WEBVTT 1 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:38.000 Welcome to two Travel Dads podcast. Here we share our favorite destinations, travel tips, stories from our adventures, and bring on awesome guests to share insights into their travelsome lives. Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and check out our detailed show notes@twotraveldads.com. Podcast Dash episodes hey there. Welcome back to another episode of two Travel Dads podcast. I'm Rob. 2 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:39.000 I'm Chris. 3 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:41.000 And today we are going to talk. 4 00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:44.000 About the Amazon rainforest. 5 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:51.000 Yes, the Amazon rainforest and our time in the peruvian Amazon, not the brazilian Amazon. 6 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:52.000 But they're kind of connected. 7 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:53.000 We. 8 00:00:52.000 --> 00:01:09.000 Yeah, they're kind of connected, but a lot of people think about Brazil when they are thinking about the Amazon. But we went to Peru for it and it was awesome. So, thinking about that, where do you want to start? What do you want? How do you want to talk about the rainforest? Do you want to. 9 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:16.000 Well, I think it's all grounded in where we stayed. Right. So I think that's, that's critical to talk about first. 10 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:17.000 Yeah. 11 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:36.000 Especially because the whole thing about going to the Amazon and staying in a treehouse was what got our entire Peru trip, basically the seed planted and started anyway. So why don't you take it away and tell us about what you found, where we stayed and what made it so awesome? 12 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:37.000 Yeah. 13 00:01:36.000 --> 00:02:18.000 Well, thanks to Instagram, I found this really great, amazing place called the Treehouse Lodge in the Peruvian Amazon. And after doing some research and understanding more about this lodging, learned that it was an all inclusive place. That, of course, in addition to being in a treehouse, all of your meals were taken care of and excursions. And I think that was the best part. So to get there, it made it very simple because you just had to fly into a kidos and then they had a guide that you up drove you. It was about like a 45 minutes drive from the airport out. 14 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:20.000 It was an hour and a half drive. Sure. 15 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:56.000 An hour and a half. I felt it like it was maybe shorter, but a long drive to another town where then you get on a boat and then from the boat they put all of your baggage on the boat and then you're cruising down the river to go get to the treehouse lodge. So a really unique experience in that. One, you're staying in the treehouse. Two, you've got planes and boats taking you to where you need to be. And then again, meals all taken care of. But the most important part, and this is what we'll talk about, are the excursions, which so many options and so much flexibility. 16 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:57.000 Yeah. 17 00:02:56.000 --> 00:03:16.000 And. But I think we should talk about getting there a little bit more too, though. Cause really it was such a unique experience. So we, you know, you fly into Aquitus like he was saying, and then they picked us up, they had a sign with our name on it. And we went out there. We met Edgar, who was our guide for the week, and he was the one who got us at the airport. 18 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:41.000 And so real quick, maybe just in case, people are like, oh, I'm so excited to listen to this because I've got like, my trip in like two weeks. Maybe you do, or not. Here's the thing. We got, we landed, got into the airport and we're like, where's our guy? We're looking for it. Like normal people would like a sign that says Taylor and, you know, they're trying to find us. That wasn't the case. We saw one of the guys inside for Stewart. 19 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:42.000 That's true. 20 00:03:41.000 --> 00:04:00.000 And there's the Stewart family and they're like, okay, well, they got found and we're like, where is the guy for Taylor? Nobody's there. Bob gets on the phone, he's like, we're, you know, trying to like, WhatsApp on the WhatsApp. On the WhatsApp? Because that's critical. And they're like, no, your guide's there. Okay, well, he was outside, so he was just right outside the airport waiting for us. 21 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:05.000 And literally the people who had their guide inside and then our guide who was outside, we were all traveling together. 22 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:22.000 We were all on the same bus, same van. Like, I mean, it was just kind of ridiculous, but because we thought we would have seen a guy just like the Stewart family got. But Edgar was amazing, but he was just right outside. So just sharing that in case you go and you're like, my guy's not here, just go, step outside. 23 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:25.000 Like literally walk 15ft further. 