In Pedro Ruiz we relaxed, lunched and waited for a late bus, in the meantime meeting a Brazilian who informed us of the dire flood situation in Cuzco and Macchu Picchu, where Paul intended to go. The bus journey then wound its way torturously through the mountains, including past a large reserve of misty cloud forest, before entering the lowland of what used to be the Amazon jungle, but is now a patchwork of regrowth forest and ad-hoc farmlands. We were fortunate enough to watch what we both agreed was the best movie ever made - Date Movie. If you haven`t seen it, check it out. Really.
We eventually reached Tarapoto at 9pm, transferred by mototaxi through poorly maintained streets to our comparitively expensive hotel. We spent 1 and a half days in Tarapoto, enjoying the clean streets, great food and friendly people. We went to a restaurant to partake in a plate of ceviche, the Peruvian specialty of raw fish marinated for several hours in lemon or lime with red onion and a little chilli. Very yummy. On this occasion our plate was garnished with a few slices of capsicum, one of which I promptly crunched between my molars. Big mistake. Not capsicum. Very very hot. I quickly spat it out but the damage was already done. Running nose, watery eyes, getting high, everything. Yeah! I also ran into Shea, but then I realised it was only an amazingly realistic reproduction of him the locals were using as a mannequin.
We also visited a local waterfall in the rainforest to cool off, that included many of the omnipresent (in Peru) signs about caring for the plants, animals and environment. Getting a water massage from the 50m falls was fantastic and invigorating. The next day after buying and then being refunded a ticket to flooded Cusco, Paul flew out for La Paz. While at El Mirador in Tarapoto (where I had the best breakfast of the trip so far - fruit salad, scrambled eggs, fresh juice and house roasted coffee, all of local origin) I organised with the lovely owner Talma to make a canoe excursion into Pacaya-Samiria National Park in the jungle, from the tiny town of Lagunas.
No comments:
Post a Comment