking to be smeared on faces right?

Ferals

Since returning to a more civilised part of Peru, I have spent a few days with some friends from Melbourne, which has been very refreshing. Most the time has been spent drinking beer, which has been very refreshing.
Tomorrow Steph and I leave for Bolivia, I am hoping to mountain bike down the death road (google image it) but as of this moment still undecided.