Green Diamond Amazon Lodge — Hotel in Las Piedras

We were a party of four, who spent 2 nights and parts of 3 days at the Green Diamond Lodge in mid- March, 2025. It was recommended by some of the junior members of my cousin’s department so we were expecting a kind of “budget experience” and although that was pretty close to the mark, overall we generally “got value for money”.||We were picked up at the Puerto Maldonado airport in the mid-day and conveyed by taxi to the Lodge’s river landing in the town and thence by boat to the Lodge about 8 kilometres downriver. The river was at high flood at that time with entire uprooted trees occasionally seen floating down river. The Lodge staff were very strict about safety on the river and we were required to wear life jackets at all time in the boat. ||Following our arrival at a very rudimentary landing on the river bank we were shown to our cottages. Everything was pretty basic, a screened veranda, a bedroom, and a bathroom with cold water shower, toilet, and sink. Lunch was served in the dining hall soon after landing. Rice, pork, salad, and chocolate pudding. The food was plain – too plain for me but my three companions were more at ease with the food and I was the only complainer.||The first program at the lodge was to be a “night walk” in the jungle. However the jungle path was flooded by the high water in the river so a “caiman search” after dark in the boat was substituted. I found that exciting. There was fresh air on the dark river. Insects were not a problem. We may have seen a couple of partially submerged eyes peering back at our flashlight but they weren’t obvious. Just being on the water after dark was an adventure. When we returned ashore it was supper time – a large amount of plain rice, chicken, and salad, no dessert.|We were back to the cottage around 20:30. I’m glad I brought my flashlight. There was only about two metres of clearance along the path between the edge of bushes and the two metre drop to the fast-flowing river. Heat and humidity were not a factor on Day 1 at the Lodge. ||The next morning after breakfast we went by boat about 2 kilometres downriver to the native family’s encampment. We had about a 10 minute wait, seated in a kind of pavilion while our trusty guide Miguel rustled up the family. Apparently they were still sleeping at id-morning. We were met by “Norma” – a handsome-looking 20-year old mother with three kids and a 4th apparently on the way. The youngest was quite clingy but the middle child – a girl of 3 or 4, was independent and moved off about 20 feet away. The eldest, a boy, was quiet and stayed close. The grandfather who brought the family there from the government reserve was not especially outgoing. We had fire-making, textile spinning, and archery demonstrations. All were basic but quite interesting. Miguel took us on a citrus tree tour near the family’s encampment. We returned upriver to the lodge for a fish lunch. ||The afternoon program was to be a 6 kilometre round trip through a nature park to Lake Sandoval on the other side of the river, even further downstream. I decided to sit that out but Miguel made other arrangements for me and after we dropped off the members of the “overland expedition”, I went for a boat ride with Captain Wilbur. Then we fished for piranha – or fed the piranha, more accurately. Mostly I just enjoyed sitting there in the boat listening to the sounds of nature all around us. |Just before 16:00, the mosquitoes came out and I requested that we “vamos”. I sat on the cottage veranda for two hours and watched the river flow by as it got dark. The rest of the party arrived back just after dark. The 6 kilometre walk had been along a boardwalk and was not onerous. They all liked the inland lake at the far end of the trail. I appreciated the extra effort to accommodate me separately.|We went back to our cabins, had a cold wash (I couldn’t handle a cold shower even in the jungle) and started to pack for our early morning departure. To our annoyance, the generator was turned off early at 21:40, leaving us to finish our packing work in the dark.||We were up at 04:20 on the third day. Getting dressed and down to the boat landing only took us a few minutes because of our preparations the previous night. We started upriver at 05:00 right on schedule. The pre-dawn start seemed like kind of an adventure. We travelled back up river beyond Puerto Maldonado to view the colourful macaw congregating at the clay cliffs. By and by the birds started to arrive and they were quite impressive to see. There were at least three other boats there with tourists viewing the same activity. There was some jostling for position and we had a minor collision with another boat. I was seating on the left side of the boat which was not a good spot. The bird show went on about twice as long as I would have wished but the others seemed to be fascinated all the while.|We made a final stop to look at a hanging sloth across the river from the landing. Once we were tied up, things moved quickly and soon we were in the taxi and on our way to the airport. ||It was a worthwhile experience. I wouldn’t repeat it but I would recommend it to others if expectations are managed. We were well taken care of by our guide/ tour director Miguel. My lasting impression of the three days was how a fire can be quickly lit from basic supplies by an experienced person if she has the...

