sad departure from the rainforest

Breakfast at 5, then boat for 3 hours, car for an hour and a half, another short boat ride, and another car ride for 2 and a half hours --- all to get to the airport. Very hot and tired by the time we got there, and so sad to see all the tropical rainforest destruction today. We saw gold mining all the way on the river trip, which culminated in a horrible ugly gold mining town, Colorado. Saw where the rainforest had been cut for cattle ranching for the last 2 hours of the drive. Saw some agriculture - bananas. And some logging too. Mario said that 90% of the gold mining is illegal. We passed tons of police and gobs of motorcycles and shanty towns. Was very sad to have to end the magnificent rainforest experience this way. The first 2 hours before we started seeing the destruction, I just stared at the forest and felt so happy that all the animals and plants we saw have such an incredibly special and pristine place to!

Was so tired when we finally got to our hotel in Cusco that I could hardly write an email. Even ate dinner right there at the hotel, because we couldn't manage to walk anywhere! And my head kept dropping onto the table during dinner!