Hey there my friends! Lorna here!

After a few days of having our blog up (which was started on accident lol will explain another time) we have had some great feedback! It really helps to hear our friends and family tell us they are excited to read more about our adventures! So don’t be shy and feel free to reach out 😉 It is amazing what great things can happen when you put yourself out there.

So, Brian and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary this past weekend. We made a pact that we would visit a new country each year in lieu of the traditional gift exchange. Neither of us are huge gift givers… or receivers… not big gift people in general. We enjoy time and adventure together. Not that things aren’t nice and if that is your love language then by all means… gift on! For our first year, we went to Thailand and had such an amazing time there, we have so much to tell you about that in the future. But for now, let’s dive into the first few days of this year’s trip as it is fresh in our minds and hearts.

Peru was simply wonderful. We split it up into two mini-trips you could call them. The first week we spent in the Amazon Rainforest and the second week we spent in Cusco and Machu Picchu.

OMG the Amazon! I am a bit of a nature nerd. I have never been huge into celebrity gossip or star struck by famous people BUT all the years of watching the Discovery Channel, National Geographic and every nature documentary out there, going to the Amazon Rainforest was like meeting my own celebrity crush! I know, I know, it sounds a bit much when you are out there it truly out of this world.

Iquitos is the main city we started from. Iquitos is only accessible by boat or airplane. It is planted in the middle of densely forested jungle. (How freaking cool??) You cannot fly directly there from the states either so we flew to Lima, spent the night and flew out the next day. Iquitos is a bustling town and a mecca for the jungle villages that are sprinkled throughout the Peruvian amazon region. From there, we took a boat 4 hours down the river (up the river? I am terrible with directions) to our first destination. On the way, we took a few stops at small villages on the river.

We visited the Amazon during the dry season, I used that term lightly, so the lodge was located on pylons about 20 feet or so off the ground. I had always known the river floods during the rainy season but seeing the water lines on the walls 20 feet off the ground was shocking.

After we drank in the view and got our excitement to a controllable level, we went to our room and peeled our clothes off, due to the humidity, to jump in the shower. Oh the shower/water situation, fond memories.

May I point out, faucet water is not drinkable in all of Peru. Period. Bottled water is all you can drink from. This means when you take a shower don’t get it in your eyes or mouth, don’t brush you teeth or rinse your toothbrush with it… that kind of thing. We were aware of that when we went so, no big deal…right? I jump in the shower and it’s freezing… oh ya we are in the middle of the jungle, not too many water heaters out here. Oh, and one more goodie, it is brown. Little did we know, our shower/faucet water was being pumped directly from the river. Cold, brown, amazon water. Tasty.

Now you may be thinking “that sounds like hell” but being the nature loving geek that I am I was so excited! Initially confused for sure, but how cool is it to know you are bathing in the amazon river water straight from the source?? Brian could shower in swamp water and he wouldn’t care one way or the other, one of the many reasons I love him (him being low maintenance, not for showering in swamp water). In the end, I was just grateful to have running-ish water at all. And after long days of hiking through the jungle and canoeing down (up?) the river in 80-90% humidity you look forward to a cool shower or jumping directly into the river itself!

As silly as this story is, it was eye opening to me. I had known of the water situation before going there but actually experiencing it changes things. Many luxuries we live with daily, we don’t even know are luxuries until we go somewhere without them, and then realize we can totally live without them. Shocking, I know.

So this concludes our initial trek to the Amazon and settling in. So much more to tell you but I have the tendency to overload my poor unsuspecting listeners/readers/victims when I start talking about our adventures. I just get so excited! Signing off until next time!

Remember to always,

Travel Nomader What