Peru Journey, February 2004

 

            My name is Bryan and I live in the United States in the capital city, Madison, of the state of Wisconsin.  I am 25 years old.  I am a university trained botanist and conservation biologist. I restore endangered ecosystems such as prairie, oak savanna and wetlands  ers4gaia@uwalumni.com           

I connected with Axel Tippe on the Internet via Thorn Tree Travel Forum, on the Lonely Planet website.  Silvia, who works at Manu Ecological Adventures in Cusco, first responded to a thread I started about traveling in Peru.  She referred me to Axel Tippe and together they helped me buy a round trip ticket from Lima to Cusco for much less than any other agency or website.  After discussing details with Axel over email, I forwarded him US dollars to purchase plane tickets and pay for a downpayment for our Manu trip.            I traveled to Peru with 2 friends who are also Americans.  We landed in Lima late on February 4^th.  I didn’t know what to expect when we got off the airplane as it was  the first trip I had taken our of the country.  Axel had emailed me that he or his brother Jesus would be waiting for us when we arrived in the airport with a sign with our names on it.  And sure enough, there Jesus Tippe was holding a sign when we arrived.  We met Axel and sat down to sign some papers over juice.  Axel answered any questions we had about our travel plans which he had arranged.  Both Axel and Jesus were very friendly and professional.  We received our plane tickets to Cusco and enjoyed the tropical evening outside the international airport on the lawn.            The next morning we flew out to Cusco.  Upon arrival, we were greeted with musicians playing traditional Peruvian instruments.  Again, we had people waiting for us at the airport with signs.  They took us in a taxi to Manu Ecological Adventures (MEA) on Calle Plateros in the heart of Cusco, 1 block from the Plaza de Armas.            Manu Ecological Adventures (MEA) exceeded all of our expectations with their service and tour.  The local Peruvians who work in the office are very friendly, helpful and sincere people.  I felt welcome any time I had a need or question of them.  When we first arrived, they showed us pictures of Manu National Park and answered all of our questions about the trip to the jungle.  We were able to customize our trip, choosing from mountain biking, whitewater rafting and riding a zipline in the canopy.  We were told our group of 10 would meet the following evening at a café across the street to discuss last-minute details before our group left the following morning.            We spent the rest of the day adjusting to altitude and shopping.  MEA helped us find a hostal near the Plaza de Armas.  We then rode a taxi to the San Pedro Market, where we got our first taste of Peruvian economy.

            The following day we met our group at the café and were told what gear to bring to the jungle.  It was nice to meet the group before the trip.  The following morning we all boarded our specialized overland vehicle and departed up into the Andes on our way to Manu.             Our first stop was at ancient tombs high in the Andes.  The Incas priest’s were once buried here and the tombs were in great condition thanks to the high, arid Andean climate.  One of our guides, Romeo, gave a lecture here about how the Incas brought the coca plant from the lowland rainforest to the high Andes using mycorrhizal fungi and terracing agriculture.  Romeo studied this subject at the university in Lima.  He was very knowledgeable and friendly.            Our next stop was at a village in the Cultural Zone.  In the town we stopped to eat at we visited these 12 gold statues around a fountain.  Another lecture described the story behind the statues and the local traditions. 

Here we ate lunch.  Our cook was a Peruvian woman named Deanna.  The food was perhaps the best surprise of the trip to Peru.  Deanna was able to prepare diverse meals on the bus, on the boats, in the dark, wherever and whenever we needed it.  One of the tourists in our group was a French chef.  He was very fond of the food, as was everyone else.  We had fruit many times on hot afternoons or as morning snacks.  Local fruits such as passionfruit and mango were incredible treats.  Deanna even baked a cake without an oven for a birthday we celebrated for one of the tourists.  There are legends now about Deanna’s cooking.

