Welcome to the Jungle

The Manu Biosphere Reserve is a national park in southeastern Peru that contains nearly 5 million acres of virgin cloud and rain forest.

The differences between cloud and rain forests are interesting. For example, cloud forests occur at a higher altitude than rain forests (around 6000ft). The combination of altitude and humidity causes nearly perpetual cloud cover. Cloud forests have nearly 100% humidity while rainforests have closer to 80%. Cloud forests also tend to have thicker vegetatation because the bushes and trees grow up the mountain slopes. I really enjoyed seeing the line of cloud cover and then driving right up into it!

The Manu National Park is divided into three zones. The first (and largest) is preserved in a natural state. For the most part, people are not allowed to enter this portion of the park. The second area is the "buffer zone." This area is also quite natural, but controlled research and tourism is permitted. Finally, the cultural zone is the area which allows traditional human settlement.

A permit is required to enter any portion of the park and these are usually only granted to groups (with a licensed guide). Only in rare instances are individuals (naturalists, anthropologists, or photographers, for example) allowed a permit. No settlers, hunters, or missionaries are ever allowed into Manu. The hope is that by controlling the number of visitors and the areas visited, the vegetation, wildlife, and indigenous groups will remain untouched. There are even a number of “uncontacted” villages within the boundaries of the park.

The park is incredibly diverse in plant and animal life. For example, there are over 20,000 species of plants within the park boundaries. I enjoyed the “Look But Don’t Touch” plant. When its leaves are touched, it instantly curls them up (look at the right leaves in these before-and-after pictures).

Manu also contains approximately 1200 species of butterfly. My favorite is the Owl’s Eye Butterfly – look closely and you’ll see why it’s named that. Look closer and you may also see the head of a snake – amazing camouflage!

There are also over 1000 species of birds in the park.

The Cock of the Rock -- National Bird of Peru

Manu contains over 200 species of mammals (including 13 species of monkey).

Three-Toed Sloth

And of course, there are amphibians, reptiles and insects – but the number is unknown.

There are even ants that live and hunt on their own – they are incredibly poisonous to humans. Look how big these guys are!! Fortunately, my guide warned me when I got too close!

And speaking of my guide – when we approached a termite mound, he told us that the indigenous people of the jungle get protein from the termites. He asked if anyone wanted to try one. . .of course! So he poked a small hole in the mound and told me to let them crawl on my finger have a taste.

 

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Hang Ten

Northern Peru has some great surf towns. Who knew? After several weeks traveling through the mountains, I found myself on the Pacific coast.

The town I was staying in (Huanchaco, Peru) is known for handmade reed boats, called a balsilla or tup.

These boats have been used by local fishermen for hundreds of years.

The tups are about 15 feet long and about 2 feet wide. The sailor straddles the top of the boat and paddles with a long, wide piece of bamboo.

When the Spanish arrived in Peru, they named the boats caballitos (little horses) since the sailor looks like he is riding a horse!

I decided to give one of these little boats a try.

The locals make it look so easy! Paddling with a piece of bamboo, at least for a novice, isn’t an easy task! And I managed to tip the entire boat more than once! Fortunately, I finally made it back to shore!

And then decided to try a more modern (but no less difficult) watercraft. . .

I’m a mid-west girl. I’ve never lived near an ocean. So I’ve never had the chance to try to surf. But, in Huanchaco, I decided to take surf lessons. Why not, right? They have small waves and an area of the beach devoted to beginners.

I certainly wasn’t a pro, and it didn’t come naturally. . .

But I did manage to stand up eventually!

I’m not sure when I’ll get a chance to surf again, but it seems a lot less scary now that I’ve had 3 hours with a board!

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Ever Tried Coca?

The coca plant is native to western South America and for thousands of years has been an important plant to the Andean people of Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Argentina.

To the rest of the world coca is best known as the source of cocaine. To the people of the Andes, coca is both a practical and a religious plant that is used nearly everyday. In fact, coca leaves have been found with mummified corpses in burial sites that are over 3000 years old in various locations all over Peru and Bolivia.

The coca leaf is frequently used for medicinal purposes. It acts as a mild stimulant as well as suppresses hunger, thirst, pain, and fatigue. Coca has also been documented to help those suffering from the effects of high altitude.

Technically, the coca plant itself is not a drug.  The coca leaf contains .8% cocaine and the cocaine cannot be isolated from the leaves without a complicated chemical process. However, since coca is the raw ingredient of cocaine, it is highly regulated in Peru; it can only be legally sold through a government agency that licenses individual stores to sell coca leaves for acceptable uses.

In eastern Peru, I had the opportunity to visit one of the government approved coca farms and learn about this plant and how it is used in the Andes (and around the world).

Usually coca leaves are chewed.  According to a study from 1978, 92% of men in the Andes and 82% of women in the Andes chew coca leaves. Archeologists have found pottery from many different cultures depicting human figures with lumps in their cheeks to symbolize the chewing of coca leaves even in ancient times.

