Tuesday

The stream was the end point of the hike - but only the entrance to Sandoval Lake.
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...SLEEP!

It really was very romantic in our cabin, without electricity, that first night in the jungle... just not too practical when we had to prepare for a 5:00 am wake-up! We stumbled around in the "luxury darkness," and looked wistfully at the plunge pool. However - both Dic & I were too tired, & - without electricity to run the circulation pump - the water looked too much like "the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever ..." for us to want to use it on our first, SHORT night. We later discovered that we were wrong in almost every decison we made in regards to our precious plunge pool, but... We shrouded ourselves in the mosquito-netted bed, & - although it was hot without a fan - there were no bugs. We slept fast!

DO NOT STOP!

Wildlife! Well, not too exotic - but pretty cute with their butterfly "bows"!
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Getting up at 5:00 am didn't kill me, either. The pain was eased somewhat by a man bearing coffee to our door as he gently tapped a 'wake-up call'. What almost DID kill me, however, was that morning's "experience" - Sandoval Lake. There we were, scrambling down the bank to the motorized canoes, armed with every conceivable jungle necessity known to man: wide-brimmed hat, TWO bottles of water per person, sunscreen, bug repellent, whistle, camera, binoculars, etc.etc.etc. The most humorous thing, however, was that everyone coming out of the lodge looked like soft-adventure clones! (Think convertible nylon pants, SPF 30 nylon shirts with their venting/myriad of pockets & zips, Think dorky hats & Buzz-Off bandanas).

This is the REAL DEAL jungle!
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Anyway - back to the excursion. Following a 40 minute boat trip to the Tambopata National Reserve, our group started hiking down a 3 km. pot-holed trail. No problema, but after those couple hours, I’m thinking, “Okay that was a great excursion. Hope I can make the walk back.” BUT NO! We’d just then arrived at the stream which would take us into the oxbow lake! The poor guide who had been assigned to our group – Carlos – doggedly paddled the 7 of us in one heavy canoe to check out the turtles, the hallucinogenic flowers, the caiman, the water lilies, the aguaje palms and lined-up bats. Wildlife was again scarce (no giant river otters! no anacondas!), but by that time I didn’t really care. I was HOT sitting in the middle of a still, sunny lake in the almost 100 degree heat. Finally, Carlos paddles us into a postage stamp of shade near the shore, we had a snack, got our refreshing washcloths, then headed back. We may have seen a few interesting things on our return over the lake, but I'd pretty much stopped even taking photos, then. By the time I'd dragged myself back over the potholed access trail (another 1 ½ hours or more of slogging through the 107 degree heat) I found myself muttering, " Screw a bunch of gray necked rail birds, or whatever they are. DO NOT STOP IN THE SUN TO LOOK FOR THEM." I may have had a mild case of heat exhaustion, or I may have just been cranky from getting up so drastically early. Nonetheless, I couldn't have been happier to get back "home”… so happy, in fact, that both Dic & I decided to play hooky from the afternoon's planned "experience." We were totally wrung out.

Jim models his InkaTerra washcloth, put to its best, if not most stylish, use. Our guide Carlos had packed the cloths in... frozen. O-o-o-h did that feel good!
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One of the most surprising things? Dic happened to look at his watch when we started dragging BACK after our big excursion, and IT WAS ONLY 9:30 IN THE MORNING!! I'm usually just crawling out of bed around 9:00!

It was pretty great lounging around Reserva Amazonica. It could have a near-Nirvanac experience save the fact that the electricity went out in the main lodge, and our plunge pool (in which we'd - probably stupidly - chosen to have the water changed) wasn't full yet. Ah, sigh. The Comfort-Class has such burdens to bear!

I, personally, was thinking of holing up under the tree with the hallucinogenic flowers by this time!
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That evening, after a happy hour with exotic tropical drinks, a delicious full dinner and some photos of the magically lit lodge & its private cabin-retreats, Dic & I ventured to take a dip in our freshly-filled plunge pool. Sybaritic…but COLD!!  I had thought I'd never experience that sensation again!  How about the giant shower, though? Wouldn't you think that it would have lots of hot water... even in the jungle?

That was our guess.