Taste pisco and see stars!

Ready for an alcoholic journey to the stars? Our next stop after Pan de Azucar National Park was a seaside city called La Serena. But before I tell you about what we got up to in La Serena, I need to tell you about a little stop we had on our way. 

On the way to La Serena we stopped at the paleontological park Los Dedos (the fingers) where several dinosaur bones were found, including those of a megalodon (a giant shark)! We stopped to visit the park on a quick walk because we heard that it's Chile's most important paleontological site. The bones were amazing and there were models of the dino you were looking at, either in bones or as the dino would have been. On several occasions, near the models, you could see dino bones nearby, either teeth sticking out of the rock or a bone on the floor! The park is called Los Dedos because the sand dunes stretching out looked like fingers and so the palaeontologists adopted the name.

Now back to La Serena which has quite an interesting history. La Serena was founded around 1544 by captain Juan Bohon, who called it Villanueva de la Serena. Around 1549, five years after its foundation,  the natives in the area rebelled, causing the death of most of the Spaniards in the area. Later, in August of the same year, it was re-founded by Captain Francisco de Aguirre on the order of Pedro de Valdivia giving it the new name, San Bartolome de La Serena. La Serena suffered from pirate attacks causing a fortress to be constructed on the seafront in 1700.

Though we didn't explore La Serena much, we did visit the surrounding area and in particular a valley called Elqui valley. Apparently, Elqui valley is the first place in Chile were pisco first started to be made. Pisco is a bit like raki in Greece or grapa in Italy. And because it is a very famous South American drink, we went to a pisco distillery to do a tour, and learn a bit about how they make it. To be honest, I thought it's going to be boring but, actually, I really enjoyed it. Making pisco is quite a complicated process; what I liked about the distillery we visited is that they still try to make pisco in the traditional, slow, hand-made way.  Unlike most other distilleries in the Elqui valley, the distillery we visited heats the machine with wood, which apparently gives it a hint of a smokey flavour. Also unlike other distilleries, this one manually mixes water and pisco together when trying to dampen the amount of alcohol. Dan and Ioanna tried all four of their piscos but Ismene and I also got lucky. The distillery makes a grape musk syrup from the left over grape musk which we of course tried and it was delicious!

Later on that day, we also visited Observatorio del Pangue just south of a town called Vicunas, were some of the clearest skies in Chile are.

Our guide told us that they have over 300 days of sunshine and clear skies at night a year. Imagine that? I heard poor Ioanna sighing next to me when he told us that. I bet she was thinking about going back to England and secretly (or not so secretly) despairing about the English weather...Also, the absence of light pollution in the area makes it perfect for star gazing, and this is why there are many observatories around. The only constructions in the area are observatories, no other buildings for miles and miles.

You might remember that we also did a star gazing tour in San Pedro de Atacama (on the east part of Chile) and in the Tatacoa desert in Colombia. But this one was I thought the most impressive and I think it was because the telescope we used was huge! Our guide told us that it was the largest telescope available to the public in Chile.

We saw loads of different stars on the tour: Mercury (which apparently is really difficult to see); clusters of 5 million stars; twin stars; galaxies colliding; and, at the very end, an incredible moon. 

And I realised how lucky we were to visit on the night we did when our guide told us that the observatory was closing tomorrow until September because the weather changes and there are many more very cold and cloudy nights. I have to say, I think I'll miss these incredible skies when we go back. So maybe I'll join Ioanna so we can sigh together...

A few days in Parque Nacional Pan de Azucar or the Sugar Loaf National Park

Hello from Ismene. We are in Pan de Azucar, a national park in the north part of Chile by the coast. This is our fourth national park by the sea. Do you remember which other ones we visited? Paracas in Peru, Galapagos in Ecuador, Tayrona in Colombia and now this one is the fourth.

We spent our days camping, playing on the beach and flying the kite that Chronis and Titika (our Greek grandparents) bought for Orestis's birthday a few years ago. That of course means that it was....windy. Very windy!

On the first day, we spent the morning building a homely place on the beach out of sea weed, sand and other treasures  and had a rewarding, delicious lunch of fresh fish sandwich and chips. After lunch, with full tummies, we decided to go on a walk, and as soon as we got out of the car, we saw an Andean fox, just wandering by and looking at us curiously! 

The walk took us through a valley to a viewpoint where you could look for miles and miles ahead down to the ocean. There were cacti all the way through the walk and three resting spots before the viewpoint.  When we got there it was cloudy but it was even more amazing to see a ray of sun light peeking through the clouds.

