BEST Welcome to the Jungle EVER

So we have made it into the jungle and back without catching malaria, yellow fever, or any other weird tropical diseases. That we know of.

We knew we would be in for an adventure when we got on the bus with our tour group and our guide said, "Welcome to the Jungle." Moments later, he told us that when we arrived at the lodge, there would be a nice glass of jungle juice for each of us. At which point, we looked at each other and mouthed, "AWESOME!"

The bus took us to the office to unpack a few items, repack in duffle bags, and grab some gumboots. They were emphatic about the gumboots and we soon found out why. If you ever are heading out to Sandoval Lodge, you take a bus from the office, a motorboat across Madre de Dios for forty-five minutes, hike 3 km through the rainforest, and then take a canoe across Lake Sandoval. The lodge is on your left by the cayman area. You cannot miss it.

Getting there was not so bad, except they had nonstop rain for the past month and we found ourselves wading through 8 inches of water and muck more than hiking. Fortunately, we listened to the instructions and wore the mandatory gumboots, so it was manageable. We cannot say the same for the rest of our group. The Israeli couple with us opted for sandals, which as it turns out, do not hold up so well in standing water. Better yet, 1 km into the hike, he discarded the sandals and walked through god-knows-what barefoot. Our guide was not entertained. We, however, were, as we sung under our breath "George, George, George of the Jungle." Keep in mind, this couple that "roughed it" also requested a rickshaw trip on the way back to the office after our stay.

The rest of the trip was fun. It turns out, we were the youngest people by 30 years at the lodge. And, despite the promise of jungle juice when we arrived at the lodge, we were disappointed to find that it did not consist of very liquor known to man and served from a garbage can. Sensing our confusion, we explained to the guides what jungle juice means in the United States. Especially in the universities in the United States.

Unfotunately, we were plagued by rain for most of the time, but managed to take a few side trips here and there. One rainy afternoon, they put on a video about otters in the lodge. While the old people sat and oohed and ahhed over the video, we staged what will be known as the Otter Rebellion of 2007. About 10 minutes into the video, we quietly approached our guide and begged him to take us anywhere. Meanwhile, the other tourists stayed glued to the video, including one man that went so far as to pull out his binoculars to see the otters on the video. We are not kidding. We were in a lodge in the Amazon, and a man was watching an otter special through his binoculars. Anyway, the otter video was not entertaining, so us and an Aussie couple slipped out and took a midnight canoe ride around the lake, watching the sunset, looking at birds, and spotting caymans.

We arrived in Cusco this afternoon, a little lightheaded and unable to catch our breath due to the high elevation. Tomorrow, we take a train to Machu Pïcchu to do all things Incan.

Ciao!