Refugio Amazonas...A Little Slice of Paradise

One of the places we stayed in the rainforest was Refugio Amazonas. I would best describe this as a "jungle lodge," and even though it was in the middle of the rainforest and there wasn't electricity for most of the day, it was a great place to stay. I think it probably felt especially nice because we had just come from three days of no running water, flushing toilets, or electricity of any kind.

We had to take boats to get to Refugio, and it was about a two hour boat ride. I loved the time we spent in the boat. The sun was shining and we were moving quickly enough that there was a great breeze which kept us all cool. It was very refreshing. When we got to Refugio, we had to walk the trail for about ten minutes to get to the lodge. Fortunately, we did not have to carry our own suitcases because the staff took them to the lodge for us. At first I thought they carried them by hand, but later I saw that they had carts and a pulley system. Very sneaky!

When we came out of the forest, there was the lodge rising up in front of us. It was two stories tall and it looked like a little slice of Heaven to me. As we came in the front, they handed us each a washcloth that was cool and wet because it had been kept in the refrigerator. I laid the whole thing across my face and just left it there for a few minutes. I'm not sure if I've ever felt anything so refreshing and wonderful in my whole life. It was almost as good as air conditioning. They also had juice for us to drink. Delightful!

Our rooms were big and beautiful. One whole wall was open to the forest, but it just seemed so peaceful and serene. I was happy to have some creature comforts...a bathroom with running water and a flushing toilet. An actual shower with nice big towels to go along with it. The water was cold, but after being so hot all the time, it felt really refreshing. The beds were comfortable and had the requisite mosquito netting. The staff came and set up the netting while we were at dinner. This was definitely my style of life.

One night we went out on a caiman search. This was fun. We got back into the boats and cruised up and down the shore looking for caiman. (I've included a picture of a caiman that I took during the day so that you can see what they look like. I couldn't really take good pictures like that at night.) The guides would shine lights along the riverbank trying to get reflections from their eyes. We really only saw one, but it was still fun to look.

When we got back to shore, some of us stayed on the beach for awhile. We just sat and listened to the sounds of the forest. I thought that this was one of the best moments of the trip. We could hear frogs and insects, and it was very peaceful . The moon was full, so even though the rest of the forest was very dark, we had a lot of light. The night sky looks different in the southern hemisphere than it does in the northern hemisphere. The view of the moon is not the same...there's no "man in the moon," and there are other constellations that what we're used to seeing in the north. After awhile, I laid back on the sand and just watched the moon and stars and listened to all the animals.  The sounds of the forest were so soothing, I could have stayed there all night.

Several nights later I was walking back to my room. Most other people were already asleep, so it was very quiet. Again, the moon was bright, and it was a surreal moment to stand on the walkway in the moonlight with nothing else but the sounds of the forest. I felt very small in a big world

that night.