Over the next few days, Rafael guided us through the jungle by motorboat, mainly. We were also treated to a canoe ride along with a few more jungle hikes.
Each excursion was a whole new world for each of us. The boatride through the giant, four foot wide lily pads drifting among the thorny trunk palm trees that housed the Hoatzin Birds, gave one afternoon a prehistoric element all to it's own. These rare birds, when young, have claws that protrude from their shoulders. When prey comes after them in the nest, they intentionally fall into the flooded river. After the danger is gone, they swim back to their nest tree and climb VIA THEIR SHOULDER CLAWS back up to to their homes.
We took a canoe ride through a mangrove to find some monkeys feeding on fruits in the swamp. Rafael located a few and, at the same time, we could hear the dolphins come up for air nearby...probably the only place in the world where you can look up at monkeys while dolphins swim around you.
As we paddled our way back, we heard some thunder and could see a thunderstorm brewing in the distance. We heard a noise that we thought was just the wind howling. We were informed that it was actually monkeys howling. In fact, it was a bunch of Howling Monkeys howling. That's what they do when a storm is approaching, "like bullfrogs"according to Rafael. It was eerie and surreal to hear in unison with the storm.
Often, we would pass by the local village on the way back to the lodge. The village is where several of the lodge employees were from and it was located about a half mile down the river. We thoroughly enjoyed the smell of their campfires by their huts while they waved at us passing by. All electricity for the village was produced from a few solar panels perched on a couple of poles in between huts.
One night, they took us out on a boatride to look for Boa Constrictors. We basically sat in the boat while Rafael peered out with his flash light looking for the glare in the snake's eyes. He located a total of three throughout the night and guided our boat close enough to look at them. He didn't try to catch these guys and we were more than fine with that. We were more than happy watching them slither through the tree from a distance. He didn't want to go back without catching something, so he caught and released a little jungle frog on the way back.
On one particular hike, we were looking for more monkeys in trees when all of a sudden Rafael spotted a Wattled Curassow, a rare bird that was once thought to be extinct. Some experts even dismissed claims that it still existed, but were eventually proven wrong. This was actually the only time we saw Rafael got a little giddy. You could tell he was already fond of birds during out expeditions, so this made his day. It was like "finding a needle in the jungle", as he put it.
After 4 days in the jungle, we were ready to get back to civilization. We got on a boat to go back up the Amazon to Iquitos and bid farewell to the good people of Muyuna Lodge. Next stop, Cuzco to start the trek through the Andes Mountains to Machu Picchu.
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