The second day, it was very cold and cloudy but we spent the day doing pretty much the same: flying the kite, building things on the beach and going for lunch. The boys were very excited in the afternoon because there was football and they spent all afternoon in the car trying to listen to the match. Luckily, England won and at the weekend they are in the finals!

Heading south now and getting closer to Santiago. I am feeling sad because we are going to leave South America in a few weeks. But I also feel excited...pretty much because of the same reason. It's also my birthday in two weeks so that has to be a good reason to be excited, right?

 

Dan goes back in time: visiting the North of Chile once again

We’re back in Chile again and visiting places Dan visited more than 25 years ago! Can you believe it? He travelled to Chile for six months after university and, now, going back to the same places, I guess, it must feel a bit of a time travelling for him. We’re visiting some of the areas in the northern part of Chile that Dan enjoyed the most: the National Parks of Lauca, Vicunas, Salar de Suriri (another salt flat) and Volcan Isluga.👍The whole trip was over 4,000m high.

The northern part of Chile is one of the most untouched areas of Chile and, sadly, several of the indigenous villages are now abandoned. It is a harsh environment, hot in the day, and extremely cold at night. As it is now winter in South America, it is colder than usual, and frost and ice are around throughout the day!

The whole trip was a real adventure, because of the extreme landscape, the altitude but also the crazy weather.  The scenery was amazing in a very harsh kind of way. During our three days driving in the parks, we saw hills of the same dry, arid landscape covered with small shrubs and gigantic sand-coloured boulders here and there. Not only did we have this amazing landscape around us but we could also see snow capped mountains and volcanos everywhere we looked!

On our first night, we camped outside one of the park ranger's hut, overlooking a beautiful lake called Lake Chungara, and a wonderfully perfect volcano called Parinacota (not to be confused with Panacota :))! But it was very cold. So cold that, in the morning, we had to wait a while before packing up the tents as there was ice on our tents and our pillows. It was properly-properly cold!

On the second night, we camped inside another park ranger's hut at the Salar de Suriri. In fact, Dan has memories of spending two weeks in the same hut, volunteering with the biologists and helping out with a project they did back then with the vicunas. The park guard, Ephraim, was working back then, and Dan think that he remembers him as well. The salar was incredibly beautiful, though being mined in the parts outside the national park :( 

In the afternoon, we went to the thermal baths which were crazy hot but really great. Best combo - cold outside, hot inside.

As well as the amazing landscape around us, we had several animal sightings along the way. The most wonderful of them was the vicunas, a type of wild llama which is common in this part of Chile, and we saw a lot of them as we drove along the dirt track. We even saw rheas, a bird rather like the ostrich. They are very funny, especially when they run to get away from cars.

On the second park ranger's hut at the Salar de Suriri where we stayed, there were lots of flamingos nearby and also viscachas, a rabbit like rodent. They were very cute hoping around on the rocks beside us and trying to steal our lunch. 

And last but definitely not least, on our last day while we were driving out of the park, we spotted an andean fox!! We were driving along when Ioanna spotted it. He looked a bit shocked to see us, then a bit curious about who or what we were, and seemed to play hide-and-seek with us, hiding behind low bushes and vegetation. He soon got bored though and vanished into the shrubs. He was so handsome...

I am going to finish today's post with a little something that happened after we left the national parks, on our way to our next destination. We visited a geoglyph on a dune in the desert who is known as El Gigante de Tarapaca. Apparently, he is the largest prehistoric human representation in the world, close to a 120 meters long. The geoglyph is believed to show the God Tacapu going down from his home in Titicaca to the Pacific ocean to die. There are several other geoglyphs that have been discovered in this area, I guess because of the dry
climate in the desert of Atacama. We saw several others on our way but the giant was definitely the most impressive and my favourite.

We are heading to the coast now so maybe we get a chance to do some swimming too. But I think it might be too cold. We are in winter after all! Although Ioni with her superhuman all-year-around swimming will probably disagree with me :)

Last days in Peru: Waqra Pukara and the Three Rainbow Mountains

We really need to start making our way back to Chile soon but there is still so much to see and do in Peru. Even getting to the border is fun and busy. And of course, there are many more Inca sites to visit if you so wish to ...

