Earlier this month I set off on a week-and-a-half-long adventure through Peru. The trip started off a little rough, as our midnight flight out of JFK got canceled about an hour before we were supposed to take off. After waiting in a line for hours to reschedule our flight, we were finally told we could get on a flight the next day. I headed to a nearby hotel to get some sleep and relax before heading back to the airport to hop on our flight.

Luckily, this flight took off without a hitch; and before I knew it, I woke up and we were landing in Lima. We were supposed to have a day in Lima, but due to the flight cancellation, we missed that day and had to hop on another flight over to Puerto Maldonado. We had a couple hours to kill, so we grabbed some lunch. Once it was close to our departure, we quickly got through security and headed to our gate for our 30-minute flight.

Once we landed in Puerto Maldonado, we were greeted by our host from Inkaterra, the hotel property we were staying at. They explained to us that we would have to take a short van ride to the docks to get on a boat to get to the hotel. Since we were heading into the Amazon rainforest, the only way we could get to the hotel was via boat.

After a quick 25-minute boat ride, we were greeted with a welcome bell and smiling faces at Inkaterra Hacienda Concepción. The staff waiting at the dock helped us off the boat and led us to the main house of the hotel, where a welcome drink and cold towelette were waiting for us. The welcome drink, a mint lemonade, hit the spot and was so refreshing after being out in the humid, hot weather. While we were enjoying our drink, the host explained a little bit about the hotel before we were given the keys to our cabanas. Before heading down to our cabanas, we were all starving, so we decided to eat lunch. I ordered a delicious lentil salad as an appetizer and the Lomo Saltado, a delicious beef dish, as my main course. I was very happy with the first meal on my trip.

We had an afternoon excursion planned; so once we were done eating, we headed to our rooms to settle and change before heading on our excursion around the property. Our first excursion was a nature walk through the hotel’s Concepción’s Trail System. We learned all about the native trees, plant life, local birds, bugs, animals and more. We got to see little squirrel monkeys jumping from tree to tree and even heard howler monkeys making themselves known. We followed the sounds so we could catch a glimpse of them as well.

When it started to get dark out, we headed back to our cabanas  to grab our flashlights and anything else we might need for our Twilight River excursion. The Twilight River ride was designed for us to catch rare glimpses of nocturnal animals that live in the rainforest. We were hoping to see a caiman, also known as an alligator, or a sloth, but unfortunately we didn’t get to see those. We did get to see some nocturnal birds, which was cool.

After our excursion we headed back to the main house for a late dinner. The dinner menu was a little different from lunch but was still delicious.  Once we were all done eating, it was late and we were tired from a busy day of traveling, so we said our goodnights and headed back to our cabanas for the night.

Our cabanas were open-air and only had screens for the windows, so we could hear every noise made throughout the night in the jungle. For the most part I slept well the first night despite all the outdoor noises, but at one point I was awakened by monkeys running across my roof. For a second I was nervous that they were in my room, but after a quick check, I was reassured that they were just running around outside, so I was able to go back to sleep quickly. Overall, despite the travel issues, my first day of my Peru adventure was one-of-a-kind. Keep your eyes out for details on Day Two!

— Mary Melnick, social media & editorial manager