We reached Assis (border with Peru) by 11
am! The Brazilian Federal Police was friendly, quick and no nonsense. We were
in/out of their office in 10 minutes with our passports stamped.
We then crossed the bridge into Peru and
stopped at the Peruvian immigration office, again 10 minutes...excellent...then
it was customs...and we were told to wait. Unfortunately for us, there was a bus full of Brazilians and
they were ALL being processed... we bribed the kids with ice cream and
waited...and waited...it took customs about 45 minutes to process the bus and
another 10 minutes for us... but it went well.
We jumped into the truck, drove 20 feet and
were stopped by the POLICE!!! But of course… they needed to come into this
picture...it was comical in a serious way because he was demanding to see
original everything....but a bit of light humor, small talk and with my
business card as a souvenir, we were sent on our way!
The Interoceanic highway (thus far) is a
gem! A brand new roadway with proper signs and they even provided an
information pamphlet at the toll booth. We carried on towards Puerto Maldonado enjoying the changing
landscape until we reached some small town with a police station. It was then that Marnie was waved to
pull over by the local sheriff.
The Police officer asked to see our documents, vehicle registration and
original slip that allowing us to enter Peru….never mind we had a 6” sticker
which was placds on the windshield when we cleared customs, he wanted the
original.
While I'm fishing out the documents, Marnie
was informed of two serious infractions...three actually. Driving with headlights
turned off while on the Interoceanic Hwy, improper tint on the windows and the
fact that Marnie was not wearing her glasses as stipulated on her International
Drivers License... really?
I started telling our story while passing
him the documents one at a time....I then passed him my business card but
before I could suggest an amicable way to resolve these infractions, and then almost
as if on cue, Gabriels front tooth which is loose started to bleed...so it was
perfect....bloodied toilet paper was being passed back and forth, Gabriels in
near tears (they had been warned to be on their best behavior when we were
pulled over)...so the officer tired of us and sent us on our way....So far so good
but it has “cost” me two business cards.
We had been recommended a Jungle Lodge one
hour outside Puerto Maldonado, which is run by a Swiss/Thai couple. Unfortunately,
we had been out of cell phone (email) and internet range since Porto Velho so
we didn't have a chance to download the name/address. I checked the Lonely Planet and found a
lodge run by a Swiss/French couple...20 km outside of the city. I focused on the Swiss part and NOT on
French and convinced myself it WAS the correct lodge.
This particular lodge was also about one
hour out of town...and we did not have a way to call…so we decided to drop in unannounced. The Lonely Planet provided vague but enough directions. Marnie found the dirt
road off the main highway and we started driving into the jungle. Luckily, we came across a Peruvian local
on a tri bike and who confirmed we were on the right dirt road. Surrounded by jungle, we drove for about
6 km until we came across "Estancia Belo Horizonte Lodge". It was a beautiful, peaceful jungle lodge
overlooking the amazon valley!
They had adjacent cabanas, one for Marnie and I and the other for the
boys…perfect. We agreed on a price that included dinner and breakfast and went
down to the pool to cool off. I
used the remainder of daylight to clean out the back of the truck, curse the
shoe box and check the oil. We
had a simple but tasty dinner and chilled without any cell phones/ TV /
Internet.. This wasn’t the lodge we were after, but we would recommend it to
anyone wanting to stay in a peaceful, secluded jungle lodge.
No comments:
Post a Comment