On the first of July, I departed Buenos Aires for Peru, where, after landing in its capital, Lima, I boarded a short flight north to the city of Iquitos, which is the entry port to the Peruvian Amazon. After getting picked up at the airport, I was whisked away on a small boat with handful of other passengers up the Amazon river for a 2.5 hour ride to the camp I'd be staying at the next few days.
The base camp was very basic - there were 12 small cabins with no electricity, no internet and cold running water that was not potable. The room had only a bed and a mosquito net. They turned on a generator from 6-9 pm each night so guests should recharge batteries for their cameras or iPads.
After unpacking, our group had lunch and then headed off to a small island that is a sanctuary for orphaned or abandoned animals. There, we got to play with friendly monkeys, parrots, toucans and even a sloth. Later in the afternoon, we went to another reserve where I was able to (with the help of our guide of course) capture an anaconda snake that was shedding its skin, making it far less likely to inflict any damage to those of us who held it.
Over the course of the next few days, we hunted tarantulas at night, fished for piranhas during the day, swam in the Amazon river, and visited a local tribe where we had the opportunity to observe them living in their natural environment.
Click here for more photos from this trip to the Amazon.
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