I ended my previous post somewhere deep in the jungles of Peru. We had flown from Lima to Iquitos, spent an hour in the car driving to Nauta where a boat was waiting for us for a three-day tour through the jungle. Indeed, I was prepped and ready to go on a fancy shmancy cruise.

The boat was very luxurious. Big bedrooms, a stunning boat deck and a group of no more than 20 people. As you might have guessed, the average age of the guests was rather high but that didn’t make it any less gratifying. Three full days filled with things like “skiff explorations” and impeccable food. A skiff is one of those small boats that fits about 8 people that you use to go ‘exploring.’ Our tour guides were immaculately great at recognizing various types of birds or monkeys and pointed out every Black Collared Hawk that flew by and showed us the tiniest Rain King Fishers of all the Amazon King Fishers situated in tree tops.

The guides used the clock and eye level system to show us the various birds. The bow of the boat symbolized twelve o’clock, a little on the right was 1 o’clock, and so on. And then a bird located on eye level was evidently referred to as “eye level,” a little higher up was “middle forest” and up a bit further was “high forest.” So what went down was pretty much this: “Look guys, there’s a Black Collared Hawk at eleven o’clock at middle forest!” My inner Indiana Jones has never been more excited.

Otters were shooting past us, we saw dozens of little monkeys, squirrels, caimans, we spotted gigantic fish and even had an afternoon of piranha fishing planned. And I would just very much like to add that this girl single handedly caught 3 (THREE!) piranhas. Seriously, drop me off anywhere in the wild. I can handle it.

We even stolled through the jungle (unfortunately I was a feast for thousands of bugs) and had amazing three course dinners. Seriously though, these cruises aren’t half that bad. The only drawback would be, as I stated before, the average age of the guests, but somewhere along the line it was also quite touching and very peaceful.

After the cruise, we flew back to Lima for our final leg of the trip. We packed our suitcases, check out of our hotels and spent the final day at one of the most historic parts of Lima – which is very very beautiful and impressive. But then unfortunately it was time to head back home. I was bumped up to business class for the flight back home (as I mentioned here) and returned feeling very well rested.

So to summarize my trip: Peru is sensational, but a week was too short. I’ll make sure to write a travel guide with a list of must-see’s and must-go’s from the places I visited (Lima, Paracas, Ica and Iquitos), so if you have a trip to Peru planed (do it!) keep an eye out on our site. And as for now, all I have left to say is: bye Peru, you were fantastic and I promise I’ll be back soon.