Into The Jungle We Go, Serpentine Peru
Day 1
Serpentine’s second adventure together started with meeting up at Denver International Airport around 11:30. Our group consisted of me, Ian, and Mike, who are the co-hosts of Serpentine. We were joined by Delaney and Tyler, friends of Ian's from back in the day who will be helping us film the show. We managed to get through security and onto our plane. We were supposed to take off at 14:10 but did not get off the ground until 15:45 due to weather issues. We were flying Aeromexico the whole way to Peru. Our first flight was to Mexico City, where we had a 20-hour layover in Mexico City. We got into Mexico City around 19:40, grabbed our bags, and headed to our hostel in the city's historic central part. It was near some cool locations we planned to check out in the morning before we headed back to the airport. Our hostel's name was Casa Pepe, which was one of the better hostels I've stayed in. We were tired from traveling and ate dinner, which was way too expensive at the hostel for what it was, but we just needed to get something in our stomachs. I headed to bed around 23:30.
Day 2
I woke up around 08:00 and headed up to the 5th floor of the hostel, where breakfast was being served. I am a massive fan of breakfast provided by the hostels as it just takes a little stress off the day. It is not the biggest thing, but it is nice, especially when you can get seconds. I got a bowl of fruit with yogurt and granola and then some quesadillas and eggs. I then messaged everyone else, and they started filtering in. One thing I love about the hostel is the community table that essentially makes you social. We had to fill out this ridiculously complicated COVID travel form to enter Peru, which almost caused me to miss my flight coming into Mexico City. We spent our morning figuring that out and met some cool people who were also staying at the hostel. Jesse, a travel operator out of Alaska, backpacks around the world during the fall, winter, and spring, and this was the last leg of his trip.He wanted to do some exploring, so we left altogether at 11:00 to head to a plaza.
After getting some goofy photos, we headed to a building that was covered in beautiful blue tiles and, on the way, stopped to look at a church. I do not go in churches as I may burn up walking inside, but they are pretty from the outside. Mike or Ian pointed it out, but my name was right there on this poster next to the church. It read “Sean Bienvenidos”.
I have never seen my name like this in any Spanish-speaking country, so I messaged one of my friends who is knowledgeable about the area. She said that my name in more formal Spanish is pronounced "Sayan" and means "Be." Which makes sense because when I travel down to South and Central America, everyone pronounces my name that same way, so the translation of the sign is basically “Everyone is welcome”. After that, we made it to the house of blue tiles, took some photos before parting ways with Jeff and headed back to the hostel to check out and get an Uber to the airport.
We got to the airport just before 13:00 and checked in but had issues showing our COVID tests and COVID card for Peru. You need to fill out so many forms these days with the same information. We made it through, and like always going through security, they looked through all my bags, because I have an arsenal of camera gear. We needed some food and paid for overpriced airport sandwiches while waiting for the plane. Two things need to be mandatory at every international airport. Free Wifi, which this airport has, and filter water. I hate having to spend money on single-use plastics. We got on our flight at 15:30 and flew the 5.5 hours it took to reach the capital city of Lima. We got through quickly except for Mike, of course, who had issues with his COVID form. We got our bags and headed out of the airport to haggle with taxi drivers to take us to our hostel for the night, which was next to the airport. It was not in the best area, but the hostel, Tierras Viajeras, was a very nice place, and the owner, Henry, got us all food. We ate and headed to bed for the night.