24 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:26.000 But no. 25 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:56.000 So anyways, Edgar was there and he got us all loaded up with all of our luggage. And also because we did have a bigger other family who was traveling with us in the van to get to the boat, um, they actually put everybody's luggage up on top and then they covered it all just in case it started raining because, I mean, we're in the rainforest and you should expect rain. So they had all that already thought up. Um, and then the drive was interesting because it was, you know, long. It was long. It was. 26 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:00.000 But they did stop at a grocery store, which is great, so that we could like, it's water, some snacks, a little journey. 27 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:11.000 But it was on very nice peruvian paved highways. It was not what I was expecting for driving through the Amazon rainforest. It was actually like, nice blacktop. 28 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:16.000 Well, and once you get to Naota, it's like a huge city. They said there's like over 50,000 people. 29 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:52.000 That live there, which is really surprising. But it did look like there was kind of like a cool downtown y area. And then you also see, you know, all the dirt streets with all the craziness and wild, like, everything happening everywhere. Yeah, but, yeah. So then we got to Naota, and then when we did get on the boat, it was a very. So it was quite the steep staircase from the place above the river down to water level. And I think if I did not have good knees, I would have been quite anxious about going down the stairs just because I didn't want to fall in the river. 30 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:58.000 Yeah, well, the other people who had different, like, body shapes and sizes were able to make it just fine too, as well. 31 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:05.000 That's true. That's true. They did make it. Nobody fell in the river. And then we got in our. I don't know what you want to call it, torpedo boat. 32 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:11.000 A long, narrow metal boat with one seat on each side. 33 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:12.000 Yeah. 34 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:13.000 It was like a fuselage. 35 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:14.000 Yeah. 36 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:24.000 And it just took us rocketing up the Amazon until we got to our little tributary that was just off the Amazon for us to get to. Treehouse. 37 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:29.000 Yeah, pretty great. It was awesome. 38 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:45.000 Once we actually got to the treehouse, it was pretty. I mean, we got there right before lunch. So we sat down with our guide and kind of got a little orientation. Trying to think about my mind was kind of a blur because I was really tired. 39 00:06:45.000 --> 00:07:17.000 No. So we got there and what was really great is like, you go to the main lodge area in this one spot. So if you're planning, highly, recommend the treehouse lodge. Anyways, we go to the main lodge space, which is the main dining hall up top. There's a whole space where you can lounge, like hammocks and stuff up there. They do have wi fi, these types of things. But get to the main lodge area and they've got a nice welcome beverage for us. Some great local kamukamu juice, freshly made, super delicious. And then Edgar is walking us through all of the different. 40 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:18.000 That's what it is. 41 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:34.000 Well, the history of the lodge and the activities that are available. And basically then we define our schedule. So it's like, oh, here's all the activities, here's the schedule. Best part is, yes, we defined our schedule, but so much flexibility. We changed it completely. 42 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:35.000 Yeah. 43 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:38.000 And without question or issue or any pushback. 44 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:39.000 Yeah. 45 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:59.000 Each treehouse or each family that goes has their own dedicated guide for the entire time you're there. So you're just coordinating with them, and then they'll make sure that, you know, you have a boat at your beck and call or that if. If you want to do, like, a craft project or go fishing or something, that you've got the right gear for it. So that's really cool that they take. 46 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:00.000 Complete care of you. 47 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:01.000 Yeah. 48 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:05.000 And you've got one person who literally is dedicated to two, actually. 49 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:06.000 You have Edgar. 50 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:07.000 Yeah, yeah. 51 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:07.000 Edgar and Roger. 52 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:08.000 Yeah. 53 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:09.000 Our driver, too. 54 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:10.000 Yeah. 55 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:19.000 But they are your concierge. They are your tour guide. They are your safety guide out in the jungle. 