            Our group was 11 tourists – 3 Americans (my group), a couple from Denmark who were nurses, a couple from New Zealand, a barrister from England, 2 French men (a chef and a farmer), and an Austrian man.  We had at least 3-4 guides at all times, sometimes as many as 10.  Our main guide was Oliver, an Italian who spent the last 20 years in the Amazon.  He knew so many birds, plants, animals, local languages, tribes and general info about the rainforest he called home.  Oliver is a thin, energetic man who reminded us all of Raphael, the monkey shaman from “The Lion King.”  All the guides were friendly always with a smile and helping hand.  They were sincere and professional people.  I felt safe and content the entire time thanks to their efforts.

            We continued on the bus the rest of the day until we reached San Pedro Lodge, deep in the cloud forest.  MEA built this lodge out of salvaged forest materials, but it was comfy living.  We had a screened lodge so we could enjoy the sounds of the forest.  We had mosquito netting around each of our beds and had no problem with insects.  We met Oliver for the first time here.  We ate a hearty supper followed by an introduction of everyone in the group.  Then Oliver regaled us with stories of the jungle.             The next morning we woke up early to see the Cock of the Rock, the national bird of Peru.  The males were a very bright red and we were able to view them high in the trees thanks to a viewing deck MEA has built along a road.  Next, we hiked around the lodge examining flowers and insects.  Many butterflies were attracted to our screened in lodge and photographing them was easy here.  We ate a nice breakfast, then either showered in the nice bathrooms MEA built or bathed in the river which flowed nearby.            People chose to either mountain bike or ride on top of the bus.  I chose the bustop as did many others.  4 people went biking with quality mountain bikes and a trained guide.  They had fun with the steep hills.  On top of the bus we took pictures, snacked and chatted while the bus slowly made its way to the last town on the road.  We passed many flowers and trees, which our guide described for us.  It was safe on the bus top, but make sure to wear sunscreen!  We stopped at a coca plantation, where we received permission to take photos and examine the plants.  That was a neat place and the only coca plantation we saw on the whole trip.            We arrive at the last village on the road.  Here we ate lunch and prepared to go white water rafting.  The guides were trained well in rafting and gave us excellent training before we got in the water.  No one in my group had whitewater rafted before.  These were class 4 and 5 rapids on the Madre de Dios River.  We took two large rafts.  Our group was the young, adventurous one.  We did well until we tipped over when not paying attention.  Some of us considered it a near-death experience.  I thought it was the most exciting thing ever.  We had helmets and life vests on; so we were safe.  We were back in the raft in no time and on our way.  The other group never had any problems and helped retrieve a camera we had lost, but fortunately it was in a pelican case which was waterproof.             We rafted down the river for a good hour until we reached a village where our main boat was waiting for us with our gear.  This boat was very cool.  It was a very long and wide wooden canoe with a roof on it.  It protected us well from the sun and rain.  We could lay out in the sun on the front end if we wanted.  It had padded seats, which were nice for napping on.  We ate many a delicious meal on this boat and had many great photo opportunities.

            Our next stop was at our guides house, which was built near the river on the way to our lodge.  It was nice to see how he and his friends had built his large hut-style home out of salvaged logs, palm fronds and fibers.  Our guide had a garden here and planned to one day open a library and school for local children to learn about the rainforest.  Here our guide had another lecture about medicinal plants and shared fruit with us from his orchard and garden.  Our guide, Oliver, smeared red achiote paste on our foreheads as local shamans do.            Our last stop on this day, the 2^nd day of our trip, was at Erika Lodge, built by MEA near the banks of the Madre de Dios River.  Erika Lodge is another amazing lodge built out of local forest products, yet comfortable even in the rainy season.  We had huts that were raised off the ground were shared by 2 people each.  Erika Lodge also has an open air deck that is raised off the ground near the river.  The deck was a great place for our group to socialize during the evenings.  We played cards, drank beer, read books and shared stories here.  Erika Lodge also had separate buildings, which housed showers and bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room and other storage buildings.             After dinner at Erika Lodge and unpacking our gear, our group decided to go on a night hike in the rainforest.  We simply followed the guide on a trail behind Erika Lodge into the rainforest.  We used our headlamps to find bizarre insects, snakes, plants, etc.  We also turned our lights off and tried to hike as quietly as possible and use our night vision to see nature.            The next morning, our 3^rd day, we took boats very early to see the macaw lick.  We saw hundreds of macaws socializing and eating clay on the side of cliffs.  Then, we had breakfast and went down the river to another trail we hiked into the rainforest.  After hiking for a few hours and seeing many birds and plants, we decided to swim back to our lodge.  In theory it was simple.  All we had to do was float on kickboards down the river until we saw our lodge and then paddle for the shore.  But, we had some excitement.  Some people who were good swimmers didn’t use kickboards.  One of them was my friend, Raphael.  He almost drowned when right next to our lodge.  Thankfully, our guides were watching us closely and dived in to save him.  Nonetheless, we gained much respect for the rivers in Peru and MEA decided not to let people swim in the Madre de Dios anymore.  We did swim many more times however in Manu River.

