South America 9.21.04 Manu Cloud Forest
It is Sunday and a day of rest for us. There does not seem to be enough time to write about everything we do or see. And I am sure you all are happy that I do not have the time to write!
After the Galapagos we went in the opposite direction. From ocean and islands to cloud forest and jungle. Our trip to Manu was incredible. Grant, thank you for telling me about Manu three years ago.
The trip itself was as interesting and exciting as the destinations. Our transportation consisted of a van with 4 rows of seats and the passengers were us, our guide, an assistant cook, the driver, and a technician to fix or remove the radio at Manu Cloud Forest Lodge. Plenty of room and really, just us for tourist.
We began by leaving Cusco on a paved road -- this 30 minute drive was the last of civilization as we in the U.S. would define civilized travel. In the next week we will go by llamas, motorized canoe, catamaran built out of two dug out canoes with a platform on top ot the canoes, and a small 8 seater plane taking off of a grass runway. We started traveling to the east and quickly made a left off the paved road on to a dirt road. And we had to cross a river which means closing your eyes because you really do not want to see the condition of any bridge in Peru.
Nancy started nodding off shortly after the bridge -- another morning wake up at 5:15. She had the window seat and asked me to wake her when things got interesting. In less than 5 minutes we were on a one to one and half lane road that we would travel for the next 10 hours. But what a great 10 hours. After about an hour Nancy woke up. First thing was, Its beautiful and immediately followed by, Oh my god I hope the driver knows what he is doing!
I had already noted that there were no seat belts and for a good reason -- who wants a seat belt that may prolong your death for an extra roll or two if you go over the side and if my some miracle you survive the fall the seat belt will keep you harnessed inside a van that has come to rest in a river -- so you drown. The road is craved out of the side of mountains, it is straight up and straight down. At the time Nancy woke up we probably were a 1000 feet from a stopping point if we went over the side.
The scenery as is in so much of Peru is outstanding. It is the end of the dry season so all the colors are a patch work of browns, yellows and orange with the sharp color contract of buildings that are white, blue, and red. No matter how high we drove that day there was always a set of terraced farm fields above us.
In the fields and on the road you see goats, cows, horses, sheep, pigs and lammas. Seldom did you see a herder with only a single type of animal. Usually it was a combination of at least 3 different animals. This is the country life of Peru and as beautiful as it to us, both of us always had in the back of our minds how hard this life must be.
Farming is done by animal and human, no farm vehicles. You watch the men and women in their brightly colored clothes and hats walking to the fields, herding, hoeing, occasionally plowing with two bulls and at an altitude somewhere between 10,000 and 12,500 feet.
When you take your eyes off of what is below you can only look up. Always another mountain in the foreground that is higher than where we are at. The top of the peaks are typically snow covered and quite often parts of the peaks are hidden by clouds. As breath taking as these mountains are I think the mountains you see from the Sacred Valley -- Pisac to Ollantaytambo -- are even more breath taking.
After Nancy woke up our guide and our driver began birding for us. Jose, our guide, spotted some C flying so we stopped, got out of the van and put our glasses to our eyes. I thought it was great that Jose was spotting birds for us, but I would like to think the driver had a full time keeping us on the road. And of course, it is the driver who spots a tiny bird on the road -- so tiny that Jose was able to pick it up and hold all of it in the palm of his hand. I will guess that before the day was over we had identified over a dozen different types of birds all from the seats in the van.
At one point in our journey I was looking out over the mountain side, marveling at everything and realized I was looking at government outhouses. The reason I say government outhouses is each one is similar in size with a bright blue metal roof. The blue is so bright there is no way you can miss the outhouse roofs. Again -- the contrast of South America. This time it is color, earth tones as a background and patches of bright blue.
About noon we reach the small town of Pilcopata. We stop here to stretch our legs and take a tour of the town. Jose takes us through most of the streets in 30 minutes. The buildings are all white with a bright blue trim color for doors and windows -- very pretty. As you pass the people each one will say Buenos Dias and with a sincere smile. Jose opens the door to the bakery. Inside a dark room is a large adobe type rounded structure that the village bread is baked in.