56 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:22.000 They are your subject matter expert for. 57 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:24.000 All things on everything. So. 58 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:25.000 Gosh. 59 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:30.000 So what do we actually. How do we start? We started with just doing general exploration. 60 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:37.000 Well, no, so if you remember. So we did this. We. After we got. Because you were. 61 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:38.000 I was. 62 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:40.000 I was so tired. 63 00:08:40.000 --> 00:09:04.000 And if you remember, this is the last part of our trip, the earlier part. We were all sick. Blah, blah, blah. Lots of travel, lots of, uh, not sleeping. Um, anyway, uh, we get there, we drink our kamukamu juice, we fill out our activity list, and then, uh, it's time to go. We want to go check out our space. So we went out and we checked out our tree house, which was super cool. And then, uh, we were able to go do our first activity. 64 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:08.000 Actually, our first activity was Elliot and I taking naps. 65 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:20.000 Was it okay, there you go. And then. Oh, no, that's right, because then we had lunch. Yeah, no, no, no. Before lunch. That's right, because we got to do the Amazon river, uh, the river dolphins. Pink river dolphin, like, little trip. 66 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:21.000 I don't know. 67 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:51.000 We got back out on the boat. No, just right out there. Just from the lodge. We got on the boat. Yes, because this was before lunch. Got on the boat, and then we went and we saw, just right off the dock, all of the pink river dolphins that were just right there. We didn't take a long adventure. And then we came back, and all of that was super cool. Had lunch, and then. Or maybe. No, it was after lunch. That's right, after lunch. Because then we had dinner, and then after dinners, when we did the caiman. That's right. 68 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:52.000 Yeah. 69 00:09:52.000 --> 00:10:15.000 So just to clarify, nap time. And then we went out on a little river explorer, saw a pink river dolphins, saw our first monkeys, all that. It was a short one because we were tired. Came back, had some dinner, went back out on the boat to look for caimans, which are this cool crocodilian that lives in the Amazon. And then. And we saw the bats too. There was lots of bats. 70 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:56.000 So. Lots of bats. But what's most critical for people planning a trip to the Amazon is that, yes, there are mistakes. So I knew this and I wanted to prep and plan as much as I could for mosquito prevention. And I. When this was our first day that we got there, nobody was dressed properly, although I was because I had all of my long sleeve and socks and yet was hot. But I knew that there were going to be mosquitoes. But we were doing a night time on a pond to go see Caiman and we didn't even spray down with mosquito repellent. So all this to say, make sure you do have, especially at night, your mosquito repellent, your mosquito gear. We've got Bob can put some links to it. 71 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:57.000 Yeah. 72 00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:02.000 These really great pullover hoodies that are basically like mosquito nets. Super helpful. 73 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:03.000 They cover your entire face. 74 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:09.000 Yeah. And you look hilarious. But, you know, important because the mosquitoes are no joke. 75 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:15.000 And it literally is just sunset, nighttime. Like that's. Yeah, that's the only time where it's a problem. Like daytime. It's. 76 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:31.000 Yeah, awesome. We didn't have a big issue in the daytime, but it was really nighttime. And I mean, we live in Florida and we've been to mosquito lagoon, which is a place where they had invented deet tons of mosquitoes so much more in the Amazon. I mean, it was like a blanket. You're just trying to shove them away. 77 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:36.000 But again, this is nighttime, not daytime, when you're doing most of your activities and. 78 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:49.000 Sorry, just real quick, I. Mosquito. I am a mosquito person. I hate them. I'm always watching out for them at the end of the day, after the whole entire trip, even that night, I think I maybe had like eight bites. 79 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:50.000 Yeah. 80 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:52.000 So not bad. Mosquito prevention is important. 81 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:58.000 But eight bites overall, mosquitoes don't necessarily love me. I think I had four. Yeah, they love me. 82 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:00.000 So eight's not bad. 83 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.000 But, um. Yeah. So that was, that was, that was day one in the Amazon, the cayman. 84 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:08.000 I mean, that was super cool because we were like, oh, let's get back. Like, these mosquitoes are absolutely insane. 85 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:09.000 But Edgar was insane. 