We awoke a few minutes before our 5am alarm, excited for our final activity at Posada Amazonas, watching the parrots at the clay lick. The night before, we managed to convince Jorge to get up early with us to try one more thing. Just like in the previous mornings, the howler monkeys were up and making a great commotion. As we walked into the jungle, we could hear the parrots squawking in the trees. Oh boy today was getting off to a great start! Once we arrived at the blind, we could see another group already there. We squeezed in and waited for the parrots to come down.
After about 20-30 minutes, the first parrot came down to the clay lick. This sparked a chain reaction and soon there were dozens of parrots in the trees near the clay lick and on the clay lick. Unlike the macaws, where there was only one species, there were three different species of parrot plus a species of macaw. It was really cool and loud.
Following our time at the clay lick, we returned our rubber boats, finished packing, and got ready for breakfast. Breakfast consisted of pancakes, bread, and fruit. The bread was by far our favorite part. We, mainly me, ate so much bread.
Once we were done with breakfast, we waited for our boat ride back to Infierno. Kari and I were both sad to leave but excited to go home. Our boat ride was very relaxing. We chatted with an Australian couple, Mick and Kathy, about travels and their home country, since we want to go there in the not too distant future.
Back in Infierno, we boarded the bus that would take us down the super bumpy road for about one and a half hours. As an added bonus, Kari and I were in the back, out of range of the AC. That certainly made the ride less fun. Oh well.
At the Rainforest Expeditions office, we retrieved our luggage and said our goodbyes to Jorge. We certainly had a blast spending the past few days with him. We learned a lot about the jungle and the native community at Infierno from him.
Our stop at Rainforest Expeditions' office was short and we were at the airport in Puerto Maldonado in no time. The airport in Puerto Maldonado reminded us of some of the small African airports we flew through. While I was glad to be there early to deal with some of the craziness, there was not much to do once inside. Oh well. Only two short flights and we were back in Lima. Unfortunately, we had a 10 hour layover in Lima. Not really a city I want to get out and explore with our luggage, since Delta does not open its check-in counter until only a few hours before our flight's departure, which was at 2am. We opted to get a snack and try to sleep on the floor while we waited.
Once we were able to finally hand over our bags around 11pm, we quickly walked through security and went to wait by our gate. We managed to sleep on the flight home for a little while before waking to have breakfast. Our time making it back through customs in Atlanta was pretty short and sweet. Thankfully. We started calling family to let them know we were safely back in the US while we waited for our flight to Chicago.
In Chicago, we collected our bags and began the journey back to the car. Thanks to the Delta app, we were able to easily find our car in the economy lot. Joyous to start our two hour drive back to Madison and unwind a bit before heading back to work the next day.
This was certainly a whirlwind adventure. We got to experience some new cultures and stretch ourselves by going somewhere where we do not really share a common language. I know I was pushed out of my comfort zone quite a few times. That's part of why we travel. To experience the world, new places, and new cultures and to continue to push ourselves out of our comfort zone and continue to grow. We look forward to our next opportunity to see more of this beautiful world we are part of.
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