Peruvian Rainforest -- April 2015 -- Days 19 and 20

Day 19, April 21, 2015 … The ship docked in Calleo, an area just northwest of Lima. We’re up by 4:30 to get packed, eat breakfast and be off the ship by 5:30.  Our transfer to the airport got mixed up, so we didn’t get picked up until almost 7:30. But we arrived at the airport in plenty of time and by 12 o’clock we were in Iquitos, where we were met by the Aqua Expeditions touring guides.  They picked up our luggage and ushered us to waiting mini air-conditioned busses.  The temperature is very warm compared to Lima, as it averages in the high 70’s and 80’s every day.

Moto-kars
Iquitos, Peru

Iquitos is encircled by rivers and rainforest and is the largest isolated city with no roads connecting to the outside world.  My first impression was of the thousands of motor cycles and three-wheel motor-rickshaws called moto-kars jockeying for position on the streets.  The motor rickshaws are made in Iquitos, and because they are affordable, they outnumber any other vehicle types.  The streams of those covered rickshaws coming down the street simply fascinated me. Iqiutos is an older city, built by the rubber barrons of the 19th century, with the buildings built right next to each other, many with rusty galvanized steel roofs. Most buildings also had wrought-iron gates on the doors and windows, similar to what we saw in other South American countries, and the streets were filled with vendors, either store-front or just individuals selling fruit or some sort of food to eat.  It is a bustling town of about 620,000 people.

The river is important to the town as a food source and for tourism and for bringing in supplies and exporting their product. For lunch we were dropped off on a street, walked down the steps to a pier where a covered river taxi took us almost a mile across the river to a floating restaurant, which included a sun deck and an inclosed swimming pool.  Others we talked to who have been here for a week or so gave high praise to the food in Peru, and that was certainly proven correct at this very interesting, tasty lunch consisting of many items I’d never heard of before!

After lunch we taxied back across the river, back on the mini-vans for an almost two-hour ride

The Aqua

through the Peruvian country side to Nauta, a town of 25,000 along the river.  We were hustled onto another small boat, which took us to the Aqua, our home for the next 5 days.  It is a ship with 12 air-conditioned suites, all having large windows for a panoramic overlook the river and river’s edge as we navigate! The rooms are spacious and modern. There are only 15 people on this particular excursion – 2 couples from Wisconsin, a woman from Chicago, another couple from Oklahoma and several couples from Great Britain and Australia.  One brochure described this excursion as … “you are about to embark on an exciting adventure that even many of the most seasoned travelers have not done.”

 

Dinner was again delicious, but was of 5 or 6 courses of foods I was not familiar with.  Interesting!  Well … it’s off to bed a bit early since its been a long day and tomorrow starts at 6 a.m.!!  It’s going to be amazing meandering down the Amazon and its tributaries!

Day 20, April 22, 2015 … Up early, a delicious breakfast, and by 8 o’clock we (except Bob, who stayed back to rest, still fighting his cold) were all donned in our life vests and loaded onto skiffs for our first rain forest adventure.  And a fantastic adventure it was!

We are in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve between the Ucayali and Maranon Rivers, These two major rivers come together to form the Amazon River, but are also considered the Amazon proper.  The Reserve covers about 8,000 square miles, twice the size of Yellowstone National Park. There are two main “seasons” here … high water and low water.  High water occurs generally from October through April, flooding large areas of the rain forest and the animals must find shelter higher in the trees.  During this time 99 percent of the Reserve is under water; only 1 percent high ground!  We are fortunate to be here during high water, as the little 20-30-foot wide tributary we navigated today that meanders deep into the rain forest drops down to a mere trickle in the low season.  However, durng the low water season when the water drops down 15-35+ feet, large beaches are formed and local residents plant crops such as watermelon, peanuts, rice, beans, etc., along the river’s edge!

But the sightings today were so fun … martins, Toucans, Macaws, parrots, tanagers, white bellied

swallows, kingfishers, bats, many other birds I’d never heard of before, many different types of monkeys swinging through the treetops, a three-toed sloth, a beautiful two-foot lizard sunning itself in the tree, a tree rat, a gorgeous orange butterfly and a couple iridescent blue butterflies.  At the very end of the little river, the skiff was trudging through green water cover of water hyacinths, similar to water lilies, but a smaller plant. We were looking for anacondas that normally sun themselves on these carpets of green.  The snake is my least, least, least favorite of God’s creatures (and that’s putting it mildly!), but I thought my snake-loving grandsons would like a picture.  But that was not to be this morning!

After lunch and a little siesta, we were back out on a different river, The Dorado. The sightings started out with a delightful show by both grey and pink dolphins.  We spotted a group of common squirrel monkeys jumping through the tree tops, plus a couple brown capuchin monkeys and a red

howler monkey.  From the river we scooted through the woods, now mostly under water, except for the canopy, spotting many horned screamer birds skimming along the water, plus a black-collared hawk.  Once we crossed Oxbow Lake, the skiff was nudged into the woods where we stopped to fish for piranha … yes, piranha!  Several people caught a few red-bellied piranha which is part of the locals’ regular diet.  My goodness, they have big sharp teeth!  It was a lot of fun.

By now it was getting close to dusk and we’re on the lookout for caiman. There are no alligators or

crocodiles in South America, but the caiman is a similar but smaller version. We spotted one little spectacled caiman, but now it was time to simply watch and enjoy the gorgeous sunset on the river. We head back to the ship in the dark, but one of the guides leads the way with a large spotlight, quickly looking along the banks and trees for glimpses of eyes, nocturnal wildlife.  Hurray … a two-foot black caiman was spotted and caught! So we all had an opportunity to touch it and pose for pictures with it, of course!  So exciting!  We also spotted a kinkajou in a tree, a type of raccoon, and an ordinary opossum. 

Ricardo, Marcie and the black caiman

After another scrumptious dinner of many new tastes, Roland (one of the naturalists) taught us about half a dozen different kinds of fruits and nuts from this area and how they are used … fascinating.  It’s been an absolutely, positively amazing day.