86 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:12.000 Out of here. But he had to find the game. And he did. He found it. 87 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:26.000 He found a cute baby, probably 2ft long. And he was able to gently grab him from this kind of floating island and hand him to us and got to hold him and pet him and. 88 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:53.000 Yeah, floating island being so you're in what they call, like, Oxbell lake. And there's just basically a ton of plant matter in the lake, on top of the lake. So it's this. If you didn't know, you could. You think you could just walk right out onto it, you would fall into the walk into the water, but which made it challenging, getting in and out, like, I mean, the boat skills of our guide, you know, Roger, were impressive in terms of how he gets in and out of these places. 89 00:12:53.000 --> 00:13:12.000 Yeah, it was pretty cool. And then I have to say, and this is how I've described it to everybody I've talked to about this, our first night sleeping in the treehouse in the Amazon rainforest, it was the best and happiest sleep of my entire life because it started dumping rain in the middle of the night. 90 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:14.000 It was torrential. 91 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:26.000 There's nothing quite like sleeping in the rainforest while rain is just, like, ricocheting off of all the pom fronds and all the birds kind of get quiet and then the bugs get loud. 92 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:36.000 Everybody's looking for that soundtrack already. And, like, we didn't even have to put it on repeat or fade or, you know, gapless. I mean, it was just an amazing live soundtrack. 93 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:41.000 And then you wake up and you're moist. No, I was just gonna say you're in the rainforest and happy, but I guess. 94 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:42.000 Yeah, yeah. Yes. 95 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:44.000 You're a little bit more. The air is moist. 96 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:53.000 Yeah, you're moist. I mean, and here's the thing. In the beds, the beds were super comfortable. But it's funny, you only get a sheet, which is all you need. Yeah, it's just a sheet, which is. 97 00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:55.000 Perfect because it's the end. 98 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:56.000 More. 99 00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:57.000 Yeah. 100 00:13:57.000 --> 00:14:04.000 And then breakfast each day was just this lovely, nice, like, fresh breakfast spread before you go out to do, but. 101 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:05.000 Before that, I want to take a shower. 102 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.000 Okay, tell us about taking a shower. 103 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:10.000 It's not heated. 104 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:13.000 Oh, I see what you're saying. I see where you're going with this. 105 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:35.000 Yeah. So, I mean, this place was awesome, right? And, yeah, you get a take. You've got your whole bathroom in your tree house, and there's a beautiful, like, shower. And we saw this stuff over instagram. It looked amazing. Like, oh, people's taking a shower and they're looking out, they're seeing sloth and toucans and all these great, like, all this great wildlife. Nowhere does it say it's not heated, it's just air temperature or, you know. 106 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:37.000 Which is fine because it's totally fine. 107 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:40.000 It's super refreshing. So. But just. 108 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:51.000 And you're toasty warm. And when you. It's kind of like when you dip into like a refreshing pool that isn't cold but it's not hot and it's just you. You get used to it and. 109 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:58.000 No, it's nice. I mean this place also just runs off mostly solar. And then you turn on a generator and stuff at night. So it's all about conserving energy and. 110 00:14:58.000 --> 00:14:59.000 Yeah. 111 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:02.000 So not heated water. You can't like turn it on and like where's hot. 112 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:03.000 Yeah. 113 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:04.000 So that's what I wanted to mention. 114 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:05.000 Yeah. Yeah, yeah. 115 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:07.000 Although it's still really pleasant and it's. 116 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:10.000 Really lovely taking a shower in the rainforest and just being in the jungle. 117 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:11.000 And seeing it touching. 118 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:46.000 It's magical. Anyways though. So I was gonna just say breakfast is wonderful every morning with a nice big fresh spread of lots of different fruit and eggs and all that good stuff. And then every day. So how it kind of works with your schedule. You got an opportunity to do something at sunrise, something right after breakfast, something after lunch and then like an evening sort of thing. So you've got potentially like four excursions or activities every day. And some of these take you know an hour and a half. Sometimes you're out there for 3 hours. So it kind of. It kind of depends on what's going on. So. 119 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:47.000 Yeah. 120 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:51.000 They do it all around the meals which are seven seven one. 121 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:53.000 We're 731 o'clock and 730. 