The road to my dream included five interconnecting flights - Malta – Madrid – Lima – Cusco – Puerto Maldonado – most of this time I was sleeping, though. I remember just the full Moon reflecting in the glossy wing of the aircraft. Its reflection spread far longer, like a wide lunar path and we could catch a glimpse of the sea above the biggest rainforest in the world. Full darkness with isolated little lights beneath pervaded my view from my cabin window. And I wondered: who can live there, in this vast element of the rainforest?
While these thoughts idly flowed through my mind and the passengers were tossing and turning in their uncomfortable seats, and in their futile attempts to take a nap in this one of the worst intercontinental, we crossed the Atlantic.
Peru is not a country where someone is used to rush - this I came to know at the airport. I had two hours between connection flights, which is more than enough in Europe, but here it was just at the breaking point. Even after the custom’s procedure we were waiting about half an hour for the luggage.
The first impression of Lima airport was the huge sign “Maniac” – nothing dangerous actually, just a name of the optic store. The second impression was from the priest waiting for the custom officer, who looked like he appeared from the mediaeval novel about conquistadors and tried to suit modern fashion style: he had a black ankle-length cloak, carried a shabby, worldly-wise briefcase in one hand and merry youth rucksack “Puma” on his shoulder.
In Puerto Maldonado Airport, I was met by the driver of elderly Chevrolet, who was a very nice and amiable guy. Being originally from Lima, he prefers to live in Puerto. “It is so quiet and safe here, and my children can easily walk around on their own; we even don’t close the doors. You can’t even dream about that in Lima. We go there sometimes, just for entertainment”. After 20 to 30 minutes of waiting – almost immediately according with local standards – we met another person, Jesus (pronounced “Hesus” in Spanish).
The immersion into this newfound reality initiated for me in the local café where had lunch before embarking on our venture into the jungle. It was a traditional local taverna with typically local people and local food. And it was the first time when I noticed that the food in Peru was actually really good, especially when compared to the Asian one – healthy and delicious, totally free from any surrogates and fast-food.
On my left, I saw a handsome young blonde man. He had a t-shirt with a large skull, a metallic hollow in his ear, and in his body it was hard to find a 1x1 cm piece of the skin that wasn’t tarnished by mosquito bites. He was smoking roll-ups, pulling them out from a waterproof plastic bag, and drinking some black liquid from the neck of the bottle. As I got known later, his name was Dylan, and he was working on “Herpetofauna” project.
On my right was a wooden idol with a lot of drums. The walls were embellished with strange symbols, probably Inca-related. The Indian-hostess of the taverna was frying something very odorous on the open fire. Jesus was playing with a three-colored cat, what provoked a desperate scream of cautious internal part of me: “Never touch domestic animals in Tropic! They have a plethora of infection!”
Now we are going to our final destination – Venado Biological Station, where the Fauna Forever was currently based. They change the location from time to time, according to their current aims. However, I believe that I was lucky since the place justified all my hopes.
The first part of the way was quite good – it was a federal road in the direction to Lima. I was told that the road “Cusco-Lima” already lost its status as the most dangerous road in the world as it was before. They repaired it well enough, placed new tarmac, so nowadays it is possible to get to Lima in a couple of days (the distance is 1,460 km).
But as soon as we turned off this road, I immediately understood why I was advised not to rent a car here, and imbued with a deep respect to old chap Chevrolet, and even deeper – to its driver. However he was a true master of his craft, after several heroic crossings of the mires, we faced with such a deep one that finally our car got stuck. So I had a nice chance to try my new rubber boots, helping the driver to pull up the car from the mud together with other guys. In the meantime, the weather was surprisingly perfect – similar to Malta at the beginning of July. I am in the rainforest and in a rain season – so, where are the rains?
While these thoughts idly flowed through my mind and the passengers were tossing and turning in their uncomfortable seats, and in their futile attempts to take a nap in this one of the worst intercontinental, we crossed the Atlantic.
The first impression of Lima airport was the huge sign “Maniac” – nothing dangerous actually, just a name of the optic store. The second impression was from the priest waiting for the custom officer, who looked like he appeared from the mediaeval novel about conquistadors and tried to suit modern fashion style: he had a black ankle-length cloak, carried a shabby, worldly-wise briefcase in one hand and merry youth rucksack “Puma” on his shoulder.
In Puerto Maldonado Airport, I was met by the driver of elderly Chevrolet, who was a very nice and amiable guy. Being originally from Lima, he prefers to live in Puerto. “It is so quiet and safe here, and my children can easily walk around on their own; we even don’t close the doors. You can’t even dream about that in Lima. We go there sometimes, just for entertainment”. After 20 to 30 minutes of waiting – almost immediately according with local standards – we met another person, Jesus (pronounced “Hesus” in Spanish).
The immersion into this newfound reality initiated for me in the local café where had lunch before embarking on our venture into the jungle. It was a traditional local taverna with typically local people and local food. And it was the first time when I noticed that the food in Peru was actually really good, especially when compared to the Asian one – healthy and delicious, totally free from any surrogates and fast-food.
On my left, I saw a handsome young blonde man. He had a t-shirt with a large skull, a metallic hollow in his ear, and in his body it was hard to find a 1x1 cm piece of the skin that wasn’t tarnished by mosquito bites. He was smoking roll-ups, pulling them out from a waterproof plastic bag, and drinking some black liquid from the neck of the bottle. As I got known later, his name was Dylan, and he was working on “Herpetofauna” project.
On my right was a wooden idol with a lot of drums. The walls were embellished with strange symbols, probably Inca-related. The Indian-hostess of the taverna was frying something very odorous on the open fire. Jesus was playing with a three-colored cat, what provoked a desperate scream of cautious internal part of me: “Never touch domestic animals in Tropic! They have a plethora of infection!”
Now we are going to our final destination – Venado Biological Station, where the Fauna Forever was currently based. They change the location from time to time, according to their current aims. However, I believe that I was lucky since the place justified all my hopes.
The first part of the way was quite good – it was a federal road in the direction to Lima. I was told that the road “Cusco-Lima” already lost its status as the most dangerous road in the world as it was before. They repaired it well enough, placed new tarmac, so nowadays it is possible to get to Lima in a couple of days (the distance is 1,460 km).
But as soon as we turned off this road, I immediately understood why I was advised not to rent a car here, and imbued with a deep respect to old chap Chevrolet, and even deeper – to its driver. However he was a true master of his craft, after several heroic crossings of the mires, we faced with such a deep one that finally our car got stuck. So I had a nice chance to try my new rubber boots, helping the driver to pull up the car from the mud together with other guys. In the meantime, the weather was surprisingly perfect – similar to Malta at the beginning of July. I am in the rainforest and in a rain season – so, where are the rains?
06.03.2015
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