Next stop is a small bar. I say Buenos Dias to the little girl next to the door and duck my head to enter. The girls mother is the owner of the bar. Her smile is hard to miss due to all the silver capping of her teeth. The bar is maybe 10 feet by 12 feet with mud walls, wood and mud roof, and a dirt floor. There are only two tables with bench seating for maybe 12 people. The back wall going right to left consist of 4 shelves about five feet in length: (top) pisco bottles capped in what looks like aluminum foil -- maybe the bottles are recycled by just pouring from a larger container into these bottles, (next) coke bottles, (next) shelf has maybe a dozen 32 oz size glasses and the (last shelf) beer bottles grande. The last four feet consist of a blanket covering an opening into the home of the owner. But what is really interesting is not the covered opening but the large plastic garbage can size container and top sitting next to a small pouring table with a large pitcher and funnel.
This is our introduction to Chicha de jora Chicha de jora is corn alcohol that is the favorite and inexpensive drink of the poor people of Peru. Jose asks if we would like to taste. Flashing through my mind as Nancy says, Yes, is all the warnings we have been given on sanitary conditions, wash your hands constantly, do not eat anything from a street vendor, etc. Nancy has said, Yes, and Jose has placed our order and I am still thinking of what horrible disease will I die of.
The owner and barmaid takes the top off the garbage can. She pushes to the side the 10 inches of yellow white foam to one side and dips in the pitcher. She reaches for one of the glasses -- 32 oz if not larger, places the glass on the table and proceeds to use the funnel and pitcher to fill the glass. She then hands the glass to Nancy. I believe that at that moment Nancy was not sure her Yes to a drink was the best decision she had made that day.
But then again, Nancy is always game for something new. She takes the glass in both of her hands, slowly raises it to her mount, and then takes a swallow. A bright smile crosses her face and she says, This is good, tastes a little sweet. Next is my turn, and it does taste good.
About this time, a man about 5 feet in height and with deep lines in his face and looking 75 if a day walks in with an empty litter bottle. He hands the empty bottle to our barmaid who promptly fills it with Chicha de jora. Before he takes a swallow he lifts his bottle and toasts Nancy. Nancy raises her glass, returns the toast and they both raise their containers to their mouth. The subtle difference is Nancy takes a swallow, hands the glass to me, and our new friend just keeps the bottle to his mouth. I think he drank the whole thing without ever setting the bottle down.
We left our new favorite bar without finishing our one glass of Chicha de jora. Next we enter the town square and what a pleasant surprise. There are about 20 tables set up with students from different schools from across the valley in their school uniforms. This is a science fair with the winner advancing to Cusco. I know we spent at least 20 minutes walking the square with Jose translating Spanish to English and showing us each exhibit. Each exhibit is very simple and I doubt had $5 of materials. But I will bet that each exhibit was put together by the students and not their parents at 2:00 o'clock in the morning.
Our next stop is at the top of a mountain pass -- I believe we were at 13,000 plus feet. By this time we are now in the cloud forest. We can only see maybe 40 feet due to the clouds. We eat our box lunch and then take a llama cart ride. The lammas do not seem to like the idea of being hooked to a cart but we thoroughly enjoyed the ride. You see so much more when traveling at the speed of a walk rather than 30 to 45 km per hour in a van.
Traffic is very light on the road. In our ten hour trip I doubt if we saw 50 vehicles -- all 8 wheeled trucks or buses. I also learned why our visit to Manu started on a Friday: M-W-F is one way, west to east, on the road and T-Th-S is one way the opposite way and Sunday you are in Gods hands because traffic is both ways. I will also say that everytime we passed or were passed I said a few words to every major religions god that I could think of at that very moment.
Three or four times after the llama ride we would get out of the van and walk. So much to look at and the walk is all down hill. Nancy picks up about a dozen different flowers which latter become a floral arrangement outside our Lodge room.