122 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:55.000 Yeah that's right. 731 o'clock and 730. 123 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:56.000 Yeah. 124 00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:26.000 So. So everybody is on the same sort of like meal schedule. But you're not necessarily dining with other people. But you're all in the dining room at the same time. And you can chat with people or not. It's as. It's as involved as you want it to be. Which is great because I don't necessarily want to get involved with other people. So it's nice to just be able to see familiar faces and then say goodbye. And then you get to go and do your own excursions without everybody that you're seeing at your meals. But I'm sure you could think if you made friends you could probably arrange for that. But we didn't. 125 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:32.000 No, the whole entire family. But it was just amazing super personal personalized experiences. 126 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:55.000 But then I think our first big highlight of an activity was fishing for piranhas. That was what Elliot was looking forward to so much since like way before we ever got there was going fishing for piranhas. So we made sure that was our very first morning activity. And poor dude all the rest of us caught piranhas, and Elliot didn't land a single one. 127 00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:57.000 Oh, he tried so hard. 128 00:16:57.000 --> 00:16:58.000 He tried. 129 00:16:57.000 --> 00:17:13.000 I mean, it's not. It's not hard either. All you do is you put a little bit of meat on a hook, and these, this is a line attached to, like, a piece of bamboo. You swish the bamboo in the water because I guess piranhas really like noise. So you switch it, swish it, make a lot of noise, and then, boom, piranha hits the line. But. 130 00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:15.000 And you literally land them sometimes within. 131 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.000 Like, we caught, like. And Elliot caught in total, and Elliot didn't catch one. 132 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:20.000 Yeah. 133 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:27.000 So we went back on our second full day to do it again, and he got. He got his piranha. But it was kind of funny. 134 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:55.000 Well, here's the thing, though, too, is like, okay, yeah, we. We did the same activity twice, but it's. You don't just go fishing for piranha as you're going to go fish for. For piranha. You're in your boat and you're stopping at all the same wildlife that you'll see whether or not it be like macaws, toucans, woolly monkeys, mikasaki monkeys, or tarantulas or bats, whatever's along the way, you still stop, but then you spend your time fishing, and then you do the same thing on the way back. 135 00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:56.000 Yeah. 136 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:06.000 And I think on that very first day, we saw three types of monkeys. We saw four sloths. We saw. We never saw wild scarlet macaws, but we saw the blue and yellow macaws. 137 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:07.000 That's right. 138 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:09.000 We saw all kinds of other cool birds. 139 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:20.000 I did see, though, a wild scarlet macaw because they. Another guide found an injured one and they brought him back so they could, you know, so he was kind of. 140 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:36.000 In the little rehab hospital at the treehouse waiting to get released. One of my other favorite activities that we did. So we did a lot of just boat exploring, going out. You start with seeing river dolphins, no matter where you are, and then you. 141 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:39.000 Either go, by the way, so different than a regular dolphin. 142 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:44.000 Yeah, they're weird, and they're difficult to spot initially because they don't have a big old dorsal fin, like a bottlenose. 143 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:48.000 Dolphin shaped differently, different sounds. 144 00:18:48.000 --> 00:19:43.000 And when they break the surface, it's more like when a whale breaks the surface, it's kind of gentle and then just breaks, and then they kind of go. And then they go back down. And it's rare that you actually see their full pinkness. It's weird, but super cool. What was I gonna say? Oh, I was gonna say one of my other favorite activities. So each time that you go out, you're kind of navigating the different rivers, whether you go all the way out to the Amazon or you're doing the little side tributaries. We were there during rainy season, so the water level was way high, which meant that we could go absolutely everywhere on boat instead of having to go on hikes through the jungle. Our driver was like, he was so adept at navigating through, you know, banyan trees, through strangler, how we didn't get lost, how we didn't get lost and how we didn't die in the jungle, I don't know. 145 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:49.000 But because our guide, he helped people navigate who weren't, like, you know, naked and afraid. 