When we were in Cusco, I did some research on the Incas (as you do!) and found out about a nearby site called Waqra Pukara. Much to my delight, it was in the right direction as we were driving to go to the border crossing and so...we went to see it. Waqra Pukara is at 4500 meters and it takes about 2 to 3 hours to walk to the site.  The walk to the site was quite short and easy (in comparison to what we’ve done so far) but, because of the altitude, it felt really difficult at times. Despite that, I really enjoyed the trek and was rewarded by the stunning site which was located in the most amazing place. You see, Waqra Pukara is on the high altiplano and on the edge of a canyon, nestled in between two gigantic rocks. In Quechua, 'waqra' means horn and 'pukara' means fortress so 'horn fortress'. Apparently, it wasn't built by the Incas but by the Canchis and, later on, was conquered by the Incas.

The site of Waqra Pukara itself was also impressive. I am not an expert or a historian but I’ve seen a fair deal of Inca sites by now to know that, although the stonework was good, it wasn’t ‘temple-quality’. That told us that it was a rather important place, but not a temple.  We can also figure this out because the doors were double framed, something which was common in important places. Although there wasn't much information about the purpose of the site, from the little search I did on the internet afterwards, it seems that Waqra Pukara was an Incan sanctuary. And I can totally see why given its magnificent place and the views.

Unfortunately, on the way back, I got a really bad headache and found hiking rather hard. The thing that kept me going (and slightly laughing) was that Ioanna got scared by two birds that flew in front of her very suddenly. It was hard to tell who was more scared, Ioanna or the birds. Me and Ioanna also saw another two birds that were walking like they were something out of a comic! They really were funny!

But Inca sites were not the only thing we visited on our way down to the border crossing. We also hiked to the three Palcoyo Rainbow Mountains. These weren't the most famous Rainbow mountain in Peru (Vinicunca) because we decided that it just is too busy with people and too high in terms of altitude to visit. But these are three other rainbow mountains very close by (known as Palcoyo Rainbow Mountains) and, apparently, equally stunning. From one viewpoint, you can see all three of them!  Because of the minerals, you get to see layers of different colours which appear like a rainbow. It's pretty hard to believe it's real We took loads of photos, and even some with the llamas that were there on the terraces, smile mister llama!

Our last night in Peru was spent by Lake Titicaca, and it felt nice to go back to places we’ve been before! And we also discovered the answer to a little mystery: In all of Peru, we’ve been seeing little colourful bull statues, and we finally found out what they mean. Apparently, the bulls are a symbol for good luck at home, but only if there are two of them together! People usually put them on their roof or in their home as decoration. And now it all made sense...! 

For now, bye Peru, hello Chile!

Inti Raymi - a magical festival to the God Sun

Inti Raymi is the Inca celebration of the Sun, the most important festival in Peru. In Inca times, it would take place on the winter solstice (21st June). However, since the independence of Peru, it takes place on the 24th June instead. Nowadays, the main celebration takes place in Cusco and preparations for the festival last for months and months.

There are more than 800 people, including actors, dancers and musicians who star in this amazing theatrical performance that includes dances and praises to the Sun God. They are dressed in typical clothing and process through Cusco and perform outside important archaeological sites such as the temple of Qorikancha, the main square of the city and the Sacsayhuaman Archaeological Park.

Apparently, the Inti Raymi was established by Pachacutec and was celebrated every year during the winter solstice of the southern hemisphere, the day when the Sun was farthest from the Earth. It was so important that everyone from all around the Incan empire would gather in Cusco to attend. 

And of course, after spending a whole month in Cusco and the Sacred Valley, I thought that we HAD to get back to Cusco for Inti Raymi. But to see the performance from either Qorikancha or Saqusaywaman, we had to buy tickets that had long since sold out. So, in fact the main square was the only place you could enter the festival without a ticket. We arrived early in the morning to the main square, feeling very unsure that we will be able to see anything. You see the night before we overheard some people in our hotel saying that they planned to get to the main square at 4 in the morning to make sure they find a good spot. Our hopes were very low at this point but, luckily, we found a nice place at the front of the Cathedral. Phew....!

When the performance started, some actors dressed as guards rushed into the plaza checking every corner for intruders. That got the crowds very excited and created a great sense of suspense. After that, four big groups of people came in the plaza, each dressed as different tribes that were part of the Inca empire. They danced their way in the square and showed off their fabulous dresses. After them, four groups of soldiers came in with spears and shields and lined up in between two rows of the tribes. The interesting thing was that the men of the tribes were in front of the soldiers and the women behind.

There was a lot going on, but the whole plaza was in such celebratory mood and the whole performance was amazingly well choreographed. I guess they prepare for it for months, and it is the most important festivity in Peru!  