Pros: ||If you’re lucky enough and they hired a freelance guide named Bryan (ig: amazingvacations_tambopata) you’re in for a great time for the activities. He’s the best guide I’ve ever had. He’s very passionate and knowledgeable about the jungle and his job. He goes the extra mile to make sure his tourists are doing well and get to experience as much jungle life as possible. When I was sick, he was practically my emergency doctor. He’s super fun and reliable.||||Cons: ||This lodge does have their own permanent guide, I think his name is Jose. He’s not very friendly and put me through some troubles when I tried to arrange a departure time with the lodge. Everyone would mostly likely get this guide for their activities at this lodge since he’s the permanent guide.||||There are no fans in the rooms and they only have electricity for a few hours everyday with only 1 electric fan in the entire common room. They don’t have any hand-held manual fan. It got extremely hot during the day and I had multiple heat strokes. The rooms are not that clean (especially the bathroom) for the price that they charge ( $400 USD per person before tips for 4 days). The bathroom floor and walls are moldy and slimy. Top of the mosquito nets have tons of dead insects upon our arrival, it seemed like it wasn’t cleaned before our checkin. I forgot whether they’ve mentioned that they don’t have hot water, but there’s no hot water for showering. There are also no water from midnight till 6am, so good luck if you need to use the restroom at night. The food had enough variety, but quality and quantity were insufficient. Meals are mostly consisted of carbs. I also started having food poisoning symptoms since I arrived at this lodge. Not sure if it’s something in the food or the water. ||||Some staff in this lodge (I think her name is Dalaï based on what Jose told me) also tried to push my departure time an hour earlier so she could pickup the new guests immediately when they arrived without taking another trip for her convenience and cost. I had to contact one of the upper management of the lodge and express the fact that just because I’m a guest who is leaving doesn’t it make it right to completely sacrifice my convenience so they could please the new guests. Eventually this manager was able to work out a much more reasonable departure...

Pros: If you’re lucky enough and they hired a freelance guide named Bryan (ig: amazingvacations_tambopata) you’re in for a great time for the activities. He’s the best guide I’ve ever had. He’s very passionate and knowledgeable about the jungle and his job. He goes the extra mile to make sure his tourists are doing well and get to experience as much jungle life as possible. When I was sick, he was practically my emergency doctor. He’s super fun and reliable.

Cons: This lodge does have a permanent guide, I think his name is Jose. He’s not very friendly and put me through some troubles when I tried to arrange a departure time with the lodge. Everyone would mostly likely get this guide for their activities at this lodge.

There are no fans in the rooms and they only have electricity for a few hours everyday with only 1 electric fan in the entire common room. They don’t have any hand-held manual fan. It got extremely hot during the day and I had multiple heat strokes. The rooms are not that clean (especially the bathroom) for the price that they charge (~ $400 USD per person before tips for 4 days). The food had enough variety, but quality and quantity were insufficient. Meals are mostly consisted of carbs. I also started having food poisoning symptoms since I arrived at this lodge. Not sure if it’s something in the food or the water.

Some staff in this lodge (I think her name is Dalaï based on what Jose told me) also tried to push my departure time an hour earlier so she could pickup the new guests immediately when they arrived without taking another trip for her convenience and cost. I had to contact one of the upper management of the lodge and express the fact that just because I’m a guest who is leaving doesn’t it make it right to completely sacrifice my convenience so they could please the new guests. Eventually this manager was able to work out a much more reasonable departure...