Monthly Archives: August 2012

Fish Collecting along the Rio Nanay

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Hi everyone! We are off the river and in Iquitos, Peru. We had a fabulous time, and have a ton of fish. 3 giant boxes of fish will be shipped out to America at the end of next week, and we will be getting them soon after we come home. The people on this trip have been wonderful. Here we have come from all over the world, and yet this hobby brings us together. The conversations were interesting and hysterical as we compare our lives and our perspectives. Turns out there are people as fish crazy as I am. My insane stories are just normal conversation here.

We have more pictures than we can even begin to upload right now as the connection is spotty and slow. However, we have managed to get some of the photos up. You can click on the picture and open up the gallery. We hope to have better internet connection tomorrow in Cusco, and be able to tell some of the stories that go with these images. For now, enjoy these glimpes of the beautiful, weird, and moving moments that we have experienced.

As we are thoroughly exhausted, we are going to crawl in bed and sign off.

Buenas noches!

Made it to Peru, killing time at the airport

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Well, the flight from Los Angeles to Lima was good. We took LAN Airlines, it was really nice. There were even two meals served with wine or beer.

It’s almost 3am, and we can’t check in for our 6:30 am flight to Iquitos until 3:30 am. So, Jen decided it would be a good idea to work on re-stringing one of the nets so it is ready to go for tomorrow. She has definitely been getting some looks from people walking by.

I expect this is our last post until next week as we will head straight from the Iquitos airport to the boat. So, stay tuned for updates.

On our way!!!

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We’re so excited to be off! So much preparation turned into just a few bags by the door. Maybe thats why it wasn’t until walked up to check our bags, did it really sink in. WE ARE ON OUR WAY TO THE JUNGLE!!

We made it through the airport easily, and had time for a quick toast at the bar to a safe and wonderful trip.

We will try and post when we get to Lima, and again in Iquitos.

❤

Look, everything fit!

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Well, it was a long night packing and cleaning up the house. But, we were able to fit everything into two backpacks for carry-on, one suitcase, and one cooler (in the black duffel bag).

A few of the more interesting items: two fishing poles, two 15×20 inch fishing nets with 3 foot handles, bait bucket, 5 D-cell battery powered air pumps, items for trade in the villages, 2 battery powered fans, mosquito netting hood and jacket, a small pharmacy, binoculars, rain gear, 6 pairs of shoes, clothing for both 95 degree 100% humidity and 35 degree dry weather, camera gear, and underwater camera housing.

Water from all over the continent feeds the Amazon

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The Amazon River is fed by a maze of tributaries that provide a massive amount of water. During the wet season, the mouth of the Amazon dumps a mind blowing 82,286,000 gal/s. Yes you read that right… Gallons per second!!

We will be headed up one of these tributaries, the Rio Nanay.

For more about this amazing river system and the ecosystem that centers around it, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_River

Where the Amazon starts…

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The Amazon River starts in the Andes Mountains in Peru, and flows about 4,000 miles east across South America.

Iquitos, Peru is 1,865 miles from the mouth of the river, and large freight vessels are able to reach this important port. As a result, Iquitos is the largest city in the world that is not reachable by road. This is where we will board the riverboat.

Where are we going?

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This is a map of Peru showing Iquitos, Machu Picchu, and Cusco.

On Saturday, August 11th, we will fly from Los Angeles to Lima, Peru.  We get into Lima around midnight, and have a flight up to Iquitos at around 6am.  Sunday morning we will go from the airport in Iquitos, and head out to the boat.  On the river boat we will hit various fish collecting spots and stop in at many of the local villages along the Rio Nanay.

The fish we catch will be housed on the boat in aerated tanks, so we can take them to an exporter at the end of the week.  After we get back the US, the exporter will ship all of the fish to an importer in Miami, who will then ship the fish back to Los Angeles for us to put them in our aquariums.

On Sunday, August 19th, we will fly from Iquitos to Lima, and then from Lima to Cusco (Cuzco).  Cusco is the departure point for expeditions to Machu Picchu.  To get to Machu Picchu you take a train to the village of Aguas Calientes, which is at the base of Machu Picchu.  We will stay over night in Cusco Sunday, and head up to Aguas Calientes the next morning (Monday 8/20).

Tuesday (8/21) will be be up before the crack of dawn to see the sun rise over Machu Picchu. Wednesday we plan to hike one the nearby peaks that overlook Machu Picchu.  There are two options, and the final decision is TBD.

Thursday (8/22) we will take the train from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytamo in the Sacred Valley.  Our train leaves around 5am, and we are hoping to make the local market that happens every Thursday.  We will spend Thursday and Friday touring the Sacred Valley and surrounding Inca ruins.

Saturday (8/25) we have transportation from Ollantaytambo back to Cusco, where we are staying near the Plaza de Armas.  We will look around Cusco on Saturday, and then head out to the airport early Sunday morning.

Welcome! We’re headed to Peru

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Hi Everyone,  Jen and I set up this blog to share our adventure to Peru with all of our family and friends.  We will be in Peru for 15 days. Our first 7 will be on a riverboat in the Amazon tributaries for fish collecting, and the remainder will be visiting the Inca ruins in Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley.  Keep on reading the posts below for more.

We will not have internet access (or hot water) the first week (Aug. 12-17) while we are on the river.  So, we will work on posting updates once we have access during the second week, but check back as you never know.

A quick note to those of you who may be following us at WORK…  We are hosting our images on SmugMug.com, which is blocked by many IT departments.  As a work-around, the pictures for the blog are being hosted elsewhere so you can see them. However, if you click on the picture you won’t be able to access the linked galleries containing all of our photos until you are out from behind the firewall.  As we are in the Amazon jungle, we decided to ‘only’ take the iPad and a camera, so this was our compromise.

Oh, and by the way… this was all Jen’s crazy idea.  If you don’t see any posts from us the second week (Aug. 18-26) then we were probably eaten by piranha (honestly, the least of our concerns) … or our gear got wet. 😉

Note: If you are new to blogs, they are chronological, and the newest posts are at the top. So, if this is your first time reading our blog… start at the bottom and work your way up for the whole story.