Taricaya, day 1

As I am writing these few lines, I am sitting in a hammock at Taricaya, Projects Abroads conservation project in the rainforest. All around me I hear the amazing sounds of the jungle: crickets, some monkeys and a Tucan in quarantine and a whole lot of others sounds I have no idea what is. After a few hours of morning rain, the weather is sunny and warm. Our two local Trumpeters (birds) are also here, eating all the bugs they can find. I was told that when the Taricaya projects first started in 2001, these birds were moved further into the jungle to have a less crowded life, but they kept on coming back over and over again. So now, they are the local mascots, a part of the family and the grass is trimmed regularly in order for them to find bugs easier.

(Due to mosquitos I have now moved inside...)

About 3.30pm on Sunday 13^th I was on the boat down one of the siderivers of the Amazonas and on my way to Taricaya. With sun on my face, wind in my hair and complete silence (except from the motor running), the trip made me relaxed and calm and I was looking forward to seing my new home for the next week. We were about 30 people in two boats going to Taricaya, volunteers and staff and the trip took about 1.30 hour. It is highseason for volunteers here now, and all together we are 31 volunteers with new people coming and «old» people leaving almost every day.

I was really excited to go around and have a look at my new home when we got to Teriacaya, but first things first: We had to unload all the food we were going to eat for the next week, and put everything in their right place. After helping with this, Jesse, who is a staff member, took me on a guided tour: She showed me my room which I am sharing with two other girls, Anna (Sweden) and Sasha (England), the kitchen and dining room, the TV-room/bar, veterinary station, workshop and the animal cages.

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  At this moment Teriacaya has:
  1 red Howlermonkey
•  10 Spidermonkeys
• 2 Squirrelmonkeys
• 1 Saddleback tamarin
• 1 Nightmonkey
• 2 White-fronted capuchin
• 1 Brown capuchin
• 2 Jaguars
• 2 Tapir
• 1 Margay
• 2 Jaguarundi
• 1 Short-eared dog
• 2 Toucans
• 2 yellow and blue Macaws
• 2 red and green Maracutas
• 2 Yellow-crowned parrots
• 2 Mealy parrots
• 2 Blue-headed parrots
• 1 Red-headed Parakeet
• 2 Pale-winged Trumpeters
• 1 Scarlet Macaw

At 7.00pm we had dinner consisting of the usual ingredients in Peruano comida (food), rice and potatoe, and afterwards I went to bed, ready to get up the next morning for work. 

Puerto Maldonado

On Friday 11^th of March, 08.30pm (in the evening), I got on a bus from Cuzco to Puerto Maldonado. This type of bus is not like the buses from Sacred Valley; outdated, dirty and old. Instead they are nice, clean, relatively new and good standard. These buses are called semi casas and are very poplular in Peru if you are travelling for longer distances, because you can lay the seat down in a sleeping position and sometimes they even serve you dinner.  Therefore, I didn't mind travelling in a bus for 11 hours: I was going to be sleeping anyway... or so I thought.

About 5 hours from Cusco the bus stopped. I was half asleep so I didn't really care to begin with, but after some minutes I picked up a Spanish word "derombe" (or something like it) which was repeated several times: landslide in English, or jordskred in Norwegian. This was not a part of my plan, but with no other options I went to sleep and hoped for the best: That no one was hurt and that the bus would get on moving before I woke up again. It didn't!

When the bus stopped the night before the time was about 01.30 in the night, and when I woke up the time was about 9 in the morning. I went out to see if I could find some breakfast, which turned out to be an easy task. Another lady on the bus went with me, and we found pan (bread), coca cola, agua and even choclo con queso (boiled mais with cheese, yummie!!!). The choclo was being made from a bonfire and a cettle with boiling water. Everything you need for an emergency!

The bus started moving again about 1 o'clock, luckily we didn't have to stay there longer. One good thing about the delay was that I got to see the magnificent nature that we were driving by in full daylight, and all in all the delay was not more than 11 hours which ment 22 in total. It could have been worse.

Finally in Puerto Maldonado I got my bag, a tuk tuk (motortaxi) and was on my way towards the plaza de armas. I knew that the hostel where I would meet the other volunteers was not far from there. I paid 2,50 soles for the ride over there, 5 NOK. I could not find the hostel to begin with, but after some time I met two guys who could tell me where to go (none of the locals knew). When I got to the hotel I met Pernille and Morten who I worked with in Pisac and all the other volunteers. We went out for dinner and a few drinks that night, and the morning after it was time to go to Teriacaya.

I didn't get to see that much of the city, but I am not to sad about it. By the little I saw, my impression tells me that the city is not the most beautiful flower in the garden. I forgot to take pictures of the city, so here is a picture of plaza de armas in Puerto, retrieved from google ;o)