A Letter from past Guest to Otorongo Amazon River Lodge
Hello all, I really enjoyed receiving this letter from two guests that were at the lodge while I am in upstate New York. As I always ask our guests how their experience was, this response stood out as something that I should publicize, with their permission of course.
Thank you Darren and Andrea!
Hey there Anthony,
Andrea and I had a fabulous time. It was a great experience and that was in large part due to how your crew at the lodge works together to make things happen. The food was as good as it was bountiful and after chatting over dinner about how we like lentils they were available every day.
Another example is us running out to move the shirts we hung out to dry, only to find that Roxanne had already done so. It´s that sort of attention that really made it special. (by the way WE hung our shirts only because I have only two and wanted it immediately. Roxanne did a fabulous job of our laundry for us)
Both Tayo the local guide and Osmar worked hard to ensure that we saw as much of the jungle as possible. Also we enjoyed the flexibility in our schedule. Camping and fishing was not high on our list of things that needed doing so we spent more time exploring the different environments of the forest. Osmar has obviously worked very hard educating himself regarding the flora and fauna in the region, as well as sharpening his ability to pick out the pelejos (sloths)
In all it was a great experience. Thank you.
Now the constructive criticism, as long as you were away we were very happy with our experience and will recommend you via Tripadvisor and the LP.
With the visit to the Oran village we had a great opportunity to see a little of how folks live in the area, touring the farm, trying some of the food, chatting with some of the locals, and seeing how they weave the "shingles" together for the roofs of their homes. We even got to see Tayo´s home in the midst of construction.More of this sort of demonstration and sharing of the "How we live" and perhaps "Why we live this way" would be great while visiting the smaller village as well.
We have visited other villages in Loas for instance and aside from simply wandering around while they did their usual daily duties, we were encouraged to watch as they pounded the rice, mended their tools, tended the animals, and looked after the rice fields(on the side of the hill by the way)
I think Osmar was aware of how interested we were in how people lived because he made a special stop at the rice field that had just been harvested before the water came up over it. There he explained a lot to us.
So...once again, Thank you and keep up the good work. You´ve put together a great lodge attracting critters by the pond, flowers and trees on the property, but you´ve also got a great team there.
Cheers,
Darren and Andrea
By the way, it was wonderful that Elena contacted us after the trip to let us know that she had arranged a taxi for our trip to the airport the day we left since we hung around Iquitos an extra couple nights.
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