Day 3
We woke up at 06:30, were out the door at 07:10 and got to the airport at 07:30. This was our flight to the Amazon, and I was getting so excited! I love everything about the Amazon. Delaney, Tyler, and I took the first Uber, and Ian and Mike went in the second. I went into the airport and got checked in easily. After Delaney and Tyler checked in, we kept waiting, and after 20 minutes Ian and Mike showed up and said the driver dropped them off outside of the airport, so they had to walk. That really sucked for them as the last thing we want to do when traveling is to carry our gear even further. I, of course, had an ordeal with security as they always need to look at everything I own, but I got through that and headed to the gate. Ian and Mike showed up, and we were in line for the plane when the gate agent called Mike's name. She said he had an issue with his bag, but he would make the flight. We were on the plane waiting for Mike, and I got up to chat with the flight attendants. They said the issue was batteries and that he would not be joining our flight, which was crazy because we were immediately driving out to Hoja Nueva when we got off the plane. The plane pushed out, and Mike communicated with us that he was booked on the next flight, and the reason was they thought his camera traps were bombs. This was ridiculous because I personally know many scientists who have upwards of 50+ cameras and have never had an issue before. Our plane took off at 09:30, and we got a great view of the Andes’ mountain range.
Unfortunately, the cloud cover was thick, so we did not get the epic views of the brown rivers cutting through the jungle. Ian got cell service and found out that Mike was staying the night in Puerto Maldonado, so we took off for the research station. Sam, our person in Peru who runs the research station with Dylan, came to pick us up in the van, and we headed for the jungle.
We left at noon and drove northwest for 3 hours until we came to the Las Piedras River. We unloaded the van, put all the gear on two boats and traveled 15 minutes downriver to an area where we docked the boats on a beach and hoofed our gear into the forest. There was a shed where Hoja Nueva keeps gasoline and other essentials, and I stored my larger bag there while I strapped on my photo gear bag and hiked into the jungle with everyone else from the boats. Five minutes in and you can already feel that layer of sweat covering you from the heat and humidity. It smells different than normal body odor and reminded me of my times here and in Guyana. It was a 20-minute hike to the station, and my back was already sore from the last three days of travel, but we made it, and I got some water before heading back to get my other bag. That was a struggle as it was a North Face duffel with no hip straps. I love these bags, though, because they are climate-resistant, easy to carry, and keep my gear secured. It was about 17:00 when we all got back, and I got into my stuff to get my lights charged for the night hike. We had our debrief of the site to include safety and rules around 18:00 and then hung out chatting with everyone.
Dinner was served, and afterward we headed out into the forest to hike the Poot trail. Dylan, one of the owners was joining us. The other volunteers from Hoja Nueva were Marcos, Clemons, Delaney, and Tyler. Our group was me, Tyler, Mike, and Ian. The first notable herp of the night was a beautiful clown tree frog.
They have a reddish-brown body with bright yellow blotches around them. Dylan took data, and we continued. We came to a wider trail, and I was walking on the right side when I spotted one of my favorite groups of frogs, which is the Phyllomedusa genus, otherwise known as monkey tree frogs. They get their name because of how they walk.
This particular specimen was called (Phyllomedusa vallante) which is identified by the white bumps going across the ridges of its body. We walked another 180 meters, and Ian called out "snake". Tucked away about 3 meters from the trail was a red shimmer of light. This was the calico snake, which is a beautiful red snake common in South America. Since we are at a research station, we collect certain animals to process back at the station for data and then release the next day. I brought some pillowcases which make excellent snake bags.
We continued down the trail, and Ian spotted another snake resting about 1.5 meters off the ground. I have only ever seen adults of this species and have a great story about catching my first. The snake is called the Amazon whip snake. It is in the colubrid family and is rear-fanged.
This was a yearling and very small but still had some striking yellow color on the bottom of its head. We photographed that snake, but they are common, so we let it go back onto the tree where we found it. Moving along the trail, I was thinking it has been a bit since anyone has seen anything. I glanced up and lo and behold, another monkey tree frog! This was a (callimedusa p). They once were Phyllomedusa, but were changed with some others into the new genus. We headed back to camp. It has been my first time using the Fenix lights, and I love them so far. My lights had died but you need to work out the kinks with lights to know when their charges will go out and such. Ian was scanning the sides of the camp, and he shined on this smaller tree, and spied a gorgeous long green snake. It was a vine snake, and it was the first time I have seen one. It is amazing that on our first night in the jungle, we were able to find a lifer for Ian and for me but also a first lifer for the whole research station.
