offering a diverse menu of fresh natural food, including fish, fruit and vegetables from the surrounding region.
Upstairs on the second floor there’s more room for dining and living areas. The third floor has the ever-popular hammock area where guests can while away an afternoon or a day without a care in the world, nurtured by the tranquility of this jungle paradise.
Prices start at US 0 a day, and people can support the Refugio by paying US ,000, which makes them donors and eligible for a reduced lifetime rate. They can also pay a greater sum and have a house built on the property for their long-term stay.
There’s also a non-profit wing of the Refugio set up to buy the jungle land to protect it from logging and inappropriate development, which you can donate to and receive a tax-free offset. As well as ‘assimilating’ the land, as Petersen calls it, the money also goes towards helping create employment and education for the villagers.
“I feel like I’ve been gone for a week,” says Rolando, a NGO manager on holiday from Denver. He’s enfolded in the deep comfort of a hammock watching the sun set in brilliant streaks of pink and blue, just hours after arriving.
“Wait till tomorrow – it’ll seem like three weeks,” Petersen counters with a laugh from the hammock opposite, lazily rocking back and forth, the master of his domain.
The Refugio Altiplano is a little slice of heaven on the banks of the Amazon that has to be seen to be believed – but what’s more, it has to be experienced to fully integrate its subtle gifts and healing power.
www.refugioaltiplano.org
The writer was a guest of Aerolineas Argentinas airlines in travelling to Peru.