Flying over the Andes is beautiful. It is incredibly vast. Peru is extremely diverse with respect to the land: the country contains the world's driest desert (along the coast around Lima), one of the longest and tallest mountain ranges on the planet, and tropical lowland rainforest (among many others). As we passed over the range, the habitat changes to cloud forest and as we got closer to Puerto Maldonado we were flying over lowland humid rainforest.
Padre Aldamiz International Airport in Puerto Maldonado was an eye-opener too. After being use to traveling through airports like Pearson in Toronto and other large city airports, this one was comparably tiny. We got off the plane on the runway (it was even hotter here than in Lima) and got a nice gust of tropical humid air. We proceeded into the arrivals lounge, which was an empty room with one baggage carousel and a souvenirs cart in the corner. We grabbed our bags and headed out the door where we were hoarded with Peruvian mototaxi drivers waiting for us to choose one to take us into town.
Here we had probably our scariest (minimal) experience of the trip. A peruvian woman came up to us and, speaking in spanish, we think she was trying to get us to go on a trip with a 'private guide' she was recruiting for. She was very persistent, pulling out photos and log books from the 'adventure' she could provide for us. We kept telling her (in english) no thanks and that we had travel plans but she was still not letting down. After a few minutes she eventually backed off and we got in our mototaxi and headed into town.
The cost to take a mototaxi into town was S/. 8.00, or the equivalent of about $2 canadian. It was a fun, breezy ride in a 3 seater motobike with a plastic or vinyl covering which we sat under. Our luggage was tied with bungee cables to a rack on the back. This is the main mode of transportation in Puerto Maldonado, and I think it is something that everyone should experience. 
Our main goal once we got into town was to find a place to stay. We did not book anything in advance, since I don't think it was possible (no internet booking and we were not confident enough to call in advance - nobody speaks english in this town). We chose the name of a hotel listed in our pre-departure package, called Hostal El Solar. We got there, got checked into a fairly expensive room (S/. 40.00 for a room with 2 double beds and a washroom). As we started to unpack (we had been in there maybe 5 minutes), there was a knock at the door. I opened it up and it was the same woman who was harrassing us at the airport! She had followed us into town and to our hotel. She tried again to get us to agree to take her experience she was offering, and not to be rude, the only way I could get her to leave was to shut the door. Luckily, that was the last time we saw her. Hostal El Solar was probably the worst accommodation experience I've ever had. The room had a bathroom, which had no toilet seat, no shower curtain, no toilet paper (this is normal though, everyone provides their own) and no light bulb! There was little to no ventilation so it was hotter than hell in there, and the walls are paper thin so you hear everything else in the hotel including its immediate surroundings (dogs barking, chickens in the street, traffic outside). Luckily we had sleeping bags... I did not have a mere sheet on my bed (just a mattress).
That afternoon, after a nap, we explored around town, fired off emails to friends and family at an internet cafe, and called our connection to the biodiversity station and arranged on a meeting place. Everything closes down in the afternoon in town: its siesta time. Good luck trying to find a place to eat during the hours of 1- 4pm. The only guaranteed places that stay open during siesta in this town is internet cafes and cell phone depots. We managed to find a convenience store that was open as well. It was a good opportunity to walk around and see the 'downtown'. Just like Lima, there is a main park (called Plaza de Armas) which is a great place to sit on a bench with an ice cream and watch the busy town. That evening we also had a great tropical thunderstorm, quite expected since it was the wet season.We met our station manager from Piedras Biodiversity Station, Emma, at a great pizza place called El Hornito on the west side of the main park plaza. It does not open until 7pm but its worth the wait for dinner. The menu is huge and the pizzas are cooked in a clay fire oven. Delicious! When we first walked in, we saw 4 American-looking guys sitting at a table. They asked us if we were looking for Emma as well (who had not arrived yet). We sat down with the others who we'd be volunteering with for the next 2 weeks and started to talk about where we were all from. Through narrowing it down (Canada, Ontario, Toronto, Guelph) we realized that these guys were from basically the same place on earth as we were. It was the biggest small-world experience I've ever had. They were also the same age as us. Emma showed up about 20 minutes later, briefed us on the plan for the next day and after dinner, she left and the 6 of us headed to the market to pick up some supplies for the jungle.
The market (or mercado) is a great place to get just about anything you needed for a general stay in the town (or the jungle surrounding the area). We picked up rain ponchos for the guys who needed them, sunglasses, toilet paper, and alcohol (very cheap, too). Apparently the market is where you can get cooked guinea pig to eat.
After the market we headed back to our hotel and settled in for a horrible night sleep, filled with dogs barking outside, roosters crowing at 1 am and a television blaring in the lobby all night long. We were glad to leave that place the next morning, and even more excited to head out to the station. We got ourselves prepared for the next part of the trip - a 10-hour boat trip on Rio las Piedras (river of stone) to Piedras Biodiversity Station.
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