Peru 14: to the Amazon!

Day 7: the Amazon rain forest In order to get to the rain forest, we had to first take a plane ride.  The flight was very short, but the wait for the delayed flight seemed like ages.  Our 9am flight out of Cusco actually didn't depart until 3pm.  On the flight, I was delighted with the views of the rain forest below.

At the airport, we were greeted by friendly locals who worked at the reserve where we were staying.  They transported us by land in what I can only describe as a big safari truck, set high with big tires and an open air area where we sat.  The big safari truck took us on a twenty minute drive, or so, to the river where we continued our journey by boat.

I cannot describe the feeling and amazement I had when we came upon the reserve where we were staying.  I felt like I had just entered a movie.  The accommodations were gorgeous.  I really felt one with the rain forest.  Below is a picture of the walkway to our little hut.  If you imagine me standing in front of my hut, the picture on the left is the view on my leftside and the picture on the right is the picture of the path to my right.  We had stumbled across a little bit of wilderness, I think.  It was absolutely splendid.  Oh, did I mention that when we arrived, we were welcomed with drinks (non alcoholic.. yeah, I know.) and young men to carry our bags! woot.

The pictures above were only taken about ten minutes before the picture below.  I cannot describe how gorgeous the sunset was... the picture below does not do it justice.

Below is a picture of the lobby area.  I was waiting for little adventure to start.  Our entire stay was scheduled with fun activities, adventures and tasty meals.  I took my try at a long exposure.  There was also a monkey wandering around, who was sort of the pet of the reserve.  The little guy was friendly and loved it there, so he was just kind of around all the time.

Our first adventure was going out into the river in search for alligators.  We saw one alligators and a myriad of other animals.  They also took us to the middle of the river for some reflection.  We sat there in silence, listening to the many sounds of the river and the rain forest.  So the pictures below are some that I took because I got bored when we couldn't find any animals to alarm.  :)