Manu Lake

Across the river from Erika Lodge, there is a small lake. The nearby villagers use it to catch fish. There are a bunch of birds there too, but I was told they smell so bad and nobody will eat them, so they have no predators. The village people made these wooden boats which we got to try out. It works in a gondola style, so we had the boys push us along.

Since it was the rainforest, obviously it rained a lot. They let us borrow rubber boots which came in very handy. At one point I got stuck and had to be pulled out of the mud.

This is the most beautiful insect I have ever seen. Joel, our guide, said it was a scorpion spider. Manu is one of the most biologically diverse and protected areas in the world, so we were lucky to see lots of crazy plants and bugs.

The last night in the rainforest, it rained all night long. When we woke, the river had risen about 10 feet, and we were told we would have to wait for an hour until it was safe to take a boat up river. An hour later, the river looked exactly the same, but we left anyway. Then, we ended up having to wait for another two hours because there was a bus stuck on the road, and since it's a one lane road, that pretty much put a stop to all travel.