We bagged the snake and headed back to the research station as it was 00:30 at night, and we were tired after traveling that whole day.
Day 4
The only internet we got at the station was during the hours of 02:00 and 08:00, so I woke up around 06:00 and checked my phone and emails before going back to bed to get another hour of sleep. Breakfast was around 8:00, so I got out of bed at 7:30, grabbed some tea, and wrote my blog for the last couple of days. After breakfast, we got briefed on what the day would look like. Mike was coming at 12:30 with a shipment of two peccaries, which are a type of javelina. It was about a 2.2-kilometer hike from where the boats dock to where the peccaries needed to go. After breakfast, we photographed the calico snake and got ready to head to the boats to pick up Mike and the peccaries. It was a short 10 min ride from the station to the community, and on the way, I spotted a speckled caiman and a terrapin turtle. Mike chose to run to us through the bushes rather than use the footpath and ended up getting stung by something. As we walked up to where the truck had brought the peccaries, we realized they were not in two separate containers as anticipated, but in a large metal cage meant to trap Jaguars. The cage itself weighed around 120-200 kilos, and the pigs were around another 100 kilos.
No one said it out loud, but everyone was thinking about how hard this was going to be. Eight of us picked up the cage and carried it to where the bank of the river started. I do not have the best left shoulder, so I was not a fan of picking up heavy weight. We got the cage next to the boat, and now the challenging part was to get the cage on to the boat without flipping the boat or any of us falling into the water. We managed to get the cage onto the boat and secured, and with everyone finally in the boats, we headed downriver to where we would then have to haul this load up a steep slope.
We docked and prepared for the crazy adventure ahead of us. We got the cage out of the boat and moved about 3 meters but had to stop because of the weight of this damn cage. We managed to haul it up the slope carefully and got it to the shed. Luckily Dillion said he was not going to do this any longer and did not want us to hurt ourselves. So, the new plan was to rope each peccary around the neck and walk them to the pens. Sam, Tyler, Mike, and I grabbed some gear and headed to the lodge.
After all that work, I jumped into the shower and rinsed off. When I got out of the shower, I saw Ian running up to the lodge to tell us that they needed everyone as the plan to walk the peccary did not work. We put on our sweaty wet clothes and headed back to the dock. The new plan was to make it to a new trail, but we walked that and said there was no way, so the next new plan was to make it down the old trail, which crossed a road that other people use to get into the jungle. We started to haul the cage through the jungle, stopping every 2-3 meters to rest because of the weight. It was 16:10 when we started, and we had about 2 hours of sunlight left. We got maybe a quarter of the way in an hour. This was one of the hardest things I have ever done. My shoulder and back were screaming with pain. We all rotated around the box to help with positions. I could not help on the left side because of my shoulder.
We hiked about a third of the way, and we were all feeling destroyed. It was getting dark, so we decided to grab a dog crate. Heidi and Delaney came to help and Randy, the guide, brought us water. We rested and managed to get the male peccary into the crate and secured a metal pole to the top to help carry it. All seven of us walked with the peccary to the new pen, feeling relieved at how much lighter it was. It was 19:00, and we headed back and did the same thing with the female peccary after some creative coaching to get her into the crate.
We finally got her unloaded and got back to the station around 20:00 for some dinner. We relaxed, but I was way too exhausted from the day's ordeal to go out that night. I worked on the blog in my hammock and passed out to the chorus of wildlife around me.
Day 5
I woke up around 7:30 feeling well rested and headed out to get ready for the day. This included updating the blog and getting my equipment charged. After breakfast, we photographed the vine snake. We got to appreciate this beauty in the daylight. One of my favorite things about vine snakes is that their eyes face more forward than other snakes. This gives them the ability to have depth perception. This also makes vine snakes very capable of biting your face while holding them. Luckily, that did not happen to anyone, and we relaxed the rest of the morning
After lunch, we headed out into the forest to hike and scope out good spotting areas. I love all animals, so I am very keen on finding monkeys, birds, reptiles, and amphibians as well as snakes. We hiked the same trail we did the first night since I wanted to familiarize myself with the land. We found a spot that we could see had been logged and the logs were still there. I took photos for some posts I want to do about logging.
