We’re glad to leave Refugio Amazonas... heading 4 hours more upriver to Tambopata Research Center... which is already delightful.
Ugh, sure we’ll get up for the scheduled activity—a 15 minute walk to the Canopy Tower, a 37m tall stairway to nowhere. We strolled up with seven other guests, climbed the stairs to the top, and saw... fog. A bit of sun came along after a bit, and then the fog got thicker (and Leon got larger). OK, enough of this, we had to get off because there were 25 more guests down below waiting to come up, so we trudged back, took our gear to breakfast, and ate.
We were told that we needed to leave for the dock at 8:15, and wait for the boat at 8:30, so took our bags (not many, just 5kg each) and walked to the dock at 8:15, and waited... and nothing was there. No boat. No guide. No guests. Erm? After 20 minutes our guide arrive and asked why we left early. Well, Lucy last night said “leave for the dock at 8:15” so we did. He said “No, it was meet the guide and leave for the dock” which we didn't hear at all. Ah well.
Our boat captain Brian, despite his wildly American name, was local, and did a fantastic job navigating upriver. After the Malinisky checkpoint, there were a lot of submerged logs, and we stopped briefly at the claylick we visited yesterday—no one was home on this overcast day, we were glad we visited yesterday and saw the three dozen scarlet macaws and a few stray parrots.
A couple of hours of later, we were at the TRC dock, and walked towards the lodge—and oh what a different place this is. The jungle is lush, dense, varied,damp, filled with all sorts of strange new plants that didn’t grow around the last place. It also was a shorter walk, and we pulled up to a place much like Refugio Amazonas, although with just a single story open-air lounge next to a dining pavilion. We were shown to our room—much more pleasant and private than the last—and at the price we paid it better be, it’s our luxury stateroom on this jungle cruise.
At 3:30 we met for a little intro walk, and already it was wonderful. Xxx (insert things about plants, and birds, and insects, and monkeys).
Dinner was more of the good food, then sleep, nice deep sleep. Tomorrow: claylick.