The reason Nancy was able to take the flowers from the Manu Reserve was they had been previously cut by a road maintenance crew. The crew consisted of about 15 men with machetes, a couple of short handle hoes, two wheel barrows and a shovel or two -- no grader, backhoe, hot mix truck, etc. had to hack back the vegetation. But this road crew had it easy compared to the crew we saw a couple of days ago in Ollantaytambo -- where we picked up the train to Machu Picchu. That crew was re-building a washed out portion of the road. Breaking rocks with chisels and sledge hammers, moving the rocks by hand, and the only equipment they had was a concrete mixer to make mortar for the 20 foot high rock retaining wall they were building.
Back in the van and as we come around a corner I point out a beautiful building on a small river and tell Nancy that it would make a great fishing lodge. Less than 5 minutes later we stop, the great fishing lodge is the staff quarters for the Manu Cloud Forest Lodge! What a fantastic Lodge and we have it to ourselves if you do not count the two cooks, server, driver and guide. I felt like we had been chosen for a segment of the Rich and Famous.We spent the next two days doing 4 hour hikes twice a day. Only one was uphill and the others were downhill with the van waiting for us when we were done. So many great things to see. Our favorite encounter was the afternoon of the first day. We were walking the road looking for birds when Jose spotted a black spider about 1.5 inches in diameter. He and Nancy were down on their knees and I was bent over looking when all of a sudden the spider darts into a hole in the ground. But as quick as the spider was, the wasp which followed him into the hole was quicker and more deadly. Less than a half dozen seconds after the spider and wasp disappear into the hole out comes the wasp dragging the dead body of spider. We watched in utter amazement as the wasp dragged the body across the road. Talk about a Walt Disney nature movie moment!
It is time I end this email. Hopefully someone is still awake for me to say goodbye to.If time permits, I will write about Manu Rain Forest and our Machu Picchu trip in the near future. If I do not write about these places hopefully when we get back we can show you photographs and talk you to death.
Best to everyone,Nancy and Tom South America
After the Galapagos we went in the opposite direction. From ocean and islands to cloud forest and jungle. Our trip to Manu was incredible. Grant, thank you for telling me about Manu three years ago.
The trip itself was as interesting and exciting as the destinations. Our transportation consisted of a van with 4 rows of seats and the passengers were us, our guide, an assistant cook, the driver, and a technician to fix or remove the radio at Manu Cloud Forest Lodge. Plenty of room and really, just us for tourist.
We began by leaving Cusco on a paved road -- this 30 minute drive was the last of civilization as we in the U.S. would define civilized travel. In the next week we will go by llamas, motorized canoe, catamaran built out of two dug out canoes with a platform on top ot the canoes, and a small 8 seater plane taking off of a grass runway. We started traveling to the east and quickly made a left off the paved road on to a dirt road. And we had to cross a river which means closing your eyes because you really do not want to see the condition of any bridge in Peru.
Nancy started nodding off shortly after the bridge -- another morning wake up at 5:15. She had the window seat and asked me to wake her when things got interesting. In less than 5 minutes we were on a one to one and half lane road that we would travel for the next 10 hours. But what a great 10 hours. After about an hour Nancy woke up. First thing was, Its beautiful and immediately followed by, Oh my god I hope the driver knows what he is doing!
I had already noted that there were no seat belts and for a good reason -- who wants a seat belt that may prolong your death for an extra roll or two if you go over the side and if my some miracle you survive the fall the seat belt will keep you harnessed inside a van that has come to rest in a river -- so you drown. The road is craved out of the side of mountains, it is straight up and straight down. At the time Nancy woke up we probably were a 1000 feet from a stopping point if we went over the side.
The scenery as is in so much of Peru is outstanding. It is the end of the dry season so all the colors are a patch work of browns, yellows and orange with the sharp color contract of buildings that are white, blue, and red. No matter how high we drove that day there was always a set of terraced farm fields above us.