We then made our way to what was called the platform. We hiked that trail, and Ian said that Dylan and Sam were getting back at four, so we needed to head back. Earlier I had noticed a coolness in the air, and now it was getting darker. 10 minutes later, we heard the roar of rain coming. I put down my backpack, quickly got out my raincoat and put my gear away to keep it dry. Dry bag backpacks for the win! We started walking, and everyone else had not packed rain gear, so I took what cameras and phones I could fit into my bag to keep them dry, and we beat feet back to get out of the downpour. When I got back, I stripped off my clothes and ran outside to take a rain shower, which is the best shower in the jungle! I got dry, put on some clothes, relaxed in the hammock, and did some yoga to stretch my back which was still suffering from our crazy day yesterday. We chilled and worked on Serpentine footage and scripts until dinner, then headed back out around 21:00. I had a good feeling this would be a frog kind of night because of the rain. Dylan and Marcos, along with their interns, would be collecting data on all the frogs.
On the trail, I spotted a type of harvestman. These arachnids resemble the iconic daddy-long leg. What is cool about these arachnids, is they glow under ultraviolet, and Marcos had a UV light, so we were able to see this cool, unique characteristic.
Up ahead, I spotted a bat species hanging underneath a palm leaf eating a piece of fruit, but it got startled by our lights and flew off.
We continued down to the boat dock. The next cool animal we discovered, was one of the two species of dart frogs found in the area. One of the things I love out here in the Amazon are the epic plants. This particular plant that I was looking at, was a type of epiphyte that has aerial roots and tends to latch onto objects. As I stepped over a log, I saw a beautiful small tarantula species that I could not identify, but it is always nice seeing them in the wild as I kept and bred them when I was young.
When we reached the dock on the edge of the river, I scanned the shoreline closest to us and then the other bank and spotted the obvious eye shine of two caimans. They were too far away to identify, but I am hoping that on this trip, I will be able to find a Schneider's dwarf caiman and catch a black caiman. It was about 23:00 and we headed back into the jungle to continue searching. We found some birds and other dart frogs but no snakes and got to the cross-section around 00:00. Some of the others returned to camp and missed a massive Brazilian wandering spider next to the trail. This species is known for its bite which can cause male humans to get an extremely painful erection that can kill you or cause an erection disorder. We gave that spider some space! Those of us who were left, hiked for another hour, and found bugs and more frogs, but no snakes, so I went back to the lodge to go to bed.
Day 6
I woke up around 06:00 to head out for a jungle poo and try to get another round of sleep. At 07:45 as I got ready for breaky, I asked Ian what time they got back last night. They did not get to bed until 04:00, but didn't find anything, so I made a good call to head to bed when I did. We did some trail maintenance and then headed out at 10:30 with machetes to cut the low tree limbs to make the trail wider. I made the mistake of leaning up against the fire ant tree.
This tree is a fascinating example of a symbiotic relationship. The tree shelters the ants, and the ants protect the tree from predators. You can always identify the Tangarana tree, because about a meter in diameter around the tree, it is completely clear of other plants. The ants clear out any plants that could potentially compete with it. It was 13:30, so we headed back for lunch.
I took an evening nap and then headed out by myself on a jungle walk. It had been a rainy day, so not much was out, but I was able to see some scarlet macaws fly overhead, a Motmot bird, and trumpeter’s birds. As I started to head back, I heard Mike walking through the jungle and talking, so I waited for them. A group was going out to set some camera traps, so I assisted with that. I got back to the station at 17:45, and the whole crew played my favorite game of werewolves before dinner.
