To conclude my wonderful travels with my dad and Erinn, we took an overnight bus to Puerto Maldonado in the Amazon then a rickety old wooden boat to a lodge in the Amazon. We had fun at night playing cards and admiring the stars- swatting away the bugs. We took the rusty boat out by day and explored a variety of different places. Two of our days were spent at Lago Sandoval, a big lake on a protected reserve. As we got onto our little wooden canoe we started paddling through the thick swampy water, listening to the Erie noises that filled the air. In the distance, it seemed as though wild monsters were roaming free and gave the whole experience a feeling as though we were boating through Jurassic Park. Howler monkeys screamed their wild calls and other noises of birds echoed from all sides. As we paddled through the water eventually the trees opens up and the beautiful lake was revealed in sunlight. We spotted a turtle perched on a log out of the water and a swarm of bright butterflies encircled its head, like colorful splotches of paint. Towards the middle of the lake there were otters playing, squeaking and chirping unlike anything we'd heard before. We ate traditional food from the Amazon region and swung in hammocks while the rain splashed and cooled our sweaty skin. One morning when we went for a hike to see Maccaws, we heard the branches swaying and colliding in from of us and watched as little specks turned into jumping monkeys. The squirrel monkeys hopped from tree to tree, catching themselves with whichever limb available. We watched as about one hundred of them jumped through the trees across the trail, right over our heads. Some were mothers and jumped slower as their babies clung to their backs. It was an incredible experience and I had to pinch myself as a reminder that is was real.
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