Fotografo de Bodas, Santiago

May 11, 2010

About two weeks ago we traveled to the jungle. It was so magical I can barely believe that it ever happened. If it weren’t for the photos and videos I would think we just dreamed that trip up.

We flew into the city of Iquitos, in Peru. It’s the world’s largest city not accessible by road. Our guide told us that 500,000 people live there, though Wikipedia thinks the number is lower, so the guide may have been including the population of surrounding towns.

The minute we our plane touched down, the people from Delfin Amazon Cruises were waiting for us to whisk away. After about an hour ride to the tiny port city of Nauta, where the Delfin II docks, we got off the bus to the Delfin’s welcome area. They gave all the guests little chilled towels that smelled like Christmas, cold water, and the mosquitos began to attack. I was immediately nervous. I could feel my legs getting bitten but it was so hot, even at night, that I couldn’t imagine trying to wear a long sleeved shirt and pants. I hurried on board hoping to unpack my bug spray.

I think I’ll remember that first sight of the river and the jungle for as long as I live. I couldn’t believe how wide the river was, how brown the water was, and how sweet the air tasted. It was so humid that the oxygen we were breathing actually felt thick.

But, because this is a cruise For Ballers Only (or Pretend Ballers Who Are REALLY Lucky) there was air conditioning in all the cabins. No mosquitos nets and hammocks. Just organic cotton sheets, chocolates on the pillow and towels made into marvelous sculptures.

Sweet dreams.

The first night we were so tired. I hadn’t gone to bed at all the night before because we had to be to the airport at 5:30am and that’s the time we normally hit the sack. We’re vampires.

But I still couldn’t sleep. The energy in the Amazon was simultaneously peaceful and electric. Seba and I watched out the window, straining our eyes for a glimpse of the jungle we knew was on shore, but we couldn’t make anything out. The sounds all around us were like one of those cheesy “Noises of the Rainforest,” CD’s — but real. And not cheesy, because they were real.

Eventually I drifted off, and I was so excited to see the Amazon during the day that the next morning I jumped out of bed, even before the alarm went off at 6:45am sharp. Yes, we had to totally adjust our vampire schedules because breakfast was at 7am every morning, before the first expedition of the day at 8am.

The spread for breakfast was pretty out of control. Every kind of tropical fruit you could think of and then about 20 more that you didn’t know existed. For the carnivores, lots of bacon, ham, cheese, eggs and other delectables.

Not to mention the selection of fresh juices every day. I never had any clue what in the world I was drinking, but man, they were all so good! Look how excited Seba is.

Then off to our daily excursions in awesome little mini boats with our guides. Don’t let the face fool you. Seba looks thoroughly unimpressed, but I promise you that he was jumping for joy on the inside.

The world’s largest lily pads!

The first day on our boats, we were mostly all busy oohing and ahhing over the mere fact that we were in the Amazon while our guides explained the area to us. We got to the animal spotting later (parrots and piranhas and three-toed-sloths, oh my!).

27 Comments

Subscribe to comment feed

Facebook comments:

One Trackback

Warning: call_user_func(custom_pings) [function.call-user-func]: First argument is expected to be a valid callback in /home/kylehepp/public_html/wp-includes/comment-template.php on line 1334

26 Comments

Ahhhhhhhh, I can’t wait to see the rest, you’ve definitely wet my appetite! I love what you said here, “I couldnâ€™t believe how wide the river was, how brown the water was, and how sweet the air tasted.” So true!!! One of my favorite things that I saw were the lily pads. Sadly, when I was there there were no blossoms. I’d LOVE to return during the season for flowers! How great are the juices in the Amazon???

Comment by Andi — May 12, 2010 @ 5:34 am

Reply
Totally amazing. I can't wait to see/hear/read more!

Comment by kgseymour — May 12, 2010 @ 11:50 am

Reply
Ahhhhhhhh, I can't wait to see the rest, you've definitely wet my appetite! I love what you said here, “I couldnâ€™t believe how wide the river was, how brown the water was, and how sweet the air tasted.” So true!!! One of my favorite things that I saw were the lily pads. Sadly, when I was there there were no blossoms. I'd LOVE to return during the season for flowers! How great are the juices in the Amazon???

Comment by GlobalButterfly — May 12, 2010 @ 12:34 pm

Reply
Oh my god! Breathtaking!!!

