Adventure Travel Amazon: Rubber Boots
February 22, 2001- Loving Light Lodge, The Amazon, Peru
Although the Amazon River is mostly found in Brazil, it actually begins in Peru where the Ucayau River and the Maranon River come together. From there it snakes its way past Iquitos, the largest city in the world inaccessible by road. That’s where I began my Amazon adventure.
I made arrangements to visit the Loving Light Lodge for three days and two nights. It is located 140 km. downriver from Iquitos. The creation of the establishment and its name were inspired by a psychedelic experience the founder had during an Ayuawasca ceremony with a native Shaman.
A similar ceremony can be arranged upon request for the guests of the lodge. I decided pass on that experience in favor of fun in my new rubber boots!
I got a buzz just tromping in the mud and sloshing through streams in my fashionable footwear. I had made other jungle visits with the ideal foot gear and my new boots made all the difference in the world. Staying perfectly dry without any fear of losing a shoe deep in the mud and protected from crawling critters of all sorts! Freedom and comfort! Who could ask for more from a pair of boots? I felt like a kid set free in his playground!
At the lodge, an indigenous guide was available to me during my entire stay. We made excursions day and night, by land and by water. The nighttime expeditions were wonderfully mysterious. The same other worldly experience I get from scuba diving. Sounds from every direction and eyeballs everywhere reflecting colored light back at you!
Plant life was dense and intertwined to such an extent that a trees’ own leaves could be confused with 4 or 5 vines that shared the same space. I was treated to sights of monkeys, crocodiles, dolphins, even piranhas! (I had piranha for dinner one night!) And that’s not to mention the multitudes of multicolored birds, insects and frogs.
