Anaconda!!!

To my disapointment (and most other's relief) we didn't get to see any anaconda while at the lodge, BUT (and huge thanks for Fredy for organising it and Dr Victor Velanquez Zea for letting me hug their boa) we stopped off at the Centro Ecologico Tropifauna next to the airport before we flew out of the jungle. The park rescues injured and threatened reptiles so I finally got to see my anaconda ... in the Amazon ... luckiest girl alive!!!

Piranha Fishing

At 5am, the jungle slowly waking, we hiked back to the river and quietly motored upstream as the mist lifted and the sun warmed our backs. We spotted caiman, dozens of birds and a family of giant otter - the rarest mammal of the Amazon - they grow up to 2m and there's only between 2 and 5 thousand left in the world. They fished and frolicked and made the weirdest barking noises.
We moored near a bank and tossed in our lines for piranha .. and waited ... and wiggled the bait ... and waited .. bloody elusive little buggers. We only caught one - well technically Jason also caught one but it fell off - and as I was distracted from my filming responsibilities (so sue me - I was in the AMAZON - how can you not be distracted ... there COULD have been Anaconda ..) ..we only have Belinda's word for it .. but no proof. I did get some good shots of the landed fish though - toothy little critter ...

Amazon Rainforest

Hot, steamy, lush - yep, it's the Amazon. We climbed up about 40 m to look out at the canopy dwelling monkeys and macaws...

A Lodge on the Amazon

..it was just a short flight to Puerto Maldonado, quick bus trip and then a boat ride up the Amazon to our jungle lodge ..
Hammocks, big comfy beds draped in mosquito nets, open sided bedrooms (which is why I woke to a screeching bat hitting said mosquito net at 2am..) and Elsa the bartender blending amazing cocktails (until 9.30 when the electricity is turned off and you have to shift to simple mixed drinks) ...and serving the best passionfruit icecream on the planet ... brilliant ... and a perfect way to recover from the trek ...

..post Picchu

It took almost 24 hours before we got to bed that night ... we caught a bus to Aguas Callientes (cute little town nestled in a deep valley about 8kms from Machu Picchu with a very tasteful snake water feature), then a train to Km82 and then another bus, finally arriving in Cusco about 2 am.
It was then I noticed my feet had swollen so badly I couldn't tell my calves from my ankles .. I HAD CANKLES!!! Belinda was reduced to hysterics and called them Shrek feet ...
I tried compression bandages - only I left a gap and a weird balloon of flesh bulged out making me look more Elephant Man than loveable ogre ..to add to the delightful look I was also dotted with bleeding insect bites and sun burnt ... very attractive .. it took three days for the swelling to go down ..

... more Pichu Pics

Machu Picchu

...the early start had reaching the sungate in about an hour - we climb the final steps anxious to see the first glimpse of the ruins emerging from the mists ... except they didn't, the clouds refused to budge ... so off we head again ..
Finally, there at the end of the Inca trail lies Machu Picchu, sitting on a ridge between two peaks, it's a maze of tombs, temples, palaces and plazas.
Dotted with llamas, swarming with tourists, the sacred Inca city still makes us catch our breath. Grimy, sweaty and exhausted - it was great to see Belinda (even if she was disturbingly clean and refreshed having stayed the previous night - as she described in great detail - in the MOST COMFORTABLE BED on the trip) .. and we gawked and photographed our way around the site ...