146 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:50.000 So that's true. 147 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:51.000 Yeah. 148 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:53.000 Edgar was a Amazon survivalist. 149 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:54.000 Yeah. 150 00:19:53.000 --> 00:20:07.000 So he has that sort of Hollywood experience. And then he took us out. But, no. So anyways, so we had this really cool evening activity where we went out looking for a prehistoric bird that was just. 151 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:08.000 Oh, yeah. 152 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:15.000 The weirdest, most wild thing. And it was funny because initially I didn't really understand just what it was that we were looking for. 153 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.000 But Edgar's like, no, we're gonna go see the prehistoric bird, what we're doing. 154 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:20.000 Yeah. 155 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:23.000 And he said it, like, multiple times. And I was like, what are you talking about, dude? 156 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:24.000 Hudson. 157 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:25.000 Yeah. 158 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:46.000 So it's the h o a t z I n huatson bird and its closest relative. You know, they've been able to, like, trace it back. And its closest relative is the archaeopteryx, like, an actual, like, winged pterosaur. And this bird has, when it, when it hatches, it has claws on its wings. Yeah, like a dinosaur. 159 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:58.000 It's the only bird while it's young. Right. A juvenile that can actually scale a tree, like, climb up a tree with its wings. Like, no other bird can do that. It's crazy. 160 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:10.000 But this bird has, like, this wild looking reptilian face and spiky feather hair and all kinds of colors and the creepiest eyes and this weird dino beak. 161 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:12.000 The size of, like, a pheasant. 162 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:13.000 Yeah. 163 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:24.000 And it's weird, but you have to, like, know where to find them. And where you've happened to find them is in the stands of these horrifying palm trees that are absolutely covered in. 164 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:30.000 Spikes, crazy thorns and spikes. Like, you can't get in there. Like, the spikes are awful. 165 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:45.000 But our guides were awesome at knowing where to go, and we were just, we sat there silently, and then once our eyes could adjust. We saw the birds, and I'll make sure there's pictures of the birds in the show notes because it's so wild and crazy. But that was one of my favorite. 166 00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:47.000 Things I could think of is a cassowary. 167 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:48.000 Yeah. 168 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:49.000 It has the same colors. 169 00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:53.000 Huge, right? I mean, that thing's, like, monstrous. It's like the size of a pheasant. 170 00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:58.000 But, yeah, the same colors as the cassowary. But this is like a weird other thing. 171 00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:59.000 Yeah. 172 00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:02.000 But of course, the weirdest part is that they're young, have claws on their wings. 173 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:44.000 Yeah. Ooh. I was just trying to think about what other boat adventures I really enjoyed, and one of them was the day that we went, and we were just kind of going through all of the stuff that is, was flooded, and it took us past the, we saw some sloths and stuff. And then he's like, hey, I saw a tarantula earlier. And they brought us back through the jungle on a boat to a spot. Yeah. Where they had, like, where we had driven past a tarantula an hour before, and they found us a tarantula in the jungle. And then we kept going. And then there was this whole family or thing, flock, I don't know, a group of bats that were sleeping on the underside of a tree. 174 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:46.000 They looked like dragon scales on the trees. 175 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:47.000 Yeah. 176 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:50.000 Camouflage of these bats were impressive, but. 177 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:58.000 Our guides saw them, and it was awesome. And then, of course, there were sloths everywhere and lots of different monkeys and. 178 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:03.000 Parakeets and toucans and all the woodpeckers. 179 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:08.000 And the black collared hawks that were everywhere. And the laughing falcons. 180 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:09.000 Yeah. 181 00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:10.000 Laughing falcons. 