We headed out to the night walk at 21:00, and the first animal we found was another warty monkey tree frog. This one was much larger than the individual I found the other night. We found a couple more Phyllomedusa and crossed this large section of army ants moving their entire hive across the forest floor. I do not think I have ever seen such a large concentration of these ants before, and it was cool to photograph them. I, of course, got bit a couple of times, but I do not react badly to their venom. It just hurts a little.
I spotted a cool looking katydid that resembled a leaf. They even have the leafy edging on their body and camouflage so perfectly. We found some more frogs and then made our way to a swampy area. I sunk a good knee deep into the murky water, trying to spot animals. I spotted an eyeshine up in a tree, and the fact that I saw it move but never blink means, in my opinion, it was a snake, but it was too far away to tell for sure. It was getting late, so we all headed back to camp.
Day 7
I woke up at 07:45, the sun was finally coming out, and we could see blue sky. We ate breakfast, and the Serpentine crew headed out at 11:00 to see if we could find some diurnal snakes basking in the speckled sunlight on the trails. Mike and I hiked inland, while Ian and Tyler went to the river. We spotted spider monkeys and brown capuchins. I love taking photos with enormous, old growth trees, so I used my selfie stick to take a photo with a monster Ceiba tree.
Mike and I turned around at 13:00 and headed back to the station. We went off on another trail but ended up at someone's shack in the jungle, stumbled upon the grossest of jungle toilets, and quickly backtracked to the main trail. We got back to the station just in time for lunch which included some hot chilies that made my stomach feel queasy. I took an hour nap and then showered. Since there were no clouds, the crew planned to photograph stars at 18:30. We headed to the dock and set up. The Milky Way was not quite in the right spot, and it was hard for me to take photos since there were three others taking photos, and I was teaching them how to paint with light and such.
We headed back for dinner at 20:30 and out on the south trail at 21:30. The trail was a nice road that was not used very often. One of the first things I found was a big tailless whip scorpion, one of my absolute favorite arachnids. We found some tiger-sided tree frogs, which are always a treat to see, and Marcos and Dylan worked on the “frogject”, which is their term for the frog project. There were lots of frogs out, and we referred to little brown frogs as LBF's, since they are everywhere and a more common species.
One of the interns, Tyler, spotted the first snake of the night. I went to grab the snake, but it was alert and bolted. I later found out it was a rusty racer. Another intern, Julia, found the second snake. It was the yellow-faced calico snake. I was exhausted, as I was not used to herping this late. I am an early riser and we have been out late the last couple of days, so these long nights have been screwing with me. Ian spotted a two striped vine snake, which I had never seen before and was a lifer for me. As we continued, my brain was not functioning anymore, and I was going into full zombie mode. Ian found another small snake, but I was ready to head back as it was 02:00 in the morning. The group decided to turn back, and I went ahead so I could get back faster before I passed out. I made it onto the main trail, and as I was walking, checking the river, I spotted the eye shine of a caiman. This small narrow river has my favorite crocodile on the planet, and that is the Schneider's dwarf caiman, so I was excited to catch one. It moved slowly down the river, and I identified it as a spectacled caiman. The others came up while I went down with Dylan to catch it. I would have jumped on it, but it was a little large for me as my shoulder still is not the same since the peccary hauling incident. Dylan jumped on the caiman, and I secured its jaws. We all admired this beautiful animal, and I showed everyone how to determine the sex by putting your finger in the cloaca and feeling for a penis or nothing at all. This caiman turned out to be a boy. It was odd seeing this species in a stream like this, but since it is a male, it may have been searching for new territory. We let the caiman go and went to bed around 03:30.
Day 8
After breakfast I hiked to the platform, which is an area where Sam did her first rehab with an ocelot. The rest of that day was rainy, so I read a book in my hammock and listened to the rain pelting the metal roof. We took it easy that night because the next day, we were going to take a boat out on the river. Before dinner, the sky cleared, and the stars were shining, so Tyler and I headed to the beach to take photos. The beach is about 2.2km away and it took about 20 minutes to get there from the station. The jungle on the trail is not open to the sky so unfortunately when we got to the beach it was cloudy again. We headed back and had a chill night.
