My Adventures in Peru Part.one

Macchu Pichu in Peru

In July 2018 my family went on an amazing adventure to Peru in South America. I was a bit unsure about going there at first and the plane trip was very long. We had to catch 3 planes to get there and even stopped at the airport in Santiago, Chile for a few hours. We flew on Qantas so the flight over was good and I watched lots of movies. Everyone in Peru speaks Spanish and I tried to learn some before we got there.

Me with Paddington Bear

Lima

The first place we went in Peru was Lima, the capital of Peru. We stayed at a hotel in Miraflores. The first night we went for a walk and went to a place on the Pacific Ocean called Larcomar. It was a big shopping centre and park. We found the statue of Paddington Bear at the playground at Larcomar.

The next day we went on a tour of the city of Lima. It has some really old buildings and lots of churches and plazas. We went to a few museums and saw lots and lots of ancient artifacts, pottery and even a mummy. We went to the cathedral, which I found a bit boring. It had the painting of the Last Supper which had a Guinea Pig as the meal. I liked that. I liked all the gold too on the decorations and statues, but the best bit of the cathedral was when we went underground and into the catacombs. It was awesome. We weren't allowed to take photos but our tour guide was nice and she let us take one or two. there was the remains of over 25000 people there. It was amazing and the tour guide said they had just discovered another layer underneath.

Mummy of a small child

The bones in the catacombs

The Amazing Amazon!

Me at the doorway to our Bungalow in the Amazon Rainforest

The next place we went to in Peru was the Amazon Jungle. We had to fly there and the lady who checked us in at the airport upgraded us to First Class! How cool!
When we arrived at Puerto Maldonaldo it was so hot. We got picked up at the airport by our guide and then we went up the Tambopata River by boat to our lodge in the jungle. It was amazing. On the boat ride we saw all the animals and birds that the Amazon is famous for. Our boat driver was really nice and stopped all the time to show us things. We saw Macaws, howler monkeys, turtles, butterflies and capybaras. It took over an hour to get there and we had to walk up a really steep hill with big long stairs at the lodge. We were staying at Inotawa Lodge. It was really cool and the people there were all really nice.

Relaxing in the hammocks at Inotawa

Inside our bungalow at Inotawa Lodge

Fishing in the Amazon with Marco

We spent some time relaxing and looking around before we met our guide, Marco at the lodge. We saw lots of birds and monkeys in the trees and Mum and I even saw a snake. Then Marco took us on a nighttime boat ride to spot Caiman (they are like alligators). Marco was great. He could spot caimans even in the dark. He even caught one and bought it in to the boat to show us. I touched it, it felt rough.
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The next day we went on a walk through the jungle with Marco and his girlfriend Winnie, to a lake to try to see the family of otters that live there. On the way we saw a baby tarantula. We went out on the lake on a big wooden boat that Marco had to row all by himself. We stopped for a while to go fishing and we caught a piranha! We also saw lots and lots of birds, including a rare heron, toucans, more macaws and parrots and spotted a few caiman. Marco told us not to fall in the water because of the piranhas, caimans and even electric eels! Unfortunately we didn't see the otters while we were there.
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The Piranha that we caught - and I got to let it go

We went for another nighttime boat ride again that night and saw lots more caiman including a rare type. Marco even caught it and bought it into the boat for us to look at and touch. It was cranky and snapped at us, Mum and Winnie squealed, it was so funny and we all laughed. We also saw a whole family of capybaras. There was a mum and a dad and eight babies! They were so cute. I really loved seeing them, they are just like overgrown guinea pigs! The next day we went on another walk through the jungle. This time we went to see the animal clay lick and the big tree. The clay lick is a big mud hole which has special clay that the animals all come to lick. They get minerals from it which helps them. We didn't see any animals there but lots of different footprints.

Marco teaching us about the Amazon

Me taking a photo of the big tree

​Marco told us that some of the animals who come there are peccaries (like wild jungle pigs), anteaters, deer, tapirs, and even sometimes Jaguars. He told us that he had seen a sloth swimming across the river two weeks before we were there and he showed us the photos he had taken of it - amazing! Marco was very knowledgable about the rainforest. He showed us lots of things while we walked, like insects, bullet ants, which I touched, and plants for bush medicines. He showed us some traditional Amazonian things like poison arrows and face dyes using plants from the jungle.
That night at dinner Winnie showed us the video she had taken of the caiman that snapped at us - Mum squealed again - it was really funny and we all laughed again!

The Amazon was incredible! It was my all-time favourite place in the whole of Peru. I was sad to leave. I really liked Marco and Winnie and had so much fun while I was there. I really want to go back there again one day!

Next time I will tell you about the next place we went to in Peru ...