Comment by gringagonesouth — May 12, 2010 @ 1:37 pm

Reply
So jealous!! These are amazing shots of what looks like a fabulous trip! Love them all.

Comment by Sally Honeycutt — May 12, 2010 @ 2:08 pm

Reply
What a wonderful vacation for you both!! I look forward to seeing more images from your fantastic trip

Comment by Rebecca Enslein — May 12, 2010 @ 2:21 pm

Reply
Totally beautiful!!! You both are so lucky

Comment by Karla — May 12, 2010 @ 2:57 pm

Reply
Wow…totally intriguing and beautiful. I'm so jealous!

Comment by hawolf — May 12, 2010 @ 3:51 pm

Reply
Woow las “lily pads” se ven maravillosas! que emociÃ³nante viaje tuvieron, lo encuentro genial.
Felicidades Kyle, es hermoso conocer el mundo

Comment by Loquenoves — May 12, 2010 @ 4:48 pm

Reply
That looks like such an amazing getaway Kyle. I can't wait to see more

Comment by Milena Dekic — May 13, 2010 @ 10:55 am

Reply
i'm so jealous!!!!! this is amazing.

Comment by Rebecca — May 14, 2010 @ 3:46 am

Reply
What a great trip! I'm sure you had an amazing time! Nice shots!

Comment by Philip Boudreau — May 15, 2010 @ 7:07 pm

Reply
Thanks Philip!

Comment by kylehepp — May 21, 2010 @ 5:38 pm

Reply
Amazing doesn't even begin to describe it!

Comment by kylehepp — May 21, 2010 @ 5:38 pm

Reply
I recently caught up on a bunch of client photos so my next blog post will probably be about the Amazon….more soon!

Comment by kylehepp — May 21, 2010 @ 5:38 pm

Reply
Las lily pads de verdad, se veian directo de una cuenta de hadas. Increible!

Comment by kylehepp — May 21, 2010 @ 5:39 pm

Reply
It was sooooo beautiful!

Comment by kylehepp — May 21, 2010 @ 5:39 pm

Reply
I know, I can't believe how lucky it was that we won this trip!

Comment by kylehepp — May 21, 2010 @ 5:39 pm

Reply
Rebecca, it was totally fabulous, if you ever get the chance, you should go!

Comment by kylehepp — May 21, 2010 @ 5:40 pm

Reply
Thank you Sally!

Comment by kylehepp — May 21, 2010 @ 5:40 pm

Reply
It was, the first night, I literally gasped when we got there.

Comment by kylehepp — May 21, 2010 @ 5:40 pm

Reply
I totally want to go back during the dry season so we can go on more land expeditions. Is that when you went? I'm curious as to how different it was from our experience!

Comment by kylehepp — May 21, 2010 @ 5:41 pm

Reply
Totally amazing seeing you yesterday!

Comment by kylehepp — May 21, 2010 @ 5:41 pm

Reply
Yes, it was definitely dry when I went, because I was able to see the line
on all of the trees where the water rises to during the rainy season. The
difference is truly astounding! I'm not sure what the difference would be
other than being able to enjoy more land expeditions. I miss the Amazon A
LOT!!!

In a message dated 5/21/2010 6:52:32 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:

kylehepp wrote, in response to GlobalButterfly:

I totally want to go back during the dry season so we can go on more land
expeditions. Is that when you went? I'm curious as to how different it was
from our experience!

Link to comment:
http://www.kylehepp.com/2010/05/pictures-of-our…

—–
Options: Respond in the body to post a reply comment.

To turn off notifications, go to: http://disqus.com/account/notifications/

Comment by GlobalButterfly — May 22, 2010 @ 3:33 am

Reply
I just love coming back to look at that shot of the boat at night. It’s so beautiful but creepy at the same time. It reminds me of Willy Wonka’s chocolate river and then there’s whole crazy boat ride sequence in the movie, so yeah… Love it! It looks almost fake because the water is so still, like it’s really just a miniature model.

Comment by Sherry — November 15, 2010 @ 10:00 pm

Reply
Sherry, you would absolutely die if you saw this in person. Seeing and feeling the Amazon in person is like nothing you’ve ever seen or felt before. It did almost seem fake, I kept waiting to wake up out of a dream, because I couldn’t believe it was real. Just looking back at these photos I am remembering how thick the air felt and how good it tasted. Nothing like it.

Comment by kyle — November 15, 2010 @ 10:02 pm

Reply