The Amazon: day 1

Today started off terribly. Poor Sheridan woke up feeling really sick which she thought was just her being hungover.

Then she started actually getting sick :/ she threw up at the airport and in the plane a few times... This was more than just her being hungover.

We thought it was from the dirty ice in our mixed drinks our the water we used to wash our fruit.

We got to the airport at around 8:45 when we find out our flight was at 9:55, not 10:30... Oops. But the auto check-in didn't work for Mindee, Sheridan or Sam so they had to get in the regular line. Sam also had to check her bag cause it was too big. Luckily they let them check in with first class and skip the security line. They weren't far behind us actually.

We got to our gate right as the plane was being boarded. The flight was from Lima, touch down in Cusco, then to Puerto Maldonado. Flying over the Andes was so beautiful!! And Cusco looked like an awesome city-very indigenous at about 10,000 feet above sea level. I'm so excited to go there in a couple days!

From the plane you could see small villages on the side of the mountain with which looked like dirt roads winding up it. So cool.

So we landed in Puerto Maldonado at around noon probably and there was a van waiting to take us to our lodge in the Amazon. There was us six girls plus a few other tourists, most from Britain and other parts of Europe. We haven't meet any other Americans yet.

The van took us to the lodge's office so we could pack a lighter bag that they provided and we could lock up our other belongings at the office.

We all hopped onto another bus and started our hour drive to the river...

We were driving down skinny dirt roads, over unpredictable makeshift wooden bridges and past shacks that had satellite TV when suddenly, our van breaks down.

Welcome to the Amazon jungle.

So white we waited for another bus, I changed into shorts and a tank top (because it was 95 degrees and humid) and we all had lunch (chicken nuggets, yuka, white rice and a salad). It was a pretty good lunch for having to eat it in the side of a dirt road.

Finally another bus came and we finished our journey to the river. We all got in two boats and went downstream for about 2 hours. In those two hours, we saw two capiberras (sp) and their babies in the side of the river and a check in place for the national park where we got our passports stamped. What a day!

We got our bungalows moved in and waited for dinner. Dinner was great! And I discovered I love plantains! We're in an English group but there's also a Spanish and German group. We sit at the same place in the dining room for breakfast, lunch and dinner with our guide, Claud. It's our six chicas from IES and a couple on a 1 month Peruvian vacation from Belgium.

After dinner our group took a night walk to try to find some cool insects or snakes. It was fun but we didn't find to much, just some cool spiders and insects. Sam and Mindee got bit by an ant! Mindee's even put a good size hole in her sock.

We learned about these huge ants called bull ants, they're bite can give you a fever for a few hours, then you'll be fine.

Taking a shower lay might was AMAZING. It's true, it's hot and humid as hell in the amazon rainforest. Taking a cold shower was exact what we needed.

Anyway, I can't believe I'm in the Amazon and I'm so excited for these next few days.