Having warmed ourselves up, we took a boat half an hour up the massive Rio Madre de Dios to Green Diamond Ecolodge. The river is so wide, really impressive, lined with massive trees as far as you can see.
Our room in the lodge overlooked the river. There was nothing nearby, really stuck in the middle of nowhere. We ate the food they gave us three times a day, drank coffee, played a lot of games and just lapped up the peace and quiet.
We did a night walk with our guide Brian. He was ace at spotting loads of stuff. Highlights being the white banana spider whose bite will kill you in an hour, a scorpion and the chicken and pink lipped tarantulas.
There was a reporter from Lima doing a piece for a Chinese channel which entertained us during our stay. We watched him recording different bits and interviewing the guys in the lodge and sending up drones to take aerial footage.
We ended with my favourite tour - Lake Sandoval in Tambopato National Reserve. We trekked through the forest for 4km seeing massive trees, tarantulas and squirrel monkeys. Then we took a canoe into the middle of a massive lake and enjoyed watching giant otters hunting for fish. The scenery was stunning with solid rainforest all the way round. We also saw kingfishers, ibis, caimans and red macaws. We watched the sunset and finished walking the 4km back through the jungle in the pitch black, ducking for the bats and listening to the night time jungle noises. So much fun.
We headed back to town to take our night bus home. We went to the local zoo which was a little sorry for itself. The enclosures were too small and it was a bit sad seeing the animals couped up when we had just seen them in such glorious open spaces. Olive did enjoy feeding the monkeys lettuce though.
We also went up the lookout tower to see the view across town as the sun set. You can see the jungle stretching into the distance all round, shrouded in mist in places.
After another sleepless coach trip we had a day to enjoy Cusco, enjoying raclette, the best pastries we’ve had in Peru and a tasting platter before heading back to Ollanta for our last week in Peru.
Although not all of us struggled to sleep on the coach!
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