Chanchamayo

The jungle....finally!  Well, okay, Chanchamayo may not be the first place you think of when you think 'jungle'.  It's not Iquitos or Tarapoto, near the Amazon, but rather the transition between the mountains and the Amazon jungle.  People here refer to it as the central jungle or the highland jungle.  But at least it's a start for me!

This is the beginning of the jungle.  The vegetation became much more verdant and the weather was much warmer than the places we had seen around Tarma the previous day.

This point marks the geographical center (north-south) of Peru.

Not oranges, but grenadillas-a relative of passion fruit

We saw several waterfalls on our trip.  First was la catarata del diablo, which we viewed from a distance.

Can you see the profile of the sleeping man on the left?

We also met Katusha at our lunch spot.  I was thrilled, but Juan was not quite as excited!



Next was Catarata Bayoz, where were able to swim in the pool under the falls...

...closely followed by Catarata Velo de la Novia (Bridal Veil Waterfall).

We took a boat ride on the Rio Chanchamayo...on a boat named El Titanic.  But, at least it was too warm for icebergs!

Then we visited a native Asháninka village where we got the full immersion experience-being dressed up to be part of tribe and dancing with them around the fire.  I even got to hold another snake (although I didn't learn his/her name).

Our tour ended with a coffee tasting.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to try the Cafe Misha-the most expensive coffee in the world (you may or may not want to know why it's so expensive)-but I bought a few varieties that I'm hoping I will enjoy!

All in all, I can say that the first trip to the jungle was fantastic and I can't wait to explore deeper into its depths.