July 8, 2015: Day One!
Finally getting a good night sleep after our early flight from BWI, we awoke in Lima, Peru. We headed to the airport for another early flight to Puerto Maldonado with a stopover in Cusco. Unfortunately, we encountered our first problem trying to board our flight. The flight was overbooked, so we had to leave two students and a teacher behind in Lima to get the next plane. Despite this inconvenience, we managed to continue our journey through Peru and made our way to Puerto Maldonado. Although we arrived to the city three people short, we finally met our World Leadership School leaders, Chris and Johan. We went to a market in Puerto Maldonado where we got rain boots. The market was our first glimpse of life in the Peruvian jungle. Then we had the pleasure of meeting Johan’s family while we waited for our other members of the group to arrive. We relaxed a little and ate lunch there. Later on we met back up with the others, and headed deeper into the jungle where we would be staying. On our rocky bus ride through the jungle, we saw different birds of the Amazon including a laughing falcon and oropendula. The laughing falcon has a distinct call that sounds much like someone laughing. The oropendula creates a really cool nest that hangs down from the high trees. They are like little woven nets.
We passed the village where we would be working on the garden and spending time with the families. Once arriving to our home for the next week in the middle of the jungle, we toured around and found our rooms. The lodge has a common area with hammocks and tables. This is the space in which will eat breakfast each morning and have group meetings at night. A short walk on a path deeper into the jungle takes us past a set of bathrooms and showers and to the rooms. Each room has either two or three beds with mosquito nets. They also have night tables with candles so that we can see at night. Since there is no electricity except for when the generator is turned on, at night we have to depend on our flashlights and candles. The whole lodge is completely open air and a very tranquil space. After we settled in a little bit, we had a Peruvian meal for dinner. We ate a delicious soup followed by lomo saltado with cocona juice then a cocoa bean desert pudding. Finally, exhausted from our first full day, we went to our rooms and to go to sleep.
Finally getting a good night sleep after our early flight from BWI, we awoke in Lima, Peru. We headed to the airport for another early flight to Puerto Maldonado with a stopover in Cusco. Unfortunately, we encountered our first problem trying to board our flight. The flight was overbooked, so we had to leave two students and a teacher behind in Lima to get the next plane. Despite this inconvenience, we managed to continue our journey through Peru and made our way to Puerto Maldonado. Although we arrived to the city three people short, we finally met our World Leadership School leaders, Chris and Johan. We went to a market in Puerto Maldonado where we got rain boots. The market was our first glimpse of life in the Peruvian jungle. Then we had the pleasure of meeting Johan’s family while we waited for our other members of the group to arrive. We relaxed a little and ate lunch there. Later on we met back up with the others, and headed deeper into the jungle where we would be staying. On our rocky bus ride through the jungle, we saw different birds of the Amazon including a laughing falcon and oropendula. The laughing falcon has a distinct call that sounds much like someone laughing. The oropendula creates a really cool nest that hangs down from the high trees. They are like little woven nets.
We passed the village where we would be working on the garden and spending time with the families. Once arriving to our home for the next week in the middle of the jungle, we toured around and found our rooms. The lodge has a common area with hammocks and tables. This is the space in which will eat breakfast each morning and have group meetings at night. A short walk on a path deeper into the jungle takes us past a set of bathrooms and showers and to the rooms. Each room has either two or three beds with mosquito nets. They also have night tables with candles so that we can see at night. Since there is no electricity except for when the generator is turned on, at night we have to depend on our flashlights and candles. The whole lodge is completely open air and a very tranquil space. After we settled in a little bit, we had a Peruvian meal for dinner. We ate a delicious soup followed by lomo saltado with cocona juice then a cocoa bean desert pudding. Finally, exhausted from our first full day, we went to our rooms and to go to sleep.
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