Day 9
It was a rainy morning, so we opted to leave a little later for our cliff and waterfall adventure. We headed to the boats around 13:30 and headed up the river to the waterfall. The weather was decently clear with some cloud cover, and speckled rays of the sun. I love river rides as I just love looking for wildlife! We spotted some spectacled caiman, terrapin turtles, lots of butterflies, and some parrots. After 45 minutes, we could see the waterfall in the distance. There were two falls. The one on the right was significantly larger than the one on the left. We docked the boat against the muddy cliff, put on our swimsuits and jumped into the murky, brown water of the Las Piedras River. The river was extremely warm due to the heat of the Amazon. There was a submerged beach, so the pool from the falls was around half a meter deep. I walked over to the large falls and posed for some photos. The water coming from the waterfall was shockingly cold, so you got a mixture of warm and cold water. I swear no one was peeing.
What was cool was when you got about 7 meters from the waterfall, it was waist-deep, and if you continued, the bank sloped, and you were no longer touching the bottom. I kept swimming far out into the river and then would float back to the boat. I love dark water. I am weird and cannot keep my eyes closed underwater, so I open them, and it is crazy how pitch black it is just half a meter under the surface. We had a brief rainstorm and then it cleared enough for a beam of sun to come out and make quite the large rainbow on the river. After an hour playing in the falls, we knew the sun would be getting into that perfect position for cliff views, so we all got in the boat and headed upriver. With the boat docked, we headed up the steep, slippery, muddy cliff sides, trying to avoid the damn fire ant trees as they sometimes were the only hand hold, and you definitely did not want to use them. It took us about 7 minutes to hike up the side, and we were rewarded with a stunning view of the river below.
These cliff areas were created due to mudslides as the soil is not stable. We goofed around on the top, took some epic photos, and Ian launched his drone. As the sun went below the clouds, we headed back to Hoja Nueva for dinner and then set out on a night hike.
We decided to hike the common trail as it cuts deeper into the forest and is wide, so our larger group should spot things. We needed to hike through the Hojas cocoa area to get to the trail, so it would be worth checking this area as it forces the arboreal snakes and reptiles to the ground to move between trees. We spread out between the cocoa plants, and I was seeing some little frogs and I noticed this stunning tree with all the epiphytic plants on it. I stepped to the left of the tree and saw a shimmer on the ground. I recognize the beautiful rainbow pattern of the Brazilian rainbow boa.
This was the smallest one I have seen yet, but still stunning as ever. These snakes get their name from the rainbow iridescence their scales give off when light hits them. We admired this snake for a moment and bagged it for photos. I was walking behind to get an extra thorough look around while the others headed out of the cocoa patch and onto the trail, when I hear “snake!” When I caught up, Ian was holding a small red snake that resembled the calico snake but did not have the same markings on the head. This was a mussurana baby. They are born this shade of red, and as they grow older, they go through a color change to solid black. They get large for a colubrid.
Dylan spotted a three-striped poison dart frog which is the first one I saw on this trip. Unlike the other dart frog found in this area, these are larger, around 5 cm long. They are dark black with stunning green stripes. They are diurnal frogs, so when we found it, it was sleeping but due to the lights, it woke up but remained perched on a leaf. Since dart frogs are usually very bouncy and hard to photograph, I was lucky enough to get some great photos.
After, I noticed a mosquito sucking the dart frog’s blood and got a good photo of that. We found another three-striped poison frog and then called it a night.
Day 10
Today was our last day in the jungle. We had a cocoa farm tour planned and headed out to the farm around noon with the canoes. When we got there, the farmer took us around and showed us the whole cocoa farming process. What is cool is that they graft the trees so that the cocoa grows out instead of up. This way the farmers can reach the beans. We had some fresh hot cocoa and cocoa moonshine. While sipping cocoa, I saw a mammal walking in the cocoa area and thought it was a monkey but then saw the tail and head and realized it was a Tayra. These epic members of the weasel family are the largest terrestrial weasel found in the Amazon. They are amazingly skillful predators and have become one of my favorite animals because they live in such a cool place and are related to wolverines.
