Getting There and Around the Amazon Rainforest

Getting to the Amazon Rainforest isn't too hard. Once I landed in Pureto Maldonado I took several different modes of transportation to get around - truck, boat, raft. And of course I used my feet a lot!

$To get to the Peruvian Amazon you fly into Puerto Maldonado. There are several flights a day that go to and from Cusco, all before noon. As you can see, there are many different modes of transportation waiting to take you to your destination. Ours was the large white truck with the thatch roof.\n\nThe Puerto Maldonado airport actually has a really decent gift shop. The town's major industries are mining, fruit, and logging. When we landed there were rumors going around that there was going to be a transportation strike. I don't know if I would have enjoyed being stuck out there for another couple of days or not - I would have missed the rest of my tour and the food supplies would have dwindled down to locally available fruits.$ 01-airport-transportation	02-motorized-canoe	03-lunch
$The raft at Oxbow Lake. It was both propelled and steered by a large rudder in the back. The idea was not necessarily to get anywhere, but to get onto the lake to see the wildlife. We did not get to see the giant river otters that inhabited the aptly-named crescent-shaped body of water.\n\nThere was one other vessel on the lake at the time - a canoe with a sole dozing Stanford graduate student.$ 05-oxbow-lake-catamaran