Surviving the Amazon – We Caught a Caiman in Peru!
My brother, Roy, turned FIFTY last year. To celebrate his birthday, we took a trip to Peru! We traveled to this magnificent country with our younger brother, Josh. This is the story of how we survived the Amazon.
Horseback riding in Cusco
Our first stop to Amazonian serenity was in the hills of Cusco. We went horseback riding on horses who looked like they were straight out of a western. On our trail, we saw Adobe houses and Incan ruins from the 1500s. Our tour guide, Javier, was fantastic!
Machu Picchu
On our way to Machu Picchu, we spent a night at Aguas Calientes. The town is a few miles from the mountains and Inca ruins of Machu Picchu. We treated ourselves to a spa experience for the evening.
Situated nearly 8000 feet above sea level in the mountains of Peru and voted one of the new seven wonders of the world, this Inca Citadel (below) was built around 1450.
In its heyday, the citadel housed about 750 inhabitants, mostly servants for the Inca emperor Pachacuti. It was abandoned sometime during the Spanish conquest.
Madre de Dios, Puerto Maldonado
Day 3 of our trip was a travel day, with about eight hours spent on the road. I’m usually a wuss when it comes to food, so I don’t always try new dishes. Well, not on this trip!
I’m proud to say I tried goat soup (left), alpaca, and guinea pig. I didn’t care much for the alpaca and guinea pig, but the goat soup wasn’t bad. We rode a canoe through the Madre de Dios River to get to the great Amazon.
Surviving the Amazon
The Amazon is well-known for its wildlife. So, our trip to Peru would not be complete without seeing this great jungle. They have stingrays, four kinds of cats, lots of poisonous snakes, and electric eels. We saw a bunch of monkeys and caimans that were up to six meters long.
During this trip, we took untethered living to a whole new level. We got on a canoe in a swamp, paddling for 34 minutes during the night. Did I mention we were in the great Amazon jungle? On the bright side, we caught a caiman!
Our tour guides showed us the coolest lake in the world, where we caught and released Parana fish. They took us deep into the Amazon Forest. On our final day in the Amazon, we got up at 5:30 am to go ziplining across the lake.
Gamarra Market, Lima
Before our flight home, we visited the Gamarra market in Lima. We went to the more ‘Halloween-themed’ side of the market, including Mercado de Brujas (witch market) and someplace called the Saint of death, and I have never seen so many human skulls in my life!
See, these are things you don’t find at Walmart. This side of the market even sells pig, llama, and bull fetuses (pictured).
Traveling with my brothers was a dream and a blessing, and I would not trade it for anything. One thing I love about traveling is seeing how different every country is. There's so much to learn and such amazing, kind, and sweet people to meet, and a few animal fetuses to creep you out.
Watch the video below to catch up on all the adventures. As always, we can't wait to share more of our adventures with you!