In the fields and on the road you see goats, cows, horses, sheep, pigs and lammas. Seldom did you see a herder with only a single type of animal. Usually it was a combination of at least 3 different animals. This is the country life of Peru and as beautiful as it to us, both of us always had in the back of our minds how hard this life must be.
Farming is done by animal and human, no farm vehicles. You watch the men and women in their brightly colored clothes and hats walking to the fields, herding, hoeing, occasionally plowing with two bulls and at an altitude somewhere between 10,000 and 12,500 feet.
When you take your eyes off of what is below you can only look up. Always another mountain in the foreground that is higher than where we are at. The top of the peaks are typically snow covered and quite often parts of the peaks are hidden by clouds. As breath taking as these mountains are I think the mountains you see from the Sacred Valley -- Pisac to Ollantaytambo -- are even more breath taking.
After Nancy woke up our guide and our driver began birding for us. Jose, our guide, spotted some C flying so we stopped, got out of the van and put our glasses to our eyes. I thought it was great that Jose was spotting birds for us, but I would like to think the driver had a full time keeping us on the road. And of course, it is the driver who spots a tiny bird on the road -- so tiny that Jose was able to pick it up and hold all of it in the palm of his hand. I will guess that before the day was over we had identified over a dozen different types of birds all from the seats in the van.
At one point in our journey I was looking out over the mountain side, marveling at everything and realized I was looking at government outhouses. The reason I say government outhouses is each one is similar in size with a bright blue metal roof. The blue is so bright there is no way you can miss the outhouse roofs. Again -- the contrast of South America. This time it is color, earth tones as a background and patches of bright blue.
About noon we reach the small town of Pilcopata. We stop here to stretch our legs and take a tour of the town. Jose takes us through most of the streets in 30 minutes. The buildings are all white with a bright blue trim color for doors and windows -- very pretty. As you pass the people each one will say Buenos Dias and with a sincere smile. Jose opens the door to the bakery. Inside a dark room is a large adobe type rounded structure that the village bread is baked in.
Next stop is a small bar. I say Buenos Dias to the little girl next to the door and duck my head to enter. The girls mother is the owner of the bar. Her smile is hard to miss due to all the silver capping of her teeth. The bar is maybe 10 feet by 12 feet with mud walls, wood and mud roof, and a dirt floor. There are only two tables with bench seating for maybe 12 people. The back wall going right to left consist of 4 shelves about five feet in length: (top) pisco bottles capped in what looks like aluminum foil -- maybe the bottles are recycled by just pouring from a larger container into these bottles, (next) coke bottles, (next) shelf has maybe a dozen 32 oz size glasses and the (last shelf) beer bottles grande. The last four feet consist of a blanket covering an opening into the home of the owner. But what is really interesting is not the covered opening but the large plastic garbage can size container and top sitting next to a small pouring table with a large pitcher and funnel.
This is our introduction to Chicha de jora Chicha de jora is corn alcohol that is the favorite and inexpensive drink of the poor people of Peru. Jose asks if we would like to taste. Flashing through my mind as Nancy says, Yes, is all the warnings we have been given on sanitary conditions, wash your hands constantly, do not eat anything from a street vendor, etc. Nancy has said, Yes, and Jose has placed our order and I am still thinking of what horrible disease will I die of.
The owner and barmaid takes the top off the garbage can. She pushes to the side the 10 inches of yellow white foam to one side and dips in the pitcher. She reaches for one of the glasses -- 32 oz if not larger, places the glass on the table and proceeds to use the funnel and pitcher to fill the glass. She then hands the glass to Nancy. I believe that at that moment Nancy was not sure her Yes to a drink was the best decision she had made that day.
But then again, Nancy is always game for something new. She takes the glass in both of her hands, slowly raises it to her mount, and then takes a swallow. A bright smile crosses her face and she says, This is good, tastes a little sweet. Next is my turn, and it does taste good.
