We boarded a Russian military bus for the journey overland from Cusco to the Manu Rain Forest preserve. In route we spent our first night in the highlands of the jungle, which is called a "cloud forest" because the mixing of cold air from the mountains and hot humid air from the jungle causes the area to be enveloped in low clouds much of the time.

Our "Lodge" in the cloud forest was a palapa type building - grass roof, wood platform and no walls. We had mosquito netting over our beds. There was a tremendous rain storm that night which was really amazing. The roof proved to be rain proof and the mosquito netting worked as well. It was a unique experience to be sleeping outside in the jungle (the bugs are really loud) during a massive rain storm and still be very comfortable. I slept very well. By morning the rain had stopped and after breakfast we started with a couple of hours of hiking. The animals did not disappoint - we saw a pair of Brown Capaccin Monkeys right away. THose are the kind of monkeys you typically see wearing a litle red suit and turning the organ grinder (much like Mojo, Fuj).

We then boarded a boat and spent the rest of the day motorin down the Alto Madre de Dios River to our beach camp at the enterance to the Manu forest. We had a spectacular sunset as we set up our tents on the beach and our guides whipped up a hot dinner.

The next morning we boarded the boat again and started up the Manu River in to the protected park. As long as we were on the river it was a delight - a nice cool breeze blowing and plenty to look at. We saw birds galore, an occasional caimen (a small alligator) and twice families of Capybara, the worlds largest rodents, which look like giant beavers weighing something like 100-160 pounds.

In the afternoon we reached our Manu jungle camp. It was a great set up. We each had a little cabana-like hut, with a thatched roof and a wooden platform for setting up our tent. To give you an idea about the bug issue consider this - until maybe 10-15 years ago, it was believed that there were approximately 1 million species of insects in the entire world. After research in Manu, it was discovered that there are over 1 million differnt species of insects living in the area of rain forest alone. The estimate for world wide species is now something like 15 million.So, needless to say, there were swarms of mosquitos at all times. And at night there was the added pleasure of discovering crickets 6+ inches long, cockroaches 4-5 inches long and spiders the size of my palm.

We did a lot of hiking in the jungle and saw 7 differnt species of monkeys. It is amazing to watch them travel through the tree tops. They are not quiet either. They come crashing through the trees and you just stop and watch them pass by. Frequently you will see a monkey pause as it encounters a big gap between trees. It will eye the distance and makea flying leap with all limbs outstrecthed. It is hilarious to see and the acrobatics are amazing. We took to calling it¨"big monkey air."

After 2 days in the jungle camp, we were all excited to get back on the river! When you are in the boat you are moving too fast for bugs to keep up, so it's like a paradise on the boat after two days of constantly swatting.

We headed down river to reach the "clay lick", which is a section of river bank where various parrots congregate to eat the clay. Apparently it helps them digest the seeds that they eat. We arose very early and were in position for the birds by 6am. First parakeets and small parrots arrived, then after about an hour of nothing, the macaws flew in. They were spectacular. We watched them come and go for about an hour. They are most spectacular when they fly, as the underside of their wings are a brilliant blue.

That afternoon we went to an ox-bow lake which is still connected to the river and went fishing for piranha! We caught a couple of other small fish to use as bait, but we were unable to pull in a piranha. We had a good time trying.

We headed for the Manu "airport" on Thanksgiving morning. A heavy rain began to fall and our flight was canceled. There were 4 people on the trip who had signed up for 9 days, as opposed to our 7, so the guides and crew had to leave us at the airport! We set up our tents in an empty building and had a great afternoon playing cards and drinking beer.

The Manu airport is a single grass runway cut in the middle of the jungle. The "terminal" is a thatched roof building with no walls. The radio to contact the Cuzco airport and the incoming airplane is a small handset hooked up to a car battery! It was hilarious listening to the "air traffic controler", who we all agreed looked and sounded like a Peruvian Buddy Hackett, laugh and yell into the mic.

The following morning the plane arrived early and we flew back to Cusco in an 18 seat plane. It was not a pressurized cabin and I got a little cold and queezy once we reached 17,000 feet!