Day 22, April 24, 2015 … The ship is always moving to a new location whenever we are not on the skiffs. Last night we headed north down The Ucayali River toward Iquitos. After breakfast Ricardo gave a teaching on the flora and fauna of the rainforest, the interrelationships of many plants and animals and the conservation efforts to protect them. Then we boarded the skiffs for a five-minute ride to the river’s edge, where we put on rubber boots provided for us and spent the next two hours on a walk through the rain forest jungle!
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| Boa constrictor |
Dennis was introduced to us as a guide, but in actuality, Ricardo did the guiding and Dennis managed to capture several wildlife creatures for us to view up close and personal … including a baby red-tailed boa constructor, a large poisonous bullet ant (later we saw a whole colony of them), termites (the blind smallest termite; locals burn their nests because the “turpentine” smell is a mosquito repellant!) a small dry leaf toad, a yellow spotted turtle, a rather big pink-toed tarantula (which is not poisonous but is toxic), a tiny bright orange red-backed dart frog (which is poisonous!) and a dragon lizard.
Of the 30,000 species of trees in this region, about 10,000 species are considered medicinal. It is
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| Walking palm tree |
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| Sstrangler fig tree |
interesting that they cannot determine the age of the trees as they do not have rings in the trunks because they never stop growing. Their roots are shallow because there is only about a 4-5-inch layer of topsoil on the forest’s floor and even the largest trees live for only 300 years or so.. The walking palm tree’s roots are a group of what looks like twigs coming out of the ground … .like a stick man with many legs … all coming together about 5-6 feet up to form the long trunk reaching for the sky. Another very interesting tree is the strangler fig, which begins on the top of a host tree, sends down roots and eventually strangles its host. We saw one that was estimated to be 200 years old … very impressive. A couple other interesting plants were the monkey ladder vine, a rubber tree (rubber was a major export of the country in the past), palm trees and trees that produce the Brazil nut.
The two hours was like walking in a sauna, so everyone came out totally soaked; however, there were surprisingly few bugs and insects buzzing around. The terrain was a bit rugged and the path narrow … but it is the rain forest after all!! After a quick shower back aboard the ship, we had a cooking lesson on making cerviche and making the national drink, pisco sours! Then, again, another delicious lunch of still more new tastes.
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| Squeezing sugar cane |
This afternoon we visited the village of Amazonis, a community of 300 river inhabitants with whom Aqua works teaching them to earn their livelihood in an eco-friendly way. We were first given a demonstration on how they squeeze the juices from the sugar cane. That juice is used not only as a sweetner but for making a dark rum as well. Women showed us the strips of the heart of
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| Fish dinner |
palm used to weave baskets and the roots and leaves from the rain forest used to die the strips into different colors. Their baskets and napkin rings were very attractive. Several other women demonstrated some of their culinary dishes, mostly fish and bananas … I didn’t know there were so many different ways to cook with bananas! Very interesting.
The children of the village greeted us and performed a few cute things … we are again reminded that kids are beautiful everywhere!! We then had a chance to browse and purchase some of their crafts, after which we went for a short canoe ride alongside the main river in their native dugout canoes. The skiffs then took us to the confluence of the Maranon, Ucayali rivers which form the Amazon River at that point. The three skiffs were tied together, we all toasted with a champagne
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| To the Peruvian rainforest! |
cocktail to the three rivers, the rain forest and their protection for future generations. By time we got back to the ship we were again soaked from the rain, though not quite as bad as yesterday.
This evening we were all directed to the lounge upstairs on the riverboat where we had drinks, and then the grand finale starting with the introduction of the entire staff of 24 after which a half dozen or so became the “Aqua Band” where we enjoyed local music and all danced and celebrated Suzanne’s birthday (one of the guests). Our last dining experience consisted again of a 5-6 course gourmet meal of new tastes, wine, great conversation with fellow travelers, ending with a pisco sour, the national drink (very tasty!) in the upper lounge before retiring for the night. It is hard to believe tomorrow is our last day … it has been thrilling, amazing, enlightening and phenomenal. Come experience this if you can … it’s an experience of a lifetime!
Day 23, April 25, 2015 … Just when you think excursion is over, another revelation awaits you! Through the night the ship cruised up the Amazon and docked this morning along the bank at Iquitos. Remember, it is only accessible by air or by the river, but it is quite a big bustling town. But
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| Belen |
one extremely unique and fascinating cultural lifestyle is that of the riverside squatter community of Belen. About 56,000 people live on the river in small shanties either on stilts or on floating slabs. During this time of high water, their only means of leaving their home is by boat. The living quarters are organized along narrow waterways (streets). The government has the brought electricity to them; but I can’t tell you how many times we had to duck down to avoid hitting the electric lines as our skiff trolled down the water street!! Seems like a disaster waiting to happen.
Many people were out on their little porches either washing clothes by hand in the river water or
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| Belen |
preparing food (using river water as needed) for lunch. Someone brings groceries to them via boat, and they cook over wood fires. Children were hanging out the windows (well … open spaces to provide light and ventilation, no glass) or simply hanging out where we caught a glimpse to wave at them. Some were even swimming … which seemed gross to me since their latrines dump directly down into the river water. It was also surprising and cute to see the beautiful, smaller children maneuvering their little canoes/boats down the water streets. Some people work in the city, some get paid to watch the boats of others, some fish, some gathered fruits, etc., to sell in the city.
We stopped at one place where two young mechanics were repairing a boat engine. That particular house had several squirrel monkeys as pets, and Bob got to hold them. It is really a symbiotic relationship because the monkeys climb all over the roofs and eat the spiders and other insects that plague them. Even the gas station is floating … a unique sight of boats lining up to fill up their engines!! However, coming here during the low water season would provide quite a different sight, as then live on the river bank and move their boats out into the channel. Even having just seen all this, I can’t imagine the lifestyle on water! How they stay healthy, I don’t know; but they certainly are a friendly, gentle people. Amazing!
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| Street in Iquitos |
We came back to the ship one last time, set our luggage outside our room doors to be taken to the airport, one last delicious lunch of fresh Peruvian food with new-found adventurous friends, and then we’re back on the skiffs, taken ashore, boarded on buses for a quick tour of Iquitos. We traveled
through the main square area and through the unique Belen market where many, many sidewalk vendors were selling their goods … a major source of income for those river dwellers. I wish we would have been able to stroll the streets for some shopping!
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| Marcie feeding a manatee |
Our next stop was the Institute for the Conservation of the Amazon Habitat. They rescue babies from the rainforest that would otherwise die, nurse them back to health and then acclimate them to their natural environment. At that point the animal is released back into rainforest. We were even able to feed some of the baby manatees, an endangered species that is quite vital to the rainforest because of the copious amount of vegetation they eat per day.
A couple hours of waiting at the Iquitos airport, a two-hour flight back to Lima, a transport to our most luxurious hotel in Miraflores (a very cosmopolitan area adjoining Lima), a delicious pisco sour and cerveza and we’re at the end of our rainforest adventure!! My words don’t really adequately describe this experience … it is really something one needs to experience personally. It’s not something that was on my bucket list, but I am really, really glad we had this chance to meander through the rainforest!!!
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