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My first visit to South America was in 1997. I spent two weeks in Perú in March, 1997. One week was in the Amazon rain forest near Iquitos. This included a trip up the Amazon about 100 km to a Jungle Lodge where I stayed 3 days and had some nature walks and trips on boats, including one at night. I saw a lot of wildlife. The tracker was fantastic. He could spot camouflaged animals in the jungle 100 m away. We saw parakeets, the big Macaw parrots, monkeys, sloths, iguanas, and lots of birds. The Amazon river is impressive. It is at times more than a couple of kilometers wide. We saw some river dolphins. They are essentially blind, since the river is usually too muddy to see anything. They navigate mostly by echo location.
At the time of this vacation I didn't have a good camera, just a fixed focal length small 35 mm, so I don't have pictures of all these animals.
The second week I spent in the Andes at Cuzco. Sightseeing around Cuzco brought me to various Inca temple sites and other remnants of this ancient culture.
The highlight of that part of my trip was the excursion to Machu Picchu by train. The train ride is very scenic through some wild gorges. The trip up to Machu Picchu is by bus. Machu Picchu is really impressive.
I stayed at Machu Picchu for one night. My hotel was in the valley. There is a hotel on the mountain. If you plan to stay at Machu Picchu, you should definitely try to get a room at the hotel on the mountain.
On the second day I walked down from the mountain. It was a very scenic walk of maybe 1 ½ hours, with lots of interesting plants to see, including many orchids.
Here are some of the pictures I took on my trip. All pictures are © Günther Eichhorn
If you know the name of any of the animals or plants that are not named in these pages, please let me know at email me so I can add the names to my pictures.
Addendum: In 2002 I have visited several other countries in South America
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| Amazon Basin in Perú | ||||
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 Jungle along the Amazon river. (793k) |  Amazon Rain forest closeup (766k) |  Rain forest (838k) |  Rainbow over a flood lake connected to the Amazon. (We were fishing for Piranhas in that lake) (551k) |  Swollen Amazon with trees floating downriver. The Amazon rises in the rainy season by 10-15 m and is filled with floating trees. (470k) |
 Sunset over the Amazon. (505k) |  Flooded rain forest. I was there halfway through the rainy season. The river had already risen by 6 m. It would rise another 6 m or so. (777k) |  Forest clear-cut. This is a big problem in the Amazon basin. (742k) |  Liana in the rain forest. Some of these lianas contain large amounts of drinkable water in their porous wood. Our guide cut of a piece of a liana about 60 cm long. You can drink from it like from a water jug. (762k) |  Flower (753k) |
 Heliconia sp. in the rain forest (733k) |  Heliconia sp. in the rain forest (535k) |  Heliconia flowers in the rain forest (558k) |  Giant Amazon water lilies (Victoria amazonica). Some of them were almost 2 m in diameter. (790k) |  Termite nest. These are quite different from what you see in Africa. These termites build cement tubes along the tree as walkways. (617k) |
 Praying Mantis. It is well camouflaged in the center of the picture in thread posture. (804k) |  Peruvian pinktoe tarantula (Avicularia urticans). (656k) |  Millipede. You can see the wave-like motion of his feet. (609k) |  Python. (714k) |  A Toucan in the jungle lodge. He was free flying but stayed in the lodge. (533k) |
 A tree full of weaverbird nests. (649k) |  There are several species of dolphins in the Amazon. They are generally almost blind, since the water is usually too full of sediment to see anything. They orient themselves with echo location. There is a dolphin in the picture in the center, unfortunately without a telephoto lens I couldn't get a better picture. (754k) |  Yes, that was a bridge we crossed. (962k) |  Jungle lodge. I stayed there for 3 day, about 100 km upstream of Iquitos. The buildings are on stilts because of the flood waters. (829k) |  Raised walkway in the lodge, lighted by kerosene lamps. That was the way to the bathroom. At night it was full of insects that had burned themselves on the kerosene lamps. (523k) |
 A passenger/freight boat on the Amazon. Most of the transportation in the Amazon basin is done on boats. (516k) |  Bringing the harvest to market in Iquitos. (747k) |  Logs from logging operations are floated downriver to Iquitos. (620k) |  Canoes are like bicycles in the Amazon basin. Even young children use them to get around. (634k) |  A village on the Amazon, north of Iquitos. (485k) |
 Boats in one of the harbour areas in Iquitos. (719k) |  Motorcycle taxi in Iquitos, waiting for a customer. (735k) |  A local train leaving the train station at Machu Picchu, loaded to the max. (605k) |  Indian market an hour from Cuzco. (723k) | |
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| Inca Architecture around Cuzco | ||||
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 Huge open Inca playing field with spectator terraces near Cuzco. (690k) |  Huge stone wall on the other side of the playing field. (690k) |  Stone wall. Notice the accurate fit of the stones in various shapes. (723k) |  Size comparison of the stone wall. (838k) |  One of the huge corner stones on this stone wall. (581k) |
 Stone work detail. (609k) |  Doors, windows and wall niches are all tapered on the top. This is not a perspective illusion, they are built like that. (902k) |  Fountain. Water fountains are ubiquitous in Inca ruins. They were quite important for the Inca. (766k) |  Irrigation Channel. The water would run down the channel. At the terrace that they wanted to water, a stone slab would divert the water from the channel to the terrace. (971k) |  Temple near Cuzco. (668k) |
 Detail of the stone work in this temple. The construction here is quite different from the large stone wall around the playing field above. (711k) |  The Inca trail on the mountain in the distance near Cuzco. This is the trail that leads to Machu Picchu. (859k) |  Temple in Cuzco. Note the incredible accuracy of the stone work. This was the most accurately constructed stone work that I saw. (507k) |  Temple detail in Cuzco. (704k) | |
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| Machu Picchu | ||||
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 View of the valley below Machu Picchu. (695k) |  Train station below Machu Picchu. The river behind the station was a raging current, since it was rainy season. (934k) |  Flowers on Machu Picchu. I walked down from Machu Picchu to the hotel near the train station. On the way down I saw many orchids and other flowers. (932k) |  Switchback going up to Machu Picchu. (870k) |  View of Machu Picchu in the clouds (581k) |
 Farming Terraces behind Machu Picchu. (771k) |  Rainbow below Machu Picchu. (805k) |  Machu Picchu (667k) |  Machu Picchu (753k) |  Valley below Machu Picchu with Inca ruin in the foreground. (934k) |
 The bedrock is integrated in the walls that the Inca built. (823k) |  A sun clock (Intihuatana in Quechua). Like most of the religiously important structures it shows three steps. (731k) |  Another worship place, showing the three steps. (908k) |  A doorway in Machu Picchu. It again shows the tapered shape. Above the doorway is a stone ring (seen head-on) that is used to hang the actual door. The holes to the right and left of the doorway serve to hold the door shut. (969k) |  In order to split the large stones, the Inca presumably carved a row of holes in a stone, put wooden pegs in the holes, and then put water on the pegs to make them swell and break the stone. This is from a re-enactment of this procedure, done shortly after Machu Picchu was re-discovered. (1118k) |
 The bottom part of this wall was built by the Inca, the top was put on recently. What a difference in construction! (768k) |  Farming terraces on Machu Picchu, with the Inca trail on the mountain behind it. This is the trail that leads to Cuzco. I walked it a little bit, but it quickly got uncomfortable with my acrophobia. (769k) |  Inca trail in the mist. (662k) | ||
Perú (Amazon Jungle, Machu Picchu, Cuzco) on aerobaticsweb.org
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