From Lima we flew to Iquitos and travelled by speedboat for approx 2.5 hours to the Curassow Lodge along with 2 other couples from the US and Taiwan. At the end of the journey, we certainly knew we were in the jungle when suddenly a monkey fish came flying into our boat unannounced!
Curassow is a rustic 10-hut lodge in the Amazon jungle (Paraíso area) where guests have their own private guide who takes them out for a few expeditions/activities each day and these activities can be personalised to what you wish to see or do. This is a particularly unique feature as there are a few other lodges in the area which offer only group tours in larger boats.
We arrived to a warm welcome and met the friendly team who would be looking after us during our stay and enjoyed a delicious lunch of Dorado fish, rice and vegetables served with a juice prepared with a local fruit (cocona or camu camu). All of the meals were prepared with produce from the jungle (fish, chicken, vegetables, fruit – pineapple, giant passionfruit, watermelon) and were delicious!
Accommodation was comfortable yet simple with ensuite bamboo huts, cool showers and whilst there was no signal/wifi (quite rare these days to be off the grid for 5 days!), there was electricity (between 8am-8pm)! We relaxed on the hammocks on our balcony and listened to the sounds of the jungle – we had arrived!
During our 5 day-stay, we enjoyed many boat rides and jungle walks and became acquainted with many Amazonian wildlife from birds (the black-collared hawk was our favourite), to pygmy monkeys (only a few centimeters tall fully grown), caymans, boa constrictors (including anacondas), pink river dolphins, all kinds of mushrooms (both hallucinogenic and deadly) and my personal favourite – sloths. Sloths are wonderfully adorable creatures who sleep 20 hours per day in the tallest trees, often camouflaging with termite nests and only climb down to defecate and clean once or twice a week! We also learned that there are many symbiotic relationships in the jungle – for example the monkeys shake the trees to release insects which the birds eat, and the birds will warn the monkeys when they hear hawks nearby (who are monkey predators) by squawking! Rob particularly enjoyed reminding me that ‘It’s a jungle out there!’
Other highlights of our stay were swimming in the longest river in the world (the Amazon river) with pink river dolphins circling us at sunset, waking up to the sounds of the jungle, piranha fishing (bait only lasted in the water a few seconds, but managed to catch 3 with our stick fishing rods), canoeing and visiting the local primary school and purchasing handicrafts from the village. The local people truly respect the animals and protect the jungle which was wonderful to see.
We loved our stay in the Amazon despite the persistent mosquitoes (I was bitten ~30 times even with Deet and a mosquito net) and enjoyed getting to know the wonderful guides and staff who make you feel part of the family. Perhaps we might revisit Curassow one day in the high/rainy season!
Pocket Adventurer 