The dining room was a great place to take refuge from the mosquitoes and bugs. Take your time to look at the wooden plaques hanging on the ceiling. They were painted by previous travelers, and a lot of them were very creative and funny. There was a hammock house for relaxation, but if you stayed there at dusk, you would turn into mosquitoes’ dinner. The bar was open 24 hours, and the bartender claimed to make the best pisco sour in the Amazon. The supply of pisco sour can be limited on an overcast day when there is not enough solar energy to power the blender. Drink all the pisco sour you can while supplies last!

I was delightfully surprised by the service level at this lodge. Luggage was delivered to our room very shortly after we’d checked in. Beds were made everyday before noon. Water tanks at the hallway were always full. The meals at the lodge were not five-star but were very well done. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were all buffet style. The menu included a good variety – rice, salad, local vegetables, a meat course, fresh fruit, rolls, and desserts. No one would go hungry at this place. I was also impressed with how clean the dining room and buffet tables were.

The lodge kept a few pets and they were Charles the Capyhara. He’s friendly and comfortable with tourists and flashlights. Adrain the toucan was always at the entrance of the dining room to greet us before breakfast and lunch.

Not everybody would like this bare-bones accommodation, but if you survived it, you would go home and brag about how tough you were, like I did.

The ExploroNapo Lodge features similar accomodations and facilities as the Explorama Lodge. There is a main dining hall and bar area along with a relaxing hammock house for relaxing between adventures. The bedrooms offer a beautiful open air view of the jungle and river and include mosquito netting to help you have the perfect nights sleep.

After lunch we went to our rooms eager to see where we''d be sleeping. The room was small and comfortable, consisting of two twin beds surrounded by mosquito netting. Perfect considering the only time we spent in the room was to sleep.

Restroom and shower facilities are down a walkway a short distance from the room. There is no electricity here so the showers are brisk and refreshing after a day in the jungle.

Evenings at the lodge are relaxing and casual. As the sun goes down the staff lights kerosine lamps along walkways and inside rooms that cast a gentle glow throughout the area. The nightly seranade from the jungle begins as the frogs and other wildlife emerge.

The staff offers nightly seranades of their own in the bar where guests can gather for a quick nightcap or hot tea before calling it a night. For a quieter time head to the hammock house, where you can sway to the tunes of the tree frogs. Both are perfect places to swap stories of your day with other guests before heading off to bed.

We were always in bed by 9:00 since morning comes rather early in the jungle. The resident macaws fly in to have their breakfast as soon as the sun comes up. They are very vocal as they announce their arrival and don''t come with a snooze button. They are also incredibly loud and could put the largest rooster to shame so bring ear plugs if you plan on sleeping past 6:00 a.m.

I''m not a morning person but since this is the best time to see wildlife we had a 5:30 wakeup call each morning so we could do an activity before breakfast. These trips proved to be some of the more peaceful and relaxing we had and were also cooler since the sun wasn''t as strong. This is the first time I ever found myselve heading to bed anticipating a 5:30 wake up call!

Check the Explorama website for more information at www.explorama.com