Departamento de Madre de Dios Travel and Tourism Guide

We did very little on New Year's Day as we were all too tired, hungover, and unmotivated.  We played bilingual bingo and lay in hammocks most of that afternoon and evening.   That night, we went caiman (same family as alligators) spotting.  It was absolutely wonderful to be out on the river at night with the warm wind blowing your hair and the sky lit up with thousands of constellations, unpolluted by city lights.  In the distance, you can see flashes in t...

Just back from my jungle trip it was really good. I landed in Puerto Maldonado which was really hot and humid, I got through the hoards of people at the airport trying to sell tours etc and found my guide. I was staying in a lodge on Lake Sandoval, which is a 45 minute slow boat ride down the Rio Madre de Dios, followed by a 45 minute walk through the forest and then a canoe trip of about 20 minutes. There were a few other lodges on the lake but really it was fairly isolated. I ended up in a...

After a brief stop in Cusco, we flew to Puerto Maldonado in southeast Peru to spend four days at a jungle lodge, Posada Amazona - needless to say, Cindy was happy to head to the warmth of the jungle.  The flight from Cusco was short and our guide Willian met us at the airport and drove us to the “office” which was just a bungalow in the middle of nowhere where we waited while he explained a bit about the next four days.  Eventually we hopped in a truck and took an hour driv...

From cusco we flew into a little town close to the brazilian border in the amazon, where we transfered into a boat to be taken up the river, where we had a 2 mile trek through the jungle to where the dug out canoes were waiting to take us to the eco lodge. This lodge is set on a huge lake, home to cayman, giant otters, and anacondas amongst others. This in mind the canoe trip through the little channels out into the lake in no more than hollowed out trees was exciting, just never really knowi...