Last Major Andean Pass into the Amazon
It was quite a ride over the final ridge of the Andes, steep and increasingly verdant, filled with village roadside life. We knew the heat would come, and it has. We are resisting air conditioning, even though is is sometimes available, hoping to quickly adapt to the heat. We have kept the days short, trying to be done by early afternoon, when heat stress begins to take a heavy toll.
By the roadside.
Humble Home, fabulous Poinsettias
Off to Market
From our Dinner Table
Walking around the Village
Butterlies on Scat
Amazon "Foothills"
Friends of Zippy
We are in Yurimaguas, the end-of-the-road in Peru. We’re down from around 4000 m to 150 m in elevation. It’s hot and humid and the last few days have been hard riding. It is a different world. Everything revolves around the river, here the Rio Huallaga, flat and brown and teeming with life. The market is filled with fresh and dried fish and bush meat.
We saw our first wild monkey yesterday, crossing the road in front of us. At first I thought it was a squirrel, but Claire clearly saw it’s round face and I noticed the downward curve to it’s tail. It was small, black and very cute.
Parrots for sale with chickens at the Yurimaguas market.
Crocodile meat and eggs at the market in Yurimaguas
She has her TV even in the market at Yurimaguas
We hope to be on a boat downriver tomorrow. A three day hammock on the deck trip. Should be interesting.
Bob and Claire,
Did you eat any of the crocodile meat???
Bonnie \o/
No Bonnie. We make it a policy to not eat any bush meat. We figure the locals need the food or they would not kill it, but we can eat other things. Many animals are endangered and we don’t want to contribute. We’ve seen monkeys too in the market. Cui are domesticated, so we (I) ate one.