Iquitos and the Peruvian Amazon

Tim: We spent two days relaxing in the San Isidro District of Lima at the Radisson Hotel which we stayed at for free using some of our credit card points. It was nice to stay a few nights at a comfortable five star hotel. We were able to get plane tickets on LAN airlines for free as well from points we accumulated form another credit card. It was a short 1 ½ hour flight to Iquitos. Iquitos is said to be the largest city in the world not connected by road. With more than 500,000 people, Iquitos sits along the Amazon River in Northern Peru.

We arrived in Iquitos by 9 in the morning. There are few cars and trucks in Iquitos, mostly just 3 wheeled moto bikes. The moto bike ride to our hotel took 15 minutes. We booked a budget hotel near the Belen Mercado. Our hotel’s proximity to the market made for some awful smells at times because refuse collection was less than satisfactory.

The brother and law of the owner of our hotel offered to give us a tour of the Belen Mercado on our second morning. The tour was an experience. The market came from the edge of the river up to higher ground in the city. We saw all sorts of dead animals for sale including monkey, turtle, alligator, Guinea pig, lots of weird looking fish, plus random chicken parts, pork heads, etc..  Overall the area was a filthy slum, one of the dirtiest places we have ever visited. As a result of the filth there were hundreds of black vultures looking for meat scraps.  We were happy when the tour was over and promptly went back to our room and took a shower.

We had a total of eight days in Iquitos before our return flight to Lima. We arranged for a 5 night 6 day tour of the Amazon jungle with a local guide who was recommend to us by a British man that we met on the street. We were happy for the referral from another foreigner as we had heard of less than positive experiences by some travelers.

One of the more memorable parts of the Amazon trip was the Piranha fishing. Several times we just pulled over to an eddy or side stream to fish for Piranha. Our fishing poles consisted of 6 foot long sticks with about 6 foot of line. Our setup also included a 4 inch long wire leader to avoid your fishing line getting bitten off by the Piranhas. The stories about Piranha’s teeth are no joke. Even the small ones under 6 inches long have incredibly powerful jaws and razor sharp teeth. You have to be really careful when removing the hook from the Piranha’s  mouth to avoid getting a junk taken out of your finger.

One of the best Piranha fishing spots we found was right off of the bank of the river where we were camped for a night. In that one location I caught 4 Piranhas and Amber caught 3. In total I caught 7 Piranhas. We even ate them bony little fish for dinner.

During our fourth day our second guide Ori spotted a Sloth on a tree. We pulled over on the side of the river and got out of our boat. The sloth was about 15 feet up the tree. It seemed to be asleep, and didn’t seem to notice us. Until…. Max climbed the tree with the machete and cut the branch down that also held the sloth. The branch and the sloth fell fortunately into soft tall grass. I don’t think the sloth was harmed too much. Max promptly went over and grabbed the sloth from behind under the arm pits. The sloth made some very quiet hissing noises which didn’t seem like much of a defense mechanism. Both Amber and I got to hold the sloth which was pretty cool. Apparently the locals will kill a sloth if they find it for food. Our guides said that they were actually helping the sloth by returning it to a tree further from the edge of the river and further from view. While we were holding the sloth, Ori went further into the woods to look for a better tree to put the sloth in. He returned minutes later with another sloth. The first sloth was a female, and the second sloth was a smaller male which was likely an offspring. After a few minutes, our guides put the sloths back into separate trees, but not before offering to keep one of the sloths in the boat with us until we were done looking at. We declined.

We were both surprised by the number of fresh water dolphins present in the Amazon river and smaller tributaries. During our trip we say more dolphins than I can remember to count. There are two varieties: a pink dolphin, and a grey dolphin. The pink dolphins are larger than the grey dolphins. On several occasions we were able to drift our boat down the river and watch as pods of dolphins swam in close proximity to us.

Another interesting experience was our giant Iguana spotting. Our guide Ori spotted a large Iguana high up in a tree along the river. We pulled our boat over to the side of the river underneath the tree where the Iguana was resting. Our second guide Max climbed the tree after the Iguana. I the leaves in the tree were very dense and it was hard to see the Iguana in the tree. Our guides explained that the Iguana would likely jump from the tree into the water went Max got close.

The Iguana did jump from the tree, only it missed the water by a few feet and landed in our boat almost on top of me. In fact one of his back claws scraped my pant leg as he fell. What happened next last for only about 2 seconds. The huge Iguana looked at me, and I looked at the Iguana still in shock. The Iguana immediately bolted over the side of the boat and was gone never to be seen by us again. It really was a big Iguana and probably weighed 15 pounds.

During one of our jungle hikes we spotted two Amazonian River Otters in a small stream. When they saw us, they quickly ran to hide deeper in the jungle. It was great to see them if only for a moment.

I think our expectations were a little too high for our trip. Our goals was to try to see lots of animals, but the area we were taken to was surprisingly quite populated and since the rivers act as the main transportation system most of the people live right along the edge of the river. If you really want a chance to see more rare animals you have to venture out to one of the national preserves.

