Puerto Maldonado 2

Friday, October 17th , 2008

Day 110 on The Big Trip. “How did we outdo the Jungle?”

MACHETES are for jungles and scary dogs with bad intentions. On our travels we encounter jungles and we encounter scary dogs with bad intentions. Thus, we want a machete. So we set out to find one. Every shop sells a machete “sin funda”. We can’t just carry around a bare machete while we travel, so we have to find a machete “con funda”. We can’t because there simply aren’t any. However, we devise a plan to get a machete and find someone likely to have the know-how and wherewithal to make one for us; how about a shoe repairman? He says yes, just bring him the machete and he’ll make it for us within an hour.

SCOOTERS are awesome for running errands. And cost-wise, too! Consider S/5 ($1.33) per hour for fun on a scooter versus 2-3 Soles every time you need to get a mototaxi elsewhere. It’s a no-brainer! Let’s run some jungle errands on a scooter! I test it out first, and once Alisa approves of my scooter-skills, she hops on for the day!


JUNGLE JUICES are some of the things we have to get done today. There are certain drinks only found in and around the jungle that we fully plan to get our hands on before our 2:30pm bus departure back – 18 hours – to Cusco. Number one: aguajina. Aguajina is a juice made from the fruit called the aguaje, which we observed in trees and at the base of trees the day prior in the Tambopata National Reserve! Number two: cocona. We’re not sure what cocona is besides a beverage that we intend on trying. Luckily after lunching we find a juice stand that has both of these commodities!

SINCE we’d both already just tried aguajina before lunch at a smaller stand, we order one cocona and one jugo de maracuya (passionfruit juice). In the U.S., I very much dislike passionfruit juice. In S.A., I very much prefer jugo de maracuya to other jugos, even, surprisingly enough, to pineapple juice. It’s interesting to compare jugo de maracuya and cocona side-by-side because they’re actually quite similar! Cocona seems to be the nearly the same except less sweet and slightly altered flavor and as for here, it’s served cooler!

SURPRISED we were when offered aguajes to try. Keep in mind aguajes are used to make aguajina. We have tried the drink, which itself was orangelike in color, but quite tart even with sweetener. It goes without saying that we were wary of the fruit that bore the now familiar drink! We observed a girl working there add sugar – or salt – to her aguaje after removing its small and barely adhesive diamond-shaped shell pieces, before taking a few chomps. So, slowly we peeled our shells and realized that there is a bijunction between the way in which one eats their corn (on the cob) and their aguaje. That is to say, Alisa goes in (messy) rows and I eat round and round, one end to the other, occasionally making a crown design if it’s taking me awhile to eat (rarer with corn). Go figure, the aguaje is very tart and pins both of us to the 10-count in a pucker-face. Aguajes 2, Us 0. Home team advantage?

PURCHASING a cord for our machete sling is the last errand we do before leaving Puerto Maldonado. We have tried our jungle juices, ridden scooters, coordinated a machete ensemble purchase, ridden the Rio Madre de Dios as well as Lago Sandoval, seen lots and lots of wildlife, swam in very warm lake waters after scaring away any potential crocs or rays with lots of paddle smashing from a boat first, and now, I think we’ve tempered enough heat, humidity and cheap accommodations to last us ‘til Patagonia! Time to head back on a nicer bus in less than 20 hours if possible! Thank you, Peruvian Jungle!


NEWS UPDATE: I'm not posting every day now but instead every day that I think you'll find exciting, new, and different, a.k.a. newsworthy. Just to let you know, It's now Sunday Day 112 and we're hoping to leave Cusco today for Puno and Lake Titicaca! Wish us luck! Only a 6-7-hour bus ride this time!

Your landescaper, -n8