Renaco Lodge

Our guide Willy knew a lot, and he also cooked every meal over a wood fire. We had pirhana, catfish, chicken, and more, and everything was terrific. We stayed five days at Renaco Lodge. It's rustic and close to nature, with nothing plastic about the experience. If you're after a Hilton, this isn't the place. For a back-to-nature trip, I'd give it five stars.

This isn't a luxury trip, more like local life with a few Western touches, such as a shower in your lodge. I really enjoyed it. We were fed three good-sized meals a day, and over our seven days and six nights we saw monkeys, birds, spiders, and both gray and pink dolphins. We also learned about Amazon plants and their medicinal uses, and went fishing for catfish and piranhas. Tours were split around the hottest part of the day, usually stopping from noon to 3 p.m., then sometimes continuing into the evening. There were night walks in the jungle on some nights.

We spent a whole week with Eduardo, who took us along and helped make our wishes come true. There was no fixed program, we planned things together based on what we wanted. The lodge is very basic, but has a warm family feel, and the delicious food was well prepared and served three times a day. With local guides around us and the jungle all around, it was a wonderful way to enjoy nature far from the internet and phone. Highly recommended!