We got back onto the boats and headed to camp, where we waited out a a couple of large thunderstorms that rolled through. I collected some clay from the cliff view the day before and decided to jump into the creek next to the lodge and have a clay bath. One of my favorite feelings on the planet is being naked out in nature and in the jungle. Don't worry, I am not going to show you a photo of that!
It was very wet that night but luckily no rain was falling. We hiked an area that was closer to the Las Piedras River. The first animal we came across was the blunt-headed tree snake, one of the thinnest snakes you can find.
These amazing snakes have an almost exclusive diet of snails. Their jaws are curved in their face to follow the curvature of the snail’s shell. Ian spotted our first giant waxy monkey tree frog of the trip. This was an interesting encounter for me because it was not an adult. All I have ever seen in the past have been adults. Monkey frogs tend to hunker down when they get exposed to light, so photos do not usually come out the best.
I was trailing the group, and there was a fork, and Dylan goes to the left, then jumps into the bushes and picks up this massive rainbow boa. This was the largest snake we have come across on the trip so far. Everyone was so thrilled to see it, so we all got photos holding it and then set it up for photos. While everyone was holding the snake, I looked in the bush and spotted the smallest blunt-nosed tree snake I have ever seen. Everyone was way too thrilled with the boa to even care, so I took photos of it and let it go.
After the boa, we found another tiger-sided tree frog, and I was able to get a nice “find the herp” photo for my Instagram, which is always fun.
We made our way back to the lodge, and at this time, it was about 01:00 in the morning. We celebrated with some cocoa moonshine and were hanging out when Sam comes up and says Mike and Dylan caught a dwarf caiman. So of course, I get back into my field clothes and head out to the swampy area. I found Dylan, Tyler, and Mike about 30 meters off the trail. In Mike's hands was a gorgeous meter-long Schneider's dwarf caiman. This is one of my top favorite animals because it looks like it belongs on the set of Jurassic Park.
We admired it, let it go and headed straight to bed since we were traveling to Puerto Maldonado the next day.
Day 11
In the morning, we got our stuff packed, and headed to the dock where I spotted my first squirrel monkey of the trip. I needed to make two trips since my bags were very heavy, and I only had one lower back to spare. We got on the boat at 10:30, then made our way to the little town and got loaded up into the van for the 3-and-a-half-hour journey to the city of Puerto Maldonado. As soon as we got there, we checked into our hostel and headed into the city for some much-needed food. Since we had another day to spend in the city, I wanted to do a tour of the close-by Lake Sandoval. That night we had dinner with Sam and Dylan and one of their new interns. I headed to bed early.
Day 12
The forecast did not look good today and predicted rain, but I was still keen to head to the lake. As we were getting ready, it started pouring, and we headed out to the meeting spot for the tour. We waited there for the rain to settle and to meet up with our guide. Our guide came, the rain did not settle, but we headed out to where the boat would pick us up. It dropped us near an area outside of the preserve so we could drop some lines down and gig for piranha. Mike was very keen on catching a piranha. Of course, he was the only one who did not catch one as Tyler landed the first, and I got the second. We caught yellow belly piranha, a new species that I had not seen yet.
These are much smaller than the blacks, which is the species I saw in Guyana. I did manage to hook a red, but it got off the hook before I could get it in the boat, but I saw that unmistakable red belly when it got close to the surface. We then headed into the lake area, walking on a 2km boardwalk, to get into the boats. It was still raining, and all of us were getting soaked even through our raincoats. I had my Bedrock adventure flip flops on and saw a branch covered in thorns. I figured the right amount of space I needed to step over it but as I am straddling the branch, Mike managed to kick the branch, and it proceeded to go right into my foot, giving me some lovely scratches.