However, coca leaves can also be used in tea or ground into flours and used in cookies and candies, as well as many topical products such as lotions and lip balms.

Coca leaves are harvested by hand several times per year. The leaves are then dried in the sun on plastic sheets for several days.

After they are dried, the leaves are sold to large industries or individual users. Of course, much coca is sold illegally as well.

Coca was chewed for over 4500 years in the Andes without problems. It wasn’t until 1858 that a German chemist (Albert Neimann) isolated the cocaine alkaloid from the coca leaf.  Not long after, problems began to arise with the coca plant. Interestingly, there is an Andean legend: “When the white conqueror touched the coca leaf all he found was venom for his body and madness for his mind.”

It takes 297 grams of dried coca leaf to make one gram of cocaine. It also takes a complicated chemical process which includes powdered cement, gasoline, and sulfuric acid.

There is much debate about whether the coca leaf by itself is a problem. In recent times, the governments of Peru, Bolivia and Venezuela, have defended and championed the traditional uses of coca, as well as the modern uses of the leaf and its extracts in household products. The Presidents of these countries have frequently said: "la coca no es cocaína"(the coca leaf is not cocaine). However, in most non-Andean countries, possession of coca leaves is considered the same as possession of cocaine (despite the fact that cocaine has to be extracted chemically).

One more interesting fact: even if you think you’ve never tried coca, I’m sure you have!

In 1887, John Pemberton of Atlanta, Georgia, created the popular beverage Coca-Cola and named it after its primary ingredient:  coca leaves. Rest assured, since 1904, the cocaine alkaloid has been separated from the coca leaves before they are purchased by the Coca-Cola company. But coca leaves are still used today to flavor your favorite Coke!

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These are Broken. . .Mine are Broken!

Peru is blessed with more than its fair share of ruins. Dozens of ancient civilizations have come and gone and left their crumbled remains for future generations to explore, ponder, and attempt to recreate. 

I spent my first few weeks in Peru enjoying a number of different ruins and learning about the cultures that left them behind.

Cajamarca Culture

Roughly 1000BC, the Cajamarca people built the Cumbe Mayo canal and aqueduct that stretched for 9km along the mountain tops  to the city below.

This canal is said to be the oldest surviving man-made structure in South America.

What amazed me about the canal was the precision – and the fact that it remained functional 3000 years later! Over one 3km stretch, the elevation changes only 50m which creates a slow (nearly unnoticeable) but steady water flow for the people below. Impressive engineering skills!

This same culture had an interesting way to bury their dead. Rather than easily dig a hole in the ground, they decided to dig caves (by hand), several meters deep, into the volcanic rocks for each of their dead chieftains.

A total of 337 niches have been excavated – each containing a body in the fetal position.

Seems like a lot of work to dig a grave, doesn’t it?

The Moche Culture

The Moche people lived in central Peru from 100-600AD. They built towns and temples entirely out of adobe (mud bricks) and have left the largest adobe structure in all of the Americas – the stunning pyramid-shaped Temple of the Sun.

This temple today is only 30% of its former size. The original temple contained over 50 million hand-made adobe bricks!

According to Spanish texts (written 1000 years later), nearly 200,000 people were involved in the initial construction of this temple.

Across the valley from the Temple of the Sun is the Temple of the Moon. This structure continues to be excavated by an international team of archeologists.

The Temple of the Moon contains beautiful frescos of their mountain god; their colors vibrant 1500 years later!  

This valley is still being researched by archeologists so I’m sure that more will be found and much more will eventually come to light about the Moche culture. . .

The Chachapoyans

The Chachapoyans lived in northern Peru and built their mountaintop citadel of Kuelap around 600AD. This area was occupied by these people until the Incans conquered them in the 1400’s.

The city of Kuelap was built to be an easily defensible fortress. The limestone walls are over 65 feet high and up to 6 feet thick! 

The entrances to the fortresses are all very narrow, giving the defenders inside easy access to intruders.

At the height of this civilization over 3000 people lived here. The remains of over 200 round stone houses dot the mountaintop – some with truly breathtaking views!

The Chimu Empire

The Chimu Empire dominated the Moche Valley near modern-day Trujillo on Peru’s coast from 1100 AD until they were conquered by the Incans in the 1470s. Their capital city was Chan-Chan, one of the largest pre-Colombian cities in the Americas.

The remains of the city are truly incredible to see. The city is located in the vast Peruvian desert along the Pacific coast. The city was made entirely of mud bricks many of which, due to the extremely low rainfall in the area, still exist. The first few times I drove past the area, I saw only sand dunes, nothing more.

Only when you look a bit closer, do you start to see walls taking shape. . .

A firsthand lesson on how things aren’t always as they first appear. Sometimes you must look a bit deeper to see the whole picture.

Of course, archeologists work hard to make visualizing these ancient civilizations easier for the rest of us. . .so certain parts of the city have been restored. I will admit, after traipsing through multiple ruins, I prefer them when they've been restored. . .

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