The bit that I loved the most was the characters dressed as a jaguar, a condor and a snake, the most important animals for the Inkas. They crept into the plaza and were acting out their respectable animals amongst the parade. In the whole of the procession, the jaguar was my favourite character.

After much anticipation, the Inca queen entered on a litter carried by some soldiers and was followed by someone carrying a shade for her and then her maids throwing flower petals behind her. That was very impressive and made everyone even more excited to see the Inca king. 

After the Queen's procession, came some people sweeping the floor with plants and then some women chucking flowers down for the king and his litter. And then he arrived! His litter had a golden seat and he was standing at its front with a golden staff and crown. The crowds went crazy as he passed and saluted them, and then stopped in the middle of the square where a replica of an Inca pyramid was.

He then went up the steps of the pyramid and started talking to his father, the Sun. All of this was in Quechua so we didn't understand anything he said but there was something about the triumphant return of the sun in the shortest day and the longest night and the beginning of the new agricultural year.

In Inca times, the shaman would sacrifice llamas so they can predict the prosperity and well-being of the coming year. But nowadays of course they don't do that. So what do they do? Well, there is a lot of singing and dancing and also they simulate a sacrifice with fake llamas and with a ceremony using coca leaves.  

I am so glad we managed to see Inti Raymi. When it was all over, I was buzzing! The whole city of Cusco was wrapped in an atmosphere of celebration and fun for the whole day and it was all such a huge party. Somehow, it felt like the best way to say goodbye to Cusco, the Sacred Valley and our Inca adventures.

Two days in the Cloud Forest: Wayqecha Biological Research Station

From one type of forest to the next! After visiting Manu National Park, we moved up to the Cloud Forest visiting one of the area's biological research stations, called Wayqecha (meaning brother in Quechua). Wayqecha is the highest of three biological research stations near Manu run by ACCA (Conservation Amazonica), and it is part of the park's buffer zone. All three research stations are placed in different types of environments within Manu and in different altitudes (up in the cloud forest or down near sea level), and therefore are able to study, understand and witness the impacts of climate change in the whole of the Amazon basin. Because Wayqecha is located near the transition between the cloud forest and the puna grasslands, the scientists have access to both these ecosystems.

At Wayqecha, we met with the scientific team and learnt about a number of projects they have. But the main project that takes place in Wayqecha (and I think the most interesting one) is the Andean Bear Conservation project. The main aim of the project is to understand how the bears move, what they eat and how their diet is affected by climate changes and generally what they do in this very wide area, so that the scientists can make sure they can survive during climate change. To understand how the bears use the different environments (from down to sea level up to the puna grasslands), the scientists go on very remote expeditions and install camera traps but also by trying to track them.

The interesting bit was that they use many different ways to track the bears  - mainly they use camera traps but also use literal traps (to catch the bears in cages) and then put a tracker on them. But mine and Ismene’s personal favourite way to track bear was Ukuku! Who is Ukuku I hear you ask? Well, Ukuku is Wayqecha’s own conservation and research dog! We loved her! Ukuku is amazing, and has been trained to detect bear poo and track bears for the scientists and volunteers working on the Andean Bear project. We also thought that Ukuku is the perfect name for her, as it means Andean bear in Quechua. She was really friendly, and we loved to stroke her. She was always happy, running around for ever and ever. 

Unfortunately, when we were there, I got quite ill with a dodgy tummy so didn't do much apart from lying in bed or on the sofa in the dinning area while Ismene, Ioanna and Dan went to visit the reserve - including the amazing cloud forest canopy walk! So I'll hand over to Ismene so she can tell you all the things she learnt from meeting with the scientists: 

Hello everyone. These are the things I learnt about the Andean bear at Wayqecha:

