Mitchell's Blog Cherry

So, I'm not sure if I am a horrible traveler or just a horrible husband, maybe both. As Monica was falling asleep, she rolled over to look at me and asked, "Have you even read the blog?" I had, but while we were still in California, before we left on this incredible adventure, we had decided it would be both of our blog. Obviously I am a horrible blogger, and if it weren't for Monica, many of you may have forgotten that we even left the country. I suppose I will start from the beginning, and I will try to keep it brief since Monica has already caught everyone up to speed.

The year was 1789, and a social revolution had just begun in France... Just kidding. So, we left Colorado in May, with two full cars and one excited dog until he quickly remembered that roadtrips to California SUCK. Fortunately for him though, we broke it up pretty well I think. We stopped at Arches National Park in Utah for a night and stayed peeing distance from the Colorado River which kinda freaked Cooper out, but it was incredible. The next morning, we got up early-ish and had breakfast at a dog-friendly diner in Moab, Utah where I ordered Green Eggs and Ham. It's not my first time ordering them, but I simply can't resist. Especially when the green comes from pesto potatoes. Our server, when he asked us where we were from, lit up with excitement when we told him we started our road trip from our adopted hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado. He explained that he and his dog lived at the Drive-In and ran it for years before he moved to Utah. Small world! We gassed up, and drove into Arizona and reached the Grand Canyon with enough time to sneak a peak at an indescribably beautiful sight before we bought a six pack of beer (Ranger IPA) and watched the sun set over the massive landscape. In the interest of keeping this post relatively brief, I geek out by gushing over the fact that the Grand Canyon was formed by the tireless current of the Colorado river, instead, I'll keep to what's actually important... I peed off the ledge of the Grand Canyon. It wasn't on my bucket list, but it should have been; either way, it's checked off now.

California was great, as visiting family always is... Moving on to the new stuff.

We had to leave Cooper with my parents in Davis. I knew it would be hard, but it was heartbreaking to leave my best friend without being able to explain to him that I would be back. I know a lot of people think that a dog is just a pet, but there is a reason they call them man's best friend.

Our first stop on our official start to our honeymoon was Boston, Massachusetts. In a sentence, I could see myself living there. Incredible city, incredible seafood, good baseball people. I could live there. We took buses from Boston to Fort Lauderdale over the course of 10 days, which I might recommend as judicial punishment for severe crimes. We broke up our bus adventure with stops in New York and to see my family in Maryland. New York was amazing, and since we left, I have been itching to go back; in fact, I have even looked on craigslist to see if there is any way we could live there. Not likely. Two days was obviously not enough, but we saw the essentials (even if from a distance) and in the 4 days between Boston and New York, Monica and I walked easily 25 miles and became pros at the respective subway systems.

As I said, we bused it from New York to Baltimore, where my Uncle Tony picked us up and scared us into wishing we hadn't walked the block and a half to his car. It was about an hour trip from downtown to their house in Mount Airy, and it felt amazing to stop for a the first time in almost a week and just relax around family. We were only with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins for a weekend, but it was great to catch up, and I was reminded how much I miss them and that even with cell phones and Facebook, nothing substitutes a hug and sitting down face to face with loved ones.

Driving through the South on a Greyhound bus is a memory I do not want to revisit, so I'll skip ahead 28 hours (no joke) from where my Aunt Miriam and my cousin Beccy dropped us off in Baltimore, to where another of my cousins, Jon, picked us up in West Palm Beach, Florida. We spent the night at his new apartment and got to meet his lovely girlfriend. Because the air conditioner was out in his new apartment,we did not spend much time there. In fact, we didn't spend much time in Florida at all, and it may be safe to say that I will never go back to that state in July. We were incredibly grateful to my amazing family for letting us intrude on their space and going out of their way to making us feel at home.

Monica mostly caught you up on our first couple weeks in Peru (and everything since) but there are a few things that she can't speak to, since she wasn't there for. Those things, and her making me feel super guilty are the reasons I am writing this entry. That and I have developed what some might call "insomnia."