On our last days while making our way back to Iquitos, be stopped at a small village to return some camping supplies. As we pulled up to the village in our boat we saw a villager pulling a dead anaconda that had gotten tangled in the farmers fishing net. The dead anaconda appeared to have a fairly large animal dead in its stomach. From the size of the bulge it looked to be a monkey or a sloth. The anaconda was about 7 foot long. Apparently, they do not have any monetary value so the farmer just through the carcass into the main river for the Piranhas to feast on.

On the downside, we ended up returning to Iquitos a day earlier than we had originally planned because I had gotten sick likely do to the untreated water we were served. For anyone considering this kind of trip, the mosquitoes were awful. During our 5 day trip Amber and I went through an entire bottle of 100% Deet bug dope.

Machu Picchu Part 2: Climbing Wayna Picchu

Tim: After getting an amazing view of the Machu Picchu ruins from the guard house, we moved on to the Inca Bridge. This involved a 15 minute hike away from the main site. The trail to the Inca bridge was at times vary narrow an exposed along a sheer cliff dropping off thousands of feet. Once we reached the bridge we had an awesome view of a very narrow bridge (4 split logs 8 feet long) spanning a narrow gap in the trail placed along a rock cliff. Apparently, a tourist died when they slipped and fell of the bridge, so tourists are no longer able to walk over the bridge. There was a fence barrier blocking are approach to the bridge some 25 meters out.

We hiked back to the main ruins. The site was still fairly foggy so we opted to begin our climb of Wayna Picchu the mountain on the opposite side of the ruins as the guard house and much taller. The hike took us about 45 minutes to reach the top. Because all of the hikers are let through the gate at the same time there is a little bit of a traffic jam hiking up. Some portions of the trail are very very steep with stone steps that are more like stone ladders.

We were almost to the very top when we reach a part of the path that led through a narrow cave. I went through first. The cave path was short enough that we were not able to stand and I was crouched down on my haunches. Amber followed behind me. The wind was at our back pushing through the cave. Once our eyes adjusted to the dim light, Amber saw that I was crouching next to a fresh pile of human feces recently deposited in the narrow cave. It was about the same time that the putrid smell also reached my nose. The cave was not more than one meter across at its widest point.

Amber in a state of alarm yelled at me to hurry up and get out of the cave. The exit of the cave was much smaller than the area we had been in. It required that we be in a push up position and walk our hands out of the exit. It took some effort to exit the cave. The whole time I was exiting, Amber was yelling at me to go faster. All four of us had to pass through the cave. It was not a pleasant experience, but we all laughed when it was over. Once on Wayna Picchu there are no restrooms, and because it is so steep and jungle like it is hard to leave the path. Someone just had to go, even if it was a very poor choice of locations.

Once we were all out of the cave it was a short jaunt to the very top. We stopped and rested for a while looking at the amazing views of Machu Picchu. We started our descent of Wayna Picchu. There were some very steep exposed sections. Heather was moving slower than Amber and me. Just below the summit Amber and I stepped off the main path on to one of the many terraces overlooking Machu Picchu to wait for the rest of our group. I took the brief opportunity to ask Amber to marry me! I even gave her a ring. She said yes with lots of "really?" and "are you serious."  A few minutes later Heather and Dwight rejoined us, and we told them the news.

I had tried to get a ring in Anchorage, but was not able to get one set in time before we left. I got a simple ring in Aguas Calientes before we left for Machu Picchu. I did know Amber's ring size so I had to put one of her rings on my pinky finger and see how far it would go down my finger to estimate Amber's ring size.

The day was one of the most amazing in my life!

Rock Climbing in Joshua Tree National Park - California

Tim: We are back! After nine months off from posting in our travel blog, we are traveling again. This year our travels will take us to Peru, Chile, and Argentina. We opted to begin our international travels with a short trip to California for rock climbing in Joshua Tree National Park with friends.

We left Anchorage on January 2 after an enjoyable New Year’s in Anchorage. We took a direct flight from Anchorage to Los Angeles. Our rock climbing trip was for eight days. We picked up our rental car and drove to my Great Uncle and Aunt’s home outside of LA. We enjoyed a nice couple of days visiting before driving further east to Joshua Tree.

We arrived at the park late in the evening.  We were joining a large group of friends mostly from Anchorage. There were about 20 friends staying at the Hidden Valley Campground in Joshua Tree National Park. The Campground is set in a beautiful location in the park a midst white piles of giant boulders. There are many great rock climbing options within easy walking distance of the campground so there is no need to drive a car. There was also no cell reception in the campground. Even in our international travels we rarely go more than a couple of days without being “connected”. It was nice to have a break from technology and just enjoy climbing, friends, and a beautiful setting.

Amber and I are not particularly experienced rock climbers. We trained for one month at the indoor Alaska Rock Gym in Anchorage in advance of this trip. We have may more experienced rock climber friends who did all of the lead climbing. Amber and I always climbed with a top rope.

Overall, we had a great experience, and there will definitely be more rock climbing trips in our future.