• The Andean bear is also known as the spectacle bear and is vulnerable to extinction.
• The Andean bear is the only bear in South America and lives in the Andean Amazon region from lowland forests, puna grassland, dry forest and cloud forests. In Peru, bears live from sea level to almost 5000 meters
• It is an omnivore which means they will eat everything. They eat fruit, seeds, insects, and sometimes meat. But they don't eat meat often. They are mostly herbivores and they are very important for moving around seeds through the different environments they live in. Because the seeds they eat are not destroyed while they eat, they leave behind seeds in their poo which then grow again. Bears also break branches (because we all know how much they like rubbing on trees) which helps the light to come in the forest and that means that other trees can grow.
• The only easy way to tell one apart from the other is their facial markings.
• Ukuku is a shy bear who likes to live alone and is the least aggressive bear species in the world. 
• Male bears are great travellers and they move about a lot, which I guess makes tracking them very difficult for the scientists.
• Female bears give birth usually to two cubs who stay with their mum until they are one year old.
• The three main dangers that the Andean bear faces are the following:
• Climate change: Climate change is creating warmer temperatures in higher altitudes. Plants that would normally grow at lower altitude, now grow at higher levels and this may make it harder for bears to find the plants they need.
• Human conflict: Human-bear conflict is common where Andean bears live. As omnivores, these bears have been known to occasionally eat cattle and raid crops which prompts farmers to kill or hunt bears to protect their farms. Unfortunately, there is also a demand for cubs in the pet trade and for bear parts in traditional medicine which leads to poaching. The scientists told us that it is estimated that about 200 bears are poached every year.
• Habitat loss: As human communities have expanded in the tropical Andes, the habitat of the bear has been destroyed. Mining, oil extraction and building of roads and dams affects the Andean bear.

In order to help the bears, we need to reforest the cloud forest quickly!

Thanks Ismene. I also wanted to tell you a bit about the one last amazing thing we did before we left Wayqecha to go back to Cusco. We were recommended by everyone to visit a place called Tres Cruces where you can see this very beautiful and unique sunrise. To do this, we had to wake up early, and by early I don't mean 6 o'clock early. I mean 3 in the morning early! Apparently, this is a unique place to see the sunrise because you can see the sun rising up over the Amazon. As you are up on the puna grassland, at nearly 4,000m, you have an amazing view of the rainforest which stretches for miles and miles towards the horizon. 

Even though everyone had recommended it, I didn't think that it would be worth it especially given how tired and unwell I felt the day before. But, we did wake up at 3 o'clock and we did go despite the cold. And, I must say, I am so glad we did because it was totally worth it. It was an unforgettable experience to see the clouds hanging over the Amazon, lit up as the sun rose from the horizon from its blanket of clouds. There's an amazing optical illusion where you get to see more than one sun because the light gets bent by the moisture in the air from the Amazon. If you look closely at the photo above, you can see a second, and maybe a third, red sun appearing from under the clouds!

Here is a little video we took so you can see the sunrise in timelapse. Make sure you wait until the very end and focus on the clouds beneath. Can you spot the sun lighting them up from underneath?

If you want to learn more about Wayqecha then you can click here for more information, and if you would prefer to learn about the Andean Bear project then click here.

Bye from Ismene and Orestis.

Back into the wild: a week in Manu National Park

Hello from the very special and wild Manu National Park where we are spending a whole week. In my previous post, I talked a bit about why Manu is so special. This post is dedicated to all the stunning experiences and animal sightings on our tour. First off, know that the whole trip was brilliant! I loved every second of it and me and Ismene went pretty 'wild'.

Just so you can get a sense of how our days were laid out, here in brief is how we spent the week: The first day, we had lunch with our tour group and then set off on the boat from the Atalaya pier to get to Treehouse Inn, a lodge in the Cultural zone of the park. The second day, we got up at 4.30am and set off to Casa Matsiguenka in the Reserve zone. It took us about 12 hours on the boat so it was a long day. On our third day, we stayed in Casa Matsiguenka and explored the truly magnificent primary forest. On our fourth day, we took the boat back to Treehouse Inn and stayed there for the next (fifth) day. On our sixth and last day, we took the boat back to the start of the Cultural zone and then we (me, Dan, Ioanna and Ismene) went to a research station up in the Cloud Forest.

Of course, as you know the jungle is massive (he he) and, there is no way I can describe to you absolutely everything we saw. For that reason, I am only going to write about some of the most spectacular and important animal sightings. And because we stayed in several parts of the Amazon - the reserve zone and the cultural zone - I'll tell you what we spotted in each one. First off, know that over the whole trip, we saw 78 bird species which of course is not surprising if you think about Manu's biodiversity and wildlife!

When we moved to the Reserve zone was when the real fun began. The first real highlight came as a real surprise to everyone when we were travelling, and this is probably because some people were falling asleep. Suddenly, our guide, Jasmani, stood up from his seat and shouted “sloth” jolting several people (including Ismene) out of their sleep. Ismene, jumped out of her chair, and looked around wildly! It turns out Jasmani was right; up in the trees, we could clearly see a sloth. A sloth that, funnily, seemed like he was doing pull-ups in the tree! Apparently, it was a really lucky sighting because sloths are remarkably difficult to spot and our guide only sees them a handful times a year.