About this time, a man about 5 feet in height and with deep lines in his face and looking 75 if a day walks in with an empty litter bottle. He hands the empty bottle to our barmaid who promptly fills it with Chicha de jora. Before he takes a swallow he lifts his bottle and toasts Nancy. Nancy raises her glass, returns the toast and they both raise their containers to their mouth. The subtle difference is Nancy takes a swallow, hands the glass to me, and our new friend just keeps the bottle to his mouth. I think he drank the whole thing without ever setting the bottle down.
We left our new favorite bar without finishing our one glass of Chicha de jora. Next we enter the town square and what a pleasant surprise. There are about 20 tables set up with students from different schools from across the valley in their school uniforms. This is a science fair with the winner advancing to Cusco. I know we spent at least 20 minutes walking the square with Jose translating Spanish to English and showing us each exhibit. Each exhibit is very simple and I doubt had $5 of materials. But I will bet that each exhibit was put together by the students and not their parents at 2:00 o'clock in the morning.
Our next stop is at the top of a mountain pass -- I believe we were at 13,000 plus feet. By this time we are now in the cloud forest. We can only see maybe 40 feet due to the clouds. We eat our box lunch and then take a llama cart ride. The lammas do not seem to like the idea of being hooked to a cart but we thoroughly enjoyed the ride. You see so much more when traveling at the speed of a walk rather than 30 to 45 km per hour in a van.
Traffic is very light on the road. In our ten hour trip I doubt if we saw 50 vehicles -- all 8 wheeled trucks or buses. I also learned why our visit to Manu started on a Friday: M-W-F is one way, west to east, on the road and T-Th-S is one way the opposite way and Sunday you are in Gods hands because traffic is both ways. I will also say that everytime we passed or were passed I said a few words to every major religions god that I could think of at that very moment.
Three or four times after the llama ride we would get out of the van and walk. So much to look at and the walk is all down hill. Nancy picks up about a dozen different flowers which latter become a floral arrangement outside our Lodge room.
The reason Nancy was able to take the flowers from the Manu Reserve was they had been previously cut by a road maintenance crew. The crew consisted of about 15 men with machetes, a couple of short handle hoes, two wheel barrows and a shovel or two -- no grader, backhoe, hot mix truck, etc. had to hack back the vegetation. But this road crew had it easy compared to the crew we saw a couple of days ago in Ollantaytambo -- where we picked up the train to Machu Picchu. That crew was re-building a washed out portion of the road. Breaking rocks with chisels and sledge hammers, moving the rocks by hand, and the only equipment they had was a concrete mixer to make mortar for the 20 foot high rock retaining wall they were building.
Back in the van and as we come around a corner I point out a beautiful building on a small river and tell Nancy that it would make a great fishing lodge. Less than 5 minutes later we stop, the great fishing lodge is the staff quarters for the Manu Cloud Forest Lodge! What a fantastic Lodge and we have it to ourselves if you do not count the two cooks, server, driver and guide. I felt like we had been chosen for a segment of the Rich and Famous.We spent the next two days doing 4 hour hikes twice a day. Only one was uphill and the others were downhill with the van waiting for us when we were done. So many great things to see. Our favorite encounter was the afternoon of the first day. We were walking the road looking for birds when Jose spotted a black spider about 1.5 inches in diameter. He and Nancy were down on their knees and I was bent over looking when all of a sudden the spider darts into a hole in the ground. But as quick as the spider was, the wasp which followed him into the hole was quicker and more deadly. Less than a half dozen seconds after the spider and wasp disappear into the hole out comes the wasp dragging the dead body of spider. We watched in utter amazement as the wasp dragged the body across the road. Talk about a Walt Disney nature movie moment!
It is time I end this email. Hopefully someone is still awake for me to say goodbye to.If time permits, I will write about Manu Rain Forest and our Machu Picchu trip in the near future. If I do not write about these places hopefully when we get back we can show you photographs and talk you to death.
Best to everyone,Nancy and Tom South America
posted by Rambling Tom at 5:48 PM
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