182 00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:12.000 I made a long list of all the things we saw on the Amazon. 183 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:15.000 Red cardinal or something. 184 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:18.000 Lots of cool stuff. 185 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:19.000 Wow. 186 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:27.000 I feel like we could talk about this a long time. Anyways, though, what was your absolute favorite thing that we got to do when we were staying in the Amazon? 187 00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:29.000 Hmm. 188 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:56.000 The favorite thing, like, I mean, of course, like, seeing all the wildlife was great. But the best part, because I felt like it was the most up close and personal wildlife, was when, again, we were on the boat and we wanted to see a woolly monkey because you had talked about it, and they're like, oh, you want to see? Okay, here's a woolly monkey. And so we just went off, like, basically, like, we, here's the treehouse lodge. We got, you know, on the boat off the dock, took a left for like three minutes. Like, oh, there's a woolly monkey. 189 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:59.000 It wasn't even three minutes. It was less than two minutes. 190 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:17.000 And anyways, they. They were there, and unlike a lot of the other monkeys and some of the wildlife that we've seen that are very shy, the woolly monkeys were not. I mean, they were not, which was cool because, you know, we. They were very curious about us. So they kept getting closer and closer, so much so, I mean, that. 191 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:21.000 And Roger, like, revving up the boat to go backwards. 192 00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:44.000 You know, Roger's the other guy. He's the boat expert. But they kept going, pulling us back, forward, back, because they're like, we don't want that. We don't want the monkey in here because they probably would, you know, jump in the boat. But I think that was the coolest part because that was the most up close and personal for wildlife. Other than the other cool part was just what we saw at the lodge. The rainbow boa. 193 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:45.000 Yeah. 194 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:52.000 Just on, you know, one of the handrails. So be careful where you put your hands. And the tarantula just right there. The stick bug and the poison dart frog. 195 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:53.000 Yeah. 196 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:57.000 Toucan that I saw, I was like, after, you know, washing my hands, I'm like, oh, my gosh, is this. 197 00:24:57.000 --> 00:25:02.000 Well, and then also the morning that we were leaving, there was that sloth right off the little. The suspension bridge. 198 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:03.000 Yeah. 199 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:10.000 Like, yeah, it all. This might sound really overwhelming, like, oh, gosh. Snakes and tarantulas. This is not my jam. 200 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:11.000 This. 201 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:17.000 None of this stuff. This was not in our treehouse. This was, like, on the walkways. Not, like, in a dangerous spot. 202 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:24.000 You're in a jungle, so this wasn't. It's not like a nice paved path, paths for you to walk around. I mean, you're. 203 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:39.000 You're in the jungle, but you're walking, like, between the. Between the main lodge and the boat dock and all the tree houses. You're on boardwalks or you are crossing suspension bridges that are nice and safe and maintained. So it's not like you're, like, wandering along the jungle floor. 204 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:40.000 You have to be mindful. 205 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:53.000 You do have to be mindful. But there's also lots of staff everywhere, which makes it cool. And there's people there to help you with whatever you need. And, like, when we saw the boa, you know, more staff came out to, like, check it and make sure that. 206 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:56.000 Moved all the way up and then went into, like, the eaves of. 207 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:03.000 Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's just really cool to be so surrounded by wildlife and be safe. 208 00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:04.000 I never felt unsafe. 209 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:05.000 I never felt unsafe. 210 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.000 The only time I was like, oh, my gosh, there's all these mosquitoes. That I think. 211 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:10.000 Yeah, that was the one. 212 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:15.000 I wasn't unsafe, but I was, like, super irritated, and I'm like, ah, yeah, yeah. 213 00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:17.000 The last thing that I was going to say. 214 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:18.000 But the food was the best. Sorry. 