Muyuna Amazon Lodge

Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Muyuna, Loreto, Peru
Muyuna Lodge is situated on the Yanayacu River, a tributary of the Amazon River, downstream from Iquitos. It lies on the edge of the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve, the largest such in Peru. Situated on a small tributary, the only traffic on the river is the Lodge boats or locals going about their daily business in wooden canoes. The Lodge is constructed on stilts to cater for varying water levels throughout the year. There is no electricity or hot water, although a generator is run for a few hours a day to recharge electrical items. Lighting is provided by oil lamps.

This was my second five day trip to the Amazon having previously visited Jamu Lodge in Ecuador. It was a lot pricier than my previous trip, everything in Peru seemed to be pricier than the equivalent in Ecuador. However, some of the increase in price was due to a much higher standard of facilities - the cabins were en-suite and all covered in insect-proof mesh screens, they were actually better than most of the hostels I had been staying in, the motorised boats and canoes were better, steadier and more comfortable, and the ratio of guests to each guide was lower.

Travelling the 140km from Iquitos to the Lodge in a speedboat, another aspect of the tour would prove to be of a much higher quality - the quantity and variety of wildlife. As the boat sped along the Yanayacu River towards the Lodge, birds, sometimes hundreds of them, scattered in all directions. Egrets, herons, kingfishers, swallows, terns, plus all manner of birds I had never heard of before. I knew I was going to like this trip.

My fellow guests at the Lodge seemed to be as varied and interesting as the wildlife I would see in the following days. We had two Russian Jewish couples who had emigrated to the USA over 30 years ago due to persecution in Russia. They were allowed to emigrate on a food exchange program - USA gave Russia food, Russia gave the USA four Jewish immigrants. Then we had who I would call Anorak Girl, in that she kept her raincoat on all the time, whatever the weather - for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and during every excursion. We also had a German exchange student who was petrified of spiders and burst into tears when she found a small spider on her chair - the Amazon rainforest is home to rather a few spiders and not really place you want to be if you're afraid of them. Evenings at the Lodge were livened up by a trio of American lads who I got on really well with and who proved that toilet humour is the same the world over.

During the last half of the trip, I ended up having my guide, Moises, to myself. I think he was quite appreciative that he had someone with him who was so enthusiastic about all wildlife and he tailored the last few days to my particular interests. Some of the interesting excursions I went on during the week comprised the following, pretty similar to those I went on at the Lodge in Ecuador:

- We went on a night excursion by motorboat looking for caimans but this time, the boat neared the riverbanks from time to time and eventually the guide leant over the side of the boat and scooped a caiman up from the water before it had a chance to escape! He actually tried a few times and I didn't know what he was trying to do until he actually managed to snag one. Then, the caiman was handed round for snaps (!) before being released. It was pretty small but about 2 years old.

- More dolphin encounters, this time both pink river dolphins and grey dolphins. I managed to get a half-decent shot of the former after an hour or so of trying (even trying to take a video clip of a patch of water in the hope they would pop up there proved fruitless). The grey dolphins put on a really good show, virtually leaping out of the water in pairs.

- A canoe trip through a mangrove swamp, more notable for the abundance of mosquitoes, the smell of bad eggs caused by rotting vegetation and the spiders sitting at the bottom of semi-submerged trees.

- We took a boat trip through a waterway clogged with aquatic plants. A snowstorm of damselflies and grasshoppers was disturbed as we cut a path through the plants. Black caiman lay hidden in the lilies and darted underwater as we approached, always too late to see them.

- The guide took me on a secluded birdwatching trail, the highlights of which were the Wire-tail Manakins (where the male performed his amazing mating dance, the sort of thing that BBC crews camp out in the rainforest to catch for their documentaries), close-up Pygmy Marmoset monkeys (the smallest monkeys in the world), and giant Amazon rats.

The four Russian/Americans found out that a local shaman was offering ayahuasca to guests who wanted to try it. This is a concoction of various plants which forms a powerful hallucinogenic used by shamans for divining and healing purposes. Aside from the visions it induces, it also results in intense vomiting and diarrohea. I was reminded of the quote in the book I was reading on holiday at the moment ("The Gringo Trail" by Mark Mann), where the author tried the concoction - "I felt a stabbing gut-ache and squatted just in time to blast out a jet of liquid brown shit". Nice. Not. Why go to all that trouble when the same effect can be acquired by just drinking the tap water?

I really enjoyed my five day trip at the Lodge. The extra expense over other Lodges was fully justified in terms of the amount of bird species I saw plus the superb encounters with other jungle wildlife. My guide was excellent, all the staff were helpful and friendly and the Lodge facilities were first-class. If I ever came back to the area, and I probably would, I'd be sure to return.

After my trip, all the other Lodge residents (who were doing trips of varying length) were leaving on the same day so we all took the speedboat back to Iquitos. With a few hours to kill until we had to leave for the airport, myself and the three American lads hit the Yellow Rose of Texas for a session of ice-cold Coronas. At the airport, it turned out that our flight back to Lima would be about three hours late. Fortunately, they had waiters milling about in the departure lodge who were more than happy to keep us supplied with bottles of beer to our hearts content (not free, mind you). By the time I got back to Lima and my hostel, it was nearly one in the morning.
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