Thoughts on the Rainforest - Janice and James

James: The Rainforest Lodge I think our first impression of the rainforest was that it was damp and COLD. What a surprise!  It was a dreary night of rain...it rained all night our first night here.It was cold. Thank god for a hot shower (the nicest to date in Peru) to brighten our spirits. The 2.5 hour boat ride here was frigid for Janice. But I thought the boat ride was fine...more calm  and smooth than the bus that brought us from the town of Puerto Maldonado to the community of Infierno (1.5 hours) where we boarded the boat.  I  grabbed some Brazilian nuts at the pit stop in Infierno before boarding the boat, a very nice treat. Janice: The boat ride was long and COLD and windy...it was an a somewhat unseasonable cold front (in fact our plane ride from Cusco was delayed due to weather in Puerto Maldonado). After we arrived at the lodge, we climbed a zillion steps - a reminder of our a time at Machu Picchu. I was amazed at how well and fast our group of 4 climbed those steps adn made it through the the trail to the lodge. We were the first group to arrive. Quite an accomplishment. I did wonder aloud to James about the other groups that we were us--I mean, WE never get anywhere first. James: On our first day of our three days we hiked through the the jungle adn took a small boat ride in the national reserve.  We saw many species of birds, plants, trees and an electric eel eel,  which was a highlight for me.  It was camouflaged right where we boarded the board! Yikes! Janice: Most of the food here has been vegetarian, with some side dishes of meat. It has been really, really good food. And they made special PLAIN chicken and rice for the boys for every meal. I think they were surprised that that was what we wanted, but the boys liked the chicken and rice so I said to just bring it for every meal. This might be the place where they ate the most.The bar was always open at 15 sol per drink. Mateo developed a love of ordering Pina Caladas (Virgin). The programing for the kids was excellent. Basically, Marco, the guide, took the boys for the day to explore the forest and do other activities. They made dream catchers, T shirts, had a treasure hunt in the forest and just basically talked Marco's ear off. This left James and me a lot of times to rest up from our Macchu PIcchu/Cusco travels, As many of you know, I am not a real nature nut....I mean I like nature in the general sense, but I am not a fan of it up close...adn the Eco lodge put nature super up close. Our rooms only had three walls- the fourth wall was open to the jungle. There also wasn't really a ceiling...it was just kind of open, so you could hear people in rooms close by. It wasn't bad, just different. It was kind of cool to speak in a normal voice and have the boys "hear" me through the "wall." The rooms also had hammocks in them (as well as beds). The bathrooms were pretty fabulous, and the best showers we have had yet came to us in the rain forest of all places. The most interesting thing to me was the discussion around the 'Naked People," or the tribes living in the forest who do not have contact with the outside world. It was fascinating to hear the stories from our guide about them. For example, he said when he was a child (he is now 25 years old), he lived on the border between Brazil and Peru and had memories of the Naked People coming into his village to see his mother, a nurse. They would leave animals as payments. He also said that the Naked People would come into the houses in his community and take what they wanted. As they were considered very violent and aggressive, the community would just give them what they wanted, rather than  put up a fight because the Naked People would just kill you. Their lands are being shrunk by tourists, and industry (oil) and the rain forest is losing out to toxic illegal gold mining as well. It is all quite sad. James: There are two researchers staying here as well. One research group, two young girls, are doing some research on bird calls, which they set up just outside the lounge- 50 songs of very loud calls outs  to birds with yellow tales, yellow beaks and brown tale. The second researcher, a major funded project, was a jaguar count in the jungle using camera traps. They had  120 motion camera throughout the jungles and 2 drones...trying to find out the exact number of Jaguars in the jungle. Janice: As we walk through the rainforest a few things came to my mind: This place reminds me so much of Canada. The trees and the animals are different species, but the feeling, to me, is similar to walking in one of our forests. I felt so much like the character in The Alchemist, wandering the world to find out the real treasure is at home...I am again dumbfounded by my luck to have been born in Canada and to have my children grow up in such a country. Two minute count down to a pour boat. We are on  our way....to Puerto Maldonado city for the night.