August 31 Saturday – Depart U.S. 

We’re off on another adventure…this time so South America touring Machu Picchu and the Galapagos.  We are also going on the pre-trip to the Peruvian Amazon but opted out of the Bolivia post-trip.

There are many biting bugs in the Peruvian Amazon and actually all throughout Peru and Ecuador, so we have taken typhoid pills for protection. We started taking malaria pills that we will take for the entire duration of the trip and then 7 days after our return. Since the altitude will be over 12,000 feet at times, we will be taking altitude sickness pills and since the Galapagos Humboldt current can cause a rocky cruise, we will also have scopolamine patches. YIKES!!!

It’s a little daunting…particularly since dengue fever is on the rise and there is no vaccine or pill to take for protection. We just hope that by wearing long sleeved shirts and long pants that have been treated with permethrin, as well as using picaridin insect spray, we will be protected. Fingers crossed. 

Allan recently read about an indigenous people that live along the Amazon that came out of the jungle in 2022, and, using a 6-foot arrow, killed a logger.  The loggers have been decimating the trees, and I guess the tribe said enough is enough. 

The good news is…we won’t be wielding machetes or chainsaws while we traverse the Amazon. The other good news is… we will be meeting an indigenous tribe on our itinerary… and they apparently will be teaching us how to use blow guns. Maybe we can take one with us…just in case we are confused along the way with loggers. LOL!

As always…please follow along on the blog. I hope to post every day but will not be posting on the ship in the Galapagos since we won’t have wifi.   

Accommodations:  JOSE ANTONIO, LIMA