            On the 4^th day we left Erika Lodge for the Reserved Zone of Manu.  We took the boats downstream all day, stopping only at the ranger’s station to check in.  We made our final stop of the day in Boca Manu, a small remote town on the Manu river.  At Boca Manu we hiked trails into the rainforest and saw monkeys.  We slept overnight at Boca Manu in the a large shelter where we set up tents.             The next morning, the 5^th day, we went swimming in the Manu River, played soccer on the fields at Boca Manu and made our way deeper into the Reserved Zone.  We were on the boat most of the day, spotting monkeys in the trees, birds flying around and capybaras swimming in the river.  Our final destination this day was the Machiguenka Village.             We arrived at the Machiguenka village late in the day and were greeted by candles lighting the way down a path to the village from the boat landing.  The Machiguenka have a solar village that was an NGO project.  There are no roads to this village, only the river.  The village had a separate section for visitors to sleep in personal huts made out of forest products.  The huts were very nice, raised off the ground and complete with mosquito netting.  The mosquitos were bad for the first time of the trip here.  Sand flies and mosquitos were everywhere here, except our rooms.  We used lots of repellent and wore long sleeves and pants.             The next morning, our 6^th day, we explored the oxbow lakes near the village for the giant river otter and giant caimans.  We hiked paths in the jungle as well.  We hiked to a very old and large tree in front of which people took pictures.  We saw the giant river otters and caimans as well as several species of monkeys, fishing birds, macaws, toucans, insects and many flowers.             At night we were invited to join the tribal chief of the Machiguenka in an ayahuasca or yage ceremony.  The chief was also the village’s shaman or medicine man.  He had an apprentice who was a young boy.  Our guide Oliver knew this tribe well and had arranged this ceremony as he knew many of us were interested in trying this plant medicine.  About 5 of our group tried the Banisteriopsis caapi plant mixed with Psychotria viridis.  We all had a pleasant experience.  I was sick the entire day before the ceremony with a fever, sinus head cold and intestinal discomfort.  The ceremony broke my fever, alleviated my headache and gave me energy.  The next day I was mostly recovered from the sickness.  We sang songs during the ceremony mostly.  We couldn’t remember the songs later and we were told that was because they were sacred and only used in ceremonies.  But they were beautiful and rich songs.  We didn’t sleep much this night.

