Day 14: Puerto Maldonado again

 

One thing was clear when we woke up: we had to run away from that hostel. The bathroom was disgusting, and when one of us took a shower it all got flooded. The receptionist was a couldn't-care-less young guy, stretched out on the sofa, who didn't even stand up when we showed up to pay. Now that we were more settled down in this town, we tried to look for the youth hostel we intended to get to yesterday. Luck seemed to take pity on us and while we were going up and down the main street again, we came across the owner of that place. He also ran trips to the jungle, so we saw our way out.

 

We immediately moved to the new hostel, and after a good while discussing different alternatives for the trip, we decided to take the three-day trip to Sandoval Lake, leaving the next day with other people from our hostel.

working hard

As there wasn't much to do here, we just spent the day chilling out and buying some things we would need for the next day (small flashlights, mosquito repellent, long-sleeved shirts,...). We also purchased our bus tickets to Cusco in advance so as not to risk it and make sure we got a comfortable bus for such a long trip (about 10 hours). It was then that we discovered how difficult it was to get some change is this town. Businesses won't give you change even for a small note unless you buy something, and not even then in some places.

 

 

seamstresses

 

scary dummies

 

fish wrapped in banana leaves

 

Madre de Dios river

 

When we were back at the hostel, we met in the communal kitchen some of the people we would go with the next day. They were a peculiar middle-aged couple -- a German guy and a Mexican woman—who were also our room neighbours. Our showers were adjacent, with a wall that had a gap at the top, so we could hear anything happening in that shower. We were just crying with laughter with their nonsensical conversation later on. We could hear them kissing in the shower while she was telling him she was going to divorce him. Well, it wasn't our fault if that hostel didn't see to the customers' privacy (and that they weren't more discreet).

The hostel may have been clean and cosy, but it was also noisy. We could also hear music coming from the nearby main square all night long...