215 00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:19.000 Oh, I love food. 216 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:50.000 And, yeah, we ate in Lima. We ate in all these places. The food at this place for lunch, and, oh, my gosh, like, I had some of the, like, the best beef and, you know, red wine, butter. I mean, food was amazing. And with dessert every night, and they would, of course, custom make things if you needed it. So Elliot wasn't feeling good a couple days, and they made sure to make his meal simple. Same with Bob. So just the staff and the food was top notch. 217 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:55.000 Yeah, that's true. And the desserts, each time there was great dessert. 218 00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:57.000 So a coma. Coma flan. 219 00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:01.000 Yeah, everything was good. I forgot what I was gonna say. 220 00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:02.000 Sorry. 221 00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:15.000 I know it was something really important, though. Oh, well. Oh, I wanted to just hit on real quick. One of the cool things that we got to do that we got to bring home was we got to make blow dart guns. 222 00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:16.000 Oh, yeah. 223 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:54.000 Which is kind of a random thing, but it was really cool because Roger is local, and so he brought, from his village, he brought the right type of wood. Yeah, the right type of wood for making the blood art guns and the actual darts. And we all kind of sat around, you know, carving and whittling and just chatting and stuff. And then they prepped him the rest of the way, and then Roger was able to do some wood burning and carve out some cool designs on them for the kids, and they assembled them. Then we got to practice blowing them, and I thought that was a really cool, unique sort of activity with probably the coolest souvenir we've brought home from any place we've been. 224 00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:56.000 I was gonna say the souvenir part. Definitely the best. 225 00:27:56.000 --> 00:27:57.000 Yeah. 226 00:27:57.000 --> 00:28:37.000 Yeah, it was, um. It was awesome. This it. Our five days at the treehouse lodge in the peruvian Amazon were my favorite travel we've ever done anywhere. And we've done some really cool stuff. So that's my two completely agree. And cool thing is, is that we will be going back and bringing people with us. So there is information about that on the podcast page and on our website over@twotriodads.com so check it out if you're interested. And feel free to ask us all, all the questions. Cause we could talk about it all day, clearly. Was there anything else you wanted to add about our time in the proving Amazon or. 227 00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:46.000 No, just try Kamukamu. And if you're up for it, you know, the guide may show you how to find maggots that are super delicious. 228 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:47.000 How did we not talk about that? 229 00:28:47.000 --> 00:29:12.000 And so he talked about it on our, on the bus ride, you know, to Naota, before we even got on the boat to the Amazon. And he was so excited to actually find. Find them because they're in this, like, fruit that rots and falls down from a tree. And the maggots live in there for quite a bit, and they grow and develop, and then you chop it open and you could eat the most delicious, tasty, white, alive maggot. And I just. 230 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:18.000 Which he said tasted like butter. We really let Edgar down. His face. 231 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:20.000 That's, you know, his face. 232 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:22.000 He. He was sad that we would not. 233 00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:32.000 Try it, but he understood. I told him the other day, I was like, sorry, I couldn't eat the maggot. I was like, I remember the lady on the bus was like, what if you don't call him a maggot? Like, I'm sorry. 234 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:33.000 Oh, good times. 235 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:34.000 But you know what? 236 00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:40.000 That's just one of those super unique Amazon experiences that we, we were adjacent to. 237 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:42.000 Yeah. 238 00:29:42.000 --> 00:30:12.000 Ah, good times. All right. I think that that kind of does it for talking about the Amazon. For now, stay tuned, though, because we also have podcast episodes just about traveling in Peru in general, and then our time up in the Andes, as well as other cool places like Lima and down in Pracus and all kinds of cool stuff. So stay tuned and don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and give us a rating. Share us with your friends as well. So, yeah, thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you later. 239 00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:13.000 All right. Hasta luego. 240 00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:38.000 Asta luego. Two Travel Dads podcast is created by Rob and Chris Taylor in St. Augustine, Florida. We'd love to answer your questions here on the podcast, providing both our experience and stories. To share our own insights into whatever you're wondering about, visit twotraveldads.com podcast episodes to leave your questions and to check out past episodes and show notes. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button and have an awesome day.