In the Reserve zone, on our way to Casa Matsiguenka, we also visited a huge and very important oxbow lake, called Otorongo Lake. As a bonus, it also had a twenty metres high watchtower where we spent some time looking over the lake and spotting animals. This is where we spotted giant otters swimming and diving in and out the shimmering lake waters, catching the last rays of the sun. They were beautiful even from afar, and seemed so elegant when they dipped in the water. 

But there is another oxbow lake in the Reserve zone which is called Salvador Lake, and is deep in the pristine jungle. The first two days, we were travelling and exploring the rainforest from the boat, so it was really fun to explore the jungle on foot. It was even more fun to row a catamaran out on the lake so we can explore it properly and in silence, both early in the morning but also in the evening for a night safari. Me and Ismene also had a go paddling the catamaran which was tough work but really good fun!

And we were very lucky because exploring the jungle on foot meant that we got to spot some really interesting animals but also plants. Very early in the morning though, out on the lake, we spotted some pre-historic birds: the cormorant, and the hoatzin. The hoatzins seemed frightened and on the edge, whenever someone took a photo of them, they would flap noisily out of the bushes and land crashing on another bush! They really made a racket. We also spotted a bird that is special to me, a bat falcon. Why special? Because I was once in a class named Falcons and falcons have been one of my favourite birds ever since. The bat falcon was perched in a dead tree, and he seemed at ease just looking down at us.

But the highlight of the morning, was a group of red howler monkeys climbing in the trees. They seemed to have so much fun, at least when they weren't snoring! These ones were clambering in the trees and made it look so easy you would have thought anyone could do it.

While exploring the jungle on foot, we also learnt about a symbiotic relationship between fire ants and a type of tree! A symbiotic relationship is where each part of the relationship does something to help the other. In this particular example, the fire ants have this type of tree that they live in, and to help this tree, they clear a space for it to grow, uncontested for light. In return for this help, the tree provides the ants with a space to live. Nice right?

That night we came back to Santiago Lake and left with several more animals on our checklist: The cheekiest of which, being a squirrel monkey. It was amazing to see them, swinging through the trees. They seemed like young children, living a big fun life. 

Later that evening, we also spotted white and black caimans. It was very exciting to see them in the dark waters of the lake as some of them thought we were threatening them and came rather close! I loved the way the caimans would slip through the water, they seemed so suspicious and I thought some of them were figuring out how to get onto the catamaran.

On the fourth day, we left early to travel back to the Cultural zone, to the Treehouse Inn. Despite the very early start, it was incredible to see an absolutely epic sunrise! So beautiful! We also spotted the most amazing animal on our trip, but you’ll have to wait for it.

What else did we see that morning? A capuchin monkey, a fishing bat and a sand coloured nighthawk!

Now, I know I’ve got you all waiting for this amazing animal, but I promise it is better than you expect. It was better than any of us on the tour expected, even our guide. Like the sloth, it was Jasmani who spotted it: a beautiful jaguar!! It was astounding!

The jaguar was so beautiful and, the best thing was that it wasn't shy at all. He was just lazily walking along the beach, glaring at us from time to time, all strong and muscly-shouldered. We had a clear view of it for more than 5 minutes! And, I have to say, in some way, it was more special to see a jaguar here in the rainforest than in the Pantanal in Brazil with all the other jaguars and the boats. Here, it was just our boat and the jaguar going on his morning stroll. Beautiful!

On the next day, we did some really fun things - tubing and fishing - and they both were extraordinarily fun.

The tubing was easy to do. We just had to cruise down the river in a rubber tube, but then everyone started paddling this way and that trying to tip other people in! It was really fun! And, luckily, no piranhas in sight :) Fishing was also really easy. You barely had to dip the meat in when the fish would bite, and then, you would lift it out and put it back in the water!

But we also did a bit of cooking by the river. We used the bonfire to cook in the traditional Matsiguenka way, with no water, and no pot: just the fire, the chicken and nature. How? By putting the chicken in a piece of bamboo and stuffing the top with leaves! All you need is 15 minutes on the bonfire and the chicken is ready. It tasted delicious and it was fun learning the jungle ways!

I loved our trip to Manu. It was so special being in such a remote and pristine environment, seeing all these incredible animals and birds and experiencing the jungle way of living. I wondered whether I will be able to come back again when I am older and how things will change in the years to come. Manu is still very wild and remains very well preserved, so I am hopeful.