We got to the canoes and waited out the rain under cover for another hour. Eventually, it lightened up, and Tyler, Mike, our guide David, and I got into the canoe, and headed out through a little river area to the lake.
We kept our eyes peeled in this area, as Dylan suggested we go slow and steady since many black caimans hang out here. Before the exit into the lake, I spotted a small meter-long black caiman to our left. I did not take out my camera to get a photo because it was still rainy, and I did not want to risk my gear getting wet. We moved along the right side of the lake and looked for birds. We spotted some of my favorite birds from South America, the Hoatzins. These Pterodactyl looking birds are the only members left in their genus. Their genus is a very old one. What I love about them and what makes them so unique is the fact that when they are young, they have claws on their wing digits to grip and climb. As they age, they lose these claws.
We continued to our lunch spot, and by this time, all of us were extremely cold from the rain. We got some much-needed hot tea and warmed up for an hour before getting back into the boat to look for more birds. We found more Hoatzins and some other birds before heading back to town. That night we met up with friends and had a good meal. Tyler, Mike, and I were headed to Lima in the morning.
Day 13
We slept in because our flight was not until mid-day, got some breakfast and packed our stuff before heading to the airport. Thankfully, Mike had no issues this time with Latam Airlines, so we all made it onto our plane and got into Lima around 14:00. I was excited as I would get to experience Lima properly since the first time I was here, I stayed near the airport, which I recommend you avoid and go in to the nicer part of Lima. It took us about 30 minutes to get to our hostel, which had many good reviews and had breakfast included! It was also right next to the fun area of town. We relaxed that afternoon and had some drinks. I had some passion fruit pisco sours, which are now one of my all-time favorite drinks. I headed to bed at midnight.
Day 14
We headed to the airport early to get our Covid test to fly back into the United States. After that, we went out to an area I thought would be good to find the Inca tern, a bird I have always wanted to see. Originally, I thought that we would need to get a 90$ boat ride to an island to see these birds, but I looked on the map and used iNaturalist, (one of my favorite apps), to see if people had been seeing them on the coast. I found an area they had been spotted in the south part of Lima and had a good feeling about it. I put my 80-400 lens on my Nikon d7500, and Tyler, Mike, and I got an Uber out that way. It took us 20 minutes to get there, and amazingly right when I got out of the Uber, I spotted my lifer, Inca tern, and about fifty more.
My hunch was right. One of the most epic things about wildlife photography is figuring out where to find the animals you want to photograph. It takes a great deal of research, patience, and understanding behavior to find wildlife. At this spot, I also photographed Peruvian boobies that were hanging around. I know what you are thinking, but it is a species of bird. The boobies were doing their classic hunting behavior by swooping high up and diving down while tucking their wings back to break through the surface of the water after prey.
We then walked south because there was a cliff area with some surfers that looked like a fun spot to check out. We came to a rock island area where many locals were hanging out, and I took some photos of the guys because some heavy swells were moving in and creating a cool splash effect. We continued south and made our way through some abandoned buildings that housed more Inca terns.
I was able to get close for some great photos and we continued to head toward the surfers. I was walking and looking for terns when I heard Mike yell, "OH MY GOD!" and I rushed back to ask what it is, but he was speechless, which is damn near impossible for Mike. I was looking around, and then I saw it, a human head! Well, a skull but still a human skull. Not a fake. The skull looked to be old as there were not any teeth left, and we all just kind of stood there not knowing what to do.
We decided it would be best not to call the police since we had a flight to catch that evening and did not want to jeopardize that by being interviewed by the cops. We walked out to the point, but the others were still in shock, so they did not enjoy the last bit of our hike. I arrived at the spot where the surfers were, and those cliff sides were full of the terns. When we turned back to catch a cab, a pod of dolphins swam past.
We headed back to the hostel, and I had my last pisco sour. We were taking a red-eye flight to Mexico City with a four-hour layover before our flight back to Denver. I would only have fourteen hours in the United States before heading out for my next adventure. But that does not bother me as that is the beauty of doing what you love for work!