            The next day, our 7^th day, we packed up camp and made our way back to Erika Lodge upstream.  We had to backtrack out of Manu to get to Cusco again.  We took a break at midday in Boca Manu, where we played soccer, swam and ate lunch.  We saw monkeys along the river on the way back to Erika Lodge.  At Erika Lodge in the evening we celebrated our guide’s birthday.  It was also Valentine’s Day.            The next day, our 8^th day of the trip, we continued up the river until we got to our specialized overland vehicle.  We took a group photo here and boarded the bus to return to Cusco.  The bus ride was long, but we stopped for luch at the San Pedro Lodge in the Cloud Forest.  We also stopped on the road high in the cloud forest to wait for a vehicle blocking the road to change a flat tire.  The break was nice to photograph plants and stretch the legs.  Late at night, we arrived in Cusco, where we each found our hostals.            The next day we met as a group for the final time at MEA.  We traded addresses and said goodbyes.  We continued to travel with 3 people from our group.  It was my group of 3 plus the two French guys and the British fellow.  We shopped around Cusco, ate at different places, went for walks in the town, had drinks and planned the next phase of the trip, Machu Picchu.             Our British friend, Sebastian, left to hike the Inca Trail and meet us at Machu Picchu.  The two French guys left for Lake Titicaca and Puno by train.  My group took a bus to Ollantaytambo.  We then took the train to Aguas Caliente.  There we found a great hostal called Gringo Bill’s we stayed at.  It had murals on the walls and very nice rooms.  We shopped around town and explored, then rested for the evening. 

The next day we went to Machu Picchu via buses that leave Aguas Caliente and ascend a steep mountain road for about 15 minutes to reach the runs of Machu Picchu.  It was a great weather day for Machu Picchu.  We had temps in the 80’s and the sky was clear except in the early morning when the mist clung to Machu Picchu.  The early morning clouds were great for mysterious photos of the obscured ruins, which later was revealed by the sun removing the clouds and mist.

Machu Picchu is a big place and we hiked a lot.  You need good boots, lots of water and food.  The food and water they sell at the entrance is very expensive.  We climbed Huayna Picchu, a mountain that overlooks Machu Picchu.  It was quite a climb and gave you an appreciation for the landscape surrounding the fortress of Machu Picchu.  We took over a hundred photos there, but the experience was beyond visual.  The energy at Machu Picchu is intense and mysterious along with its history.  The masonry and stonework were incredible and even unexplained.   We paid 10 dollars to enter the ruins thanks to student discounts.  We left Machu Pichhu at 4 PM, exhausted and sun burnt.We spent the rest of the day exploring Aguas Caliente.  We visited an eco lodge that cost over 400 dollars a night.  They had a private orchid sanctuary with the most orchids anywhere in the world.  They were native mostly to Peru and the lodge had its own cloud forest as their habitat.  The lodge also had a trout stream, a spectacled bear rehab exhibit and many gardens and paths.  We met the lodge’s naturalist who gave us an abbreviated tour of the orchids.  Next, we met up with our friend, Sebastian and had supper at a restaurant where a band was playing.  After that we had a few drinks and then retired.The next morning the train left for Aguas Caliente very early.  From there we a cab back to Cusco, which we arrived in by 11 AM.  We had 2 more days in Cusco and then a day in Lima.  We bought some things in Cusco and tried lots of restaurants and hostals out.  Then we flew back to Lima.In Lima, we were met by Axel and Jose Tippe, who had stayed in contact with us throughout the trip about our plans.  We got into Lima about noon and our departing flight to the states wasn’t until 11 PM.  Axel saved us lots of money by letting us store our luggage at his home instead of paying 18 dollars each for a storage locker at the airport.  Axel also provided us with a trustworthy driver and van.  We visited the historic section of Lima, where the police prescence was high and the streets were lined with shops and people.  We felt very safe here, but realized Lima was a very dirty and dangerous place.  They were many poor people and slums here, but we also met some very nice people who were very curious about the ways of Americans and also wanted to practice their English on us. We flew out of Lima content that we had a great trip to Peru.  We had very few problems over the whole trip.  No trip is ever perfect, but Axel and Jesus Tippe arranged our trip well and it saved us lots of time, money and effort. I highly recommend Axel Tippe’s services to anyone visiting Peru.  He has so many diverse connections networking throughout Peru.  You can make the language barrier less of a problem through his services.  His prices were cheaper than any others we found and wiring him money was secure.  Ecotourism is Peru’s number one industry and thriving thanks to respectable and sincere people such as Axel and Jesus Tippe, PeruTouristInformation.com and Manu Ecological Adventures (MEA).