So I had to wake up at the terrible hour of five this morning. I was so confused when I woke up, I wasn't in my room in Colorado, I wasn't in Cusco, and then I remembered I was in the Amazon Rainforest! How amazing. I stood up and as if to prove my point there was an awesome sunrise that morning.
View from my room
A little later
And the sun!
I had breakfast and played with the cat named Gatto. No one knows where he came from but apparently he just showed up one day out of the jungle and as time went on he came closer and closer to the lodge until now he wanders around it asking to be fed and petted as if it were his home.
Then we went onto the boat where I was still exhausted from last night so I fell asleep and then I also slept on the bus ride back to Puerto Maldonado. Then I slept some more once we got back to the tourist company's office/hotel! I was starting to get worried about why I was sleeping so much.
As it turned out, I was right to worry.
I was awoken by a knock on my door. It was Melissa coming to tell me that they had spotted a sloth outside the room. I dragged myself out of bed and saw the sloth. It was actually quite cool as it was really close to the footpath, but as I was standing there watching it very very slowly eating a leaf I started feeling very very very bad.
Then it came. The food poisoning, at first I though it was a bad reaction to the malaria pills, but I later learnt that others had also gotten food poisoning from the dinner I ate last night, I went back to my room and ran to the bathroom, I then spent four or five hours in absolute misery, lying in my bed feeling like death, and only springing out to run to the bathroom. I couldn't eat lunch and could barely get up the energy to go to the bathroom. My stomach was doing somersaults and was cramping very badly. It was all I could think about.
I really didn't know if I felt up to going on the afternoon trip to Lake Sandoval. But I gritted my teeth, really wanting at least one good experience from this trip and dragged myself up which took a mountainous amount of effort. It took everything I had to get to the boat where I immediately collapsed and fell asleep again.
On the way there we also picked up another couple honeymooning, I really wouldn't have imagined humid mosquito filled Amazon as a relaxing honeymoon spot. Lake Sandoval was 3 km from the boat drop off. I really did not know if I could do it considering even standing was an issue at the moment.
The walk turned out to be hell on earth. I finally found out why they gave us mud boots that went up to our knees after I went through mud pit after mud pit that went up and over my knee high boots. Sometimes getting stuck and needing to be wrenched out which required a lot of effort. The mosquitoes were also overwhelming and especially bad if you were wearing black or blue like me they would just follow you around in packs as those are their favorite colors. I am sure the jungle would have been really amazing if I could have focused on anything else besides how bad and weak I was feeling.
The disgusting mud
Me and Melissa with a GIANT tree!
A termite nest. Apparently if you ever get lost in the rain forest, eating these little insects is one of your best hopes of survival...yum.
We eventually got to the lake after what felt like an eternity and I collapsed onto a bench at the end. Amazingly enough at that is that exact moment a troop of monkeys passed directly overhead in such a way that I didn't even have to get up from my bench to watch them! Yes!
Here is one sitting in a tree
Here is one suicidal monkey jumping about 10 feet between trees. They were crazy but awesome.
The lake was also beautiful.
In the swap area that led to the lake.
And the lake!!
Wow, wow, wow!
Me on the boat, with a lovely finger close up. Sadly about five minutes into the boat ride my phone died and I couldn't get any more photos. I think this trip is cursed.
We saw black Caiman (a different species than the ones in the river), tons of birds, turtles, and even a few more monkeys. It was definitely the best part of my journey to the Amazon. It even took my mind off of my condition for a bit.
I didn't think it could get worse than the walk there, but the walk back was. I was feeling exhausted on top of everything else, my stomach was murderous, and the mosquitoes had gotten worse. We were practically fending for our lives against them.
I slept on the boat ride back and then crawled into my bed as soon as we got back without eating dinner. I had not eaten anything for almost the whole day.
