Sonali does the Amazon

Sonali does the Amazon

Three days in the Amazon and I'm happy to report that I survived it! 

Where: The Chalalan Eco lodge in Madidi National Park. It is managed and maintained my the local people of Chalalan and the work they do to pull it all together is quite incredible! 

How: We flew into a little town called Rurrenabaque the closest town to the forest. The tiny 19 seater propeller plane was scary as hell even for the 30 mins we were on it. We then took a tiny boat that carried us and our backpacks upstream Rio Tuichi on a 6 hr boat ride to the forest. yikes! I for the most part was trying to not fall off the boat cos apparently they are infested with all kinds of animals including the caiman! 

Accommodation: The ecolodge we stayed in (wairuro 2) had beds with mosquito nets, a storage closet and an attached private bathroom. Since they are an ecolodge water and electricity were prime resources that had to be conserved. The solar powered lamps only worked for 4 hrs in the evening. Most days I got ready in the dark with my flashlight lol. Also, we were using the water coming into the river(double purified) for showers. The river is fed by melt water from the mountains and so was freezing cold. This just meant super short showers for everyone. 

Food: the food was phenomenal. I'm sad I didn't take as many pictures of it. Every meal was a three course meal: appetizer included some kind of egg dish( boiled, fried, omelette), main course( trout cooked in banana leaf, chicken in peanut curry, lentils and quinoa, vegetable lasagna, yucca fries, steamed vegetables to name a few) and dessert ( fried sweet plantains, papayas, pineapple, peaches)! I think I haven't had a more balanced meal in a few years now. Breakfast had a variety of juices( brown sugar, orange, lemon), breads, pancakes, fruits etc. All the food we had were local preparations, the kind the people of Chalalan eat themselves :) 

What did we do/see: 1. A night hike on the first night where we encountered a whole bunch of spiders and their webs, ants (the good and bad kind), tarantula, mushrooms and other insects. 2. A 5 hour day hike through the jungle where we tracked down: the harpy eagle and its nest, black spider monkeys, Macaus, toucans, leaf cutter ants, more spiders and ant hills. We heard a jaguar trying to track down its lunch. According to our guide, the jaguar was only 500m from us. Yikes! We also did a considerable amount of log hopping! 3. Afternoon canoe ride around the lagoon where we saw yellow squirrel monkeys, capuchins, wild hens etc. 4. In the night, we went looking for caimans in the lagoon. It was pitch dark and the caiman eyes glow in the dark just enough to give you the heebie jeebies!

Chalaza believes in observing the animals in their natural habitats. So we never tried to interact with the animals for their own good(and ours). I tried to click a few pics: