Monkeys.. caimans.. capybaras.. and kittens. Life in Lima is certainly not dull

First things first, my cat, Espie, just had kittens the other night. She is still really young herself so we're just thankful that she only had 3 since we have yet to find homes for them, but they are so stinkin' cute. I'm secretly hoping we don't find homes for all of them because they're going to be pretty hard to give up. She had them during the evening so we got to watch the whole process, which of course was awesome but equally gross. She had 2 calicos just like her and one little grey boy.. adorable.

Well I guess it's about time I post some pictures from my wild adventures in the jungle! It actually wasn't all that wild, but it was definitely fun and a great weekend to get out of Lima and see a gorgeous, WARM part of the country where I could actually see the stars instead of the nasty haze.

Our adorable lodge! Mosquito nets and all :)

Bungalows where we stayed

Our toucan friend that greeted us within minutes of arriving

Piña!

During our stay at this lodge in Puerto Maldonado, we did a lot of walking through the jungle to see the animals and plants. We went on the river the first night in a canoe to look for caiman, which is like a Peruvian crocodile. We saw a few, but I couldn't get any pictures because they flew into the water once we spotted them. I did get some pictures of a capybara though, which is one nasty animal. Apparently it's the largest rodent in the world.. basically a huge guinea pig. Try not to be too grossed out...

Big tree :)

Check out the jumping frog that freaked me out when it jumped in front of my face as I was rummaging through my suitcase

This is where castañas, or Brasilian nuts, come from. This things was seriously heavy.. which apparently is one of the reasons these nuts are expensive because it's a dangerous job gathering these in the jungle because they can fall on your head and do some damage.. I certainly wouldn't want it falling on my head.

Parakeets

Bright green/blue lizard

Monkey Island, where we got to feed the monkeys bananas :)

Monkey on the move.. try not to get too dizzy.. he/she was a little hard to follow.

Monkey! from Lauren McNally on Vimeo.

Canoeing down a little stream to get to Sandoval Lake, where it definitely felt like I was in the middle of NOWHERE...

Bats.. gross.

And lastly.. meet Pedra.

Pedra was our pet monkey for the last day or so that we spent at a different lodge when we went to do some kayaking. She was awesome, but had some attachment issues.. in the sense that she literally would NOT let go of me!! She literally hung around my neck or Amanda's neck for a day straight. The only way we could even go to the bathroom was if we passed her off on each other. When we wanted to go into our bungalow we had to pry her off of us and spring to our door and slam it shut. It was pretty entertaining, and she chased after us on the last day as we went to the airport. She was one cute monkey, minus the time she peed on me, which was probably several minutes after taking this first picture.