Dubai, UAE

Tim: Our flight into Dubai arrived at about 5:00 AM. It took a while to get through passport control. All of the immigration officers were dressed in traditional white robes with white turbans. After loosing 12 USD to an automated ticketing machine that was out of tickets we found a ticket office in the metro and got tickets to the nearest metro to our hotel. We also found out that there was not much recourse for our lost $12.

The first metro did not leave until 6:00 AM so we had to sit around for a few minutes waiting. Once we arrived at the station we did not know exactly where our hotel was and then my cell phone died that had directions. A young man that we ran into outside the metro station said he was staying out the other Sheraton Four Points in town that was close by. We walked to the Sheraton Four Points, Bhur Dubai and they gave us directions to the Sheraton Four Points, Downtown, about 1.5 kilometers away. We decided to walk with our backpacks on. It was early in the morning and the temperature was a pleasant 70 degrees. We arrived at our hotel at about 7:00 AM. They did not have a room that we could check into because the hotel was completely full. After napping in the lobby for a while and finding some breakfast we were able to check into our room at 10:00 AM. The Sheraton Four Points is a very 5-Start Hotel. We stayed four nights for free with our Starwood points that we got for signing up for credit cards. We were exhausted from our nighttime travels and slept until 3:30 in the afternoon.

In the evening we ventured out and found dinner. We visited the Dubai Mall which is the largest in the world. The mall was near the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world which has the largest fountains in the world in front of it. The fountains were magnificent. There were shows every 30 minutes that included middle eastern music. The fountains were made by the same people that made the Belagio fountains in Las Vegas. The Dubai fountains are even more grand and spectacular. We watched three different fountain shows each with different music and design.

Our next day we spent the morning working out in the well-equipped fitness center and afterwards we visited the roof-top swimming pool. The warmest the air temperature gets right now was a pleasant 80 degrees Fahrenheit. In the afternoon we ventured down to Palm Island, the largest man-made island in the world. Apparently, you can see it in space with the naked eye. The island has the new Atlantis Hotel which is superbly designed. For the evening, we had set up an evening dinner cruise on the Dubai Creek. Our vessel was a two-story traditional Dhow. It only costs 15 USD per person after I found a discount offer online. We enjoyed the cruise very much and the buffet food was actually pretty good. This cruise included a live dance performance by a traditional male dancer who just spun around for 10 minutes strait. It was quite entertaining.

Amber:  Who knew that people from Alaska could have such a great time in a desert?  We had so much fun.  We went on a desert safari, which was ridiculous   Basically, we were picked up in a Land Cruiser and took off into the desert to go four-bying across the sand dunes.  The locals have made quite a business out of the event.  There were four wheel drive vehicles everywhere!  Among the organized chaos, our driver managed to not roll, flip or get stuck as we rallied around the desert.  We were close several times, and it was a little nerve racking to see other vehicles stuck, precariously high centered on the top of a steep dune.

Tim loves really tall buildings.  We went to Taipei 101 in Taiwan last year (what was, before the completion of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world) and he was hooked.  We've been wanting to go to the Burj Khalifa ever since.  That, and it looks really cool in MI4. It stands 824 m tall.  It's pretty awesome. So, being as we were in Dubai for a few days, we of course had to go.  We booked our viewing for one pm, giving us enough time for a little work out and pool time before heading towards the tallest building in the world. We rode up a very smooth elevator, and were able to go outside to a viewing deck.  Cool!  Tim was brave enough to actually stick his head outside of the plexi-glass, all I could manage was holding on tight and inching my goes out the bottom gap.  We didn't go to the exact tallest point of the building , but the views were amazing, and the architecture, beautiful.  It was a fun day for sure!

Afterwards, we went to a Couch Surfer meeting and met some wonderful people.  Both Tim and I had some fun conversations with some really interesting people.  Couch Surfers in general are really interested in travel, so we had a lot in common with everyone.  We became known as the "couple form Alaska"... we're kinda big deals, you know.  Ha ha.

Our last day in Dubai we had to check out of our hotel by noon.  But our flight didn't leave until midnight.  So... we checked out after a very lazy morning, and then went up to the gym and worked out for an hour.  Then we went to the roof top pool and lazed around for an hour.  We finally got hungry and mooched a shower in the hotel gym, and went in search of food (this was at four pm) and some form of adventure.  We decided to go check out the Mall of the Emirates.  This is the mall that houses the indoor ski resort in Dubai.  We figured, we were here, we mine as well go see it.  We took a very long subway ride to the mall, and, of course, once we saw the hill, Tim got the itch to go skiing.  We were in flip flops and tee's and thankfully I had opted for pants, and not a dress. It was about $50 each for gear, including lovely matching outfits, and the lift ticket, so we figured it was a must as who knows when we'll be in a desert and be able to go skiing again?  It was really fun to suit up and go boarding, even if it was in a big freezer on man made snow!  We made about ten runs before needing to head to the airport.  It was hardly Alyeska, but the closest to skiing we've been in over a year.  It was so over the top ridiculous, we loved it!