Puerto Maldonado - the (mis)adventure begins

 

This selfie is in honour of the woman on the plane with the selfie stick that easily took 50 selfies before we cleared the airport. I am forever grateful I do not have to look at her Facebook feeds or photo albums. 

After 24 hours in transit - where everything went smoothly - we touched down in Puerto Maldonado. It seems to be a small town and is the hub for Amazon lodge adventures. We're starting our camping trip with G Adventures tomorrow and are staying at a local hotel in town tonight with the afternoon free to explore the small town square. Or so we thought... turns out the address on their Expedia page is for their in-town office and not their actual hotel.

So we confusedly were whisked away to head 40 minutes down riverin a motorized canoe to a remote jungle lodge with our huge wheely suitcases in tow because we didn't know where we were going nor did we have the chance to get a smaller bag ready! Whoops...

 

Besides a little heavy lifting, the only damage done was to our pride as seasoned backpackers. I swear we researched this carefully and even mapped out the sights surrounding the "hotel"! But probably should have questioned the name "Amazonico Jungle Hotel". Anyways, we planned to take a swim in the pool if the rain lets up (update: pool was grody), pack our smaller duffles for the next attempt at jungle lodgings, and get some real sleep. 

We took a quick walk around the small camp, taking in the sights, smells, sounds, and sprinkles/downpour of rain. I think (embarrassing suitcases tucked away) we fit in pretty well. We too are unshowered, sweaty and smelly!

 

 

But also too tired to care and happy to have arrived in one piece. 

All in all, day 1 = derp!