PERUVIAN RAINFOREST Tambopata Candamo Air Inclusive "Macaw Plus Explorer" program Air Inclusive "Peru Explorer" program

POSADA AMAZONAS
(Mainstream Adventure)
Site Inspection & report by by Michele Shelburne, President, LADATCO TOURS

The Posada Amazonas is new, just opened in August 1998. It is a joint venture between Rainforest Expeditions and the Ese'eja native community.

GETTING THERE: Fly into Puerto Maldonado (35 minutes from Cuzco by jet), 15 minute transfer to the port and 2 hours by motorized canoe to the pier and from there up very nice wooden steps and along a nicely groomed trail to the lodge.

ABOUT THE POSADA AMAZONAS: There is a main reception area with chairs, tables, small library and hammocks. Three long multi-room buildings are reached via pathways "paved" by wooden discs, with a total of 23 rooms. Each building has five or six rooms, each with private bath.

	Rooms are large, with one side totally open to the jungle behind. Beds have the traditional but very necessary mosquito netting. Laterns are placed in special cut-outs in the walls, lighting both the hallways and the rooms, and personal lighting is by candles. There is also a large dining area, also with hammocks. Meals are buffet style, tasty and plentiful.

The Posada Amazonas has the most comfortable bathrooms of the jungle - the floors are slats, making them airy and keeping them dry, as well as allowing things that wander in to as easily wander out. The shower is a stand-alone unit surrounded by shower curtain; the toilet a new one-piece super quiet, water efficient unit; the sink surrounded by shelves for ease of getting your gear organized. And they were large and airy as well.

The little touches make this lodge - use of cut-out niches along the walls for laterns; use of palm fronds on doorways; the spaciousness.

My rating for the Posada Amazonas is "Mainstream Adventure" - anyone in reasonabley good health with a bit of desire and a bit of sweat (inevitable in the rainforest) can do and enjoy the rainforest and wildlife experience. (See Rainforest Information for more information on my ratings.)

The Posada Amazonas will be the "base" for programming continuing on to Tambopata Research Center, both of which are owned and operated by Rainforest Expeditions. The extension to Tambopata Research Center is a "soft adventure" extension.

Packages can begin any day; minimum recommended stay is 2 nights, but three and four nights allow for a slower series of visits, all in the comfort of facilities that include your own private bathroom.