Within a couple days of being in Peru, my cousin Ashley introduced us to her friend Abraham, who she met years ago when she was in Lima. Abraham lives here in Lima, and was one of the first people we met in Peru and he went out of his way to make us feel at home. He walked around San Borja with us for three days, helping us find a place to live. He also invited me to play rugby with him, which I gladly accepted and went with him to practice, where I realized that I am definitely not in rugby shape anymore. Unfortunately, school and homework has gotten in the way of us hanging out much, but hopefully we will get together soon. When we met him, I was convinced that many of my stories from Lima would include Abraham.

The reasons there are no cute pictures on this post to this point is because my cell phone was stolen the day we got back from Machu Picchu which was what I used exclusively as my camera since the road trip began in Colorado. So all pictures of the Grand Canyon, Cooper, my drunken birthday, Boston, New York, the visit with my family, et cetra, and Machu Picchu are lost forever. But, the weekend after Machu Picchu, my ISA group went to the Amazon. Those pictures I still have.

AMAZON

We flew from Lima to Iquitos, Peru and when we got there it was so humid, it was hard to breathe. It felt like invisible rain as the moisture was soaking my clothes just between the staircase getting off the plane to the airport terminal. As we got inside the terminal, it started to pour. I thought it was an indicator of how the weather would be that weekend, but it surprisingly did not rain again. Our first stop was to a manatee rescue in Iquitos, where we got to feed rescued manatees. There were even some in my group who were brave enough to kiss them!

Our next stop was to a lake where the Paiche, the world's largest freshwater fish live. We threw in chunks of bread to bribe them up to the surface so we could snap pictures of their beautiful red scales.

We took a bus out to the river town of Nauta, where we boarded a rickety motorboat and traveled about half an hour down the River Marañón to where it meets the Amazon River. Going back upstream proved to be difficult for the little motor that couldn't, and we waited for a couple hours to be picked up by a bigger boat which we took to our hotel, the Pacaya Samiria Amazon Lodge. The lodge was incredible. The only way to access it was by boat, and it sits in the middle of the amazon wilderness. The rooms were bungalows with huge mesh screens which made up the entire back wall of the hut, and our (the guys) room was equipped with a hammock on the back deck. Because there were no windows, at night the sounds of the rain forest were incredibly loud but unbelievably relaxing.

Bungalows at the lodge
(not my photo)

My little piranha

The first night,we went on a dusk/twilight/night hike from the lodge into the rain forest. Our guide, Rey, who was with us all weekend had such an incredible eye for finding the critters that I'm pretty sure he put them there himself. It was too dark for pictures, but on the walk I saw some of the meanest looking bugs on the planet. We turned out all of the flashlights on our way back and just sat in silence and let our eyes adjust to the dark. In the minute or so that passed before we turned the flashlights back on, I had the most incredible view of the night sky including a foggy stream of stars making up a perfect sight of the Milky Way. As I was looking up at the stars, the life around us in the darkness got louder and seemed to get closer, meaning that the critters began to carry on with their lives after pausing when our lights and footsteps passed by. 

The baby cayman

The next day was spent entirely on the river. We fished for Piranha, we watched pink river dolphins flirt with the wake of our boat, monkeys howl in the trees and after sunset, we searched the river bank for the red glowing eyes of a Cayman, a relative of a crocodile and alligator.

Our last day in the Amazon started early, as we hoped into the boat and ventured into sloth territory, where their favorite trees are in abundance. We were incredibly lucky to find a female sloth so low on a tree that Rey was able to pull her down, where each of us was able to take pictures with the adorable stuffed animal-like wild creature. After we returned for breakfast, we headed out again to meet locals in a nearby village, where they taught us the art of scaling palm trees (some of us were much better than others).

We boated, and bused our way back to the Iquitos airport for our flight back to Lima where I sat exhausted on the floor of the terminal. Even though it was an amazing trip, I was really disappointed that Monica wasn't able to join me, leaving me feeling like a return trip was necessary.

  That's all for now. Please forgive me for not citing the pictures that aren't mine. I am waaay too lazy. My next post promises to be soon, and I will describe what it's like to be a student at "the most prestigious university in Peru." And if you have seen Monica's recent posts, no need to worry, I have gotten a haircut since the Amazon.