More photos in the Amazon

Saturday

We asked for another early morning excursion so Segundo took anyone who was interested in an early morning bird outing. It was a nice morning and we took the skiff and were just slowly going down the main channel and slowing or stopping when we saw something. We saw a couple of big green monitor lizards up trees and some beautiful birds, but only a few were close enough to really see well. But it was still pleasant and there were no mosquitos bothering us even.
When we got back we had the best breakfast yet of pancakes and cereal and other stuff. We by this time were docking in Nauta, which is a fairly large size town. We got off and did a walking tour through the fruit and vegetable and meet markets. Then we had some free time but did not find but one market with native craft type stuff. That family had a 5 month old red howler monkey and I felt since we took photos, we should buy something so we bought a basket. The monkey was really cute. So was the basket. We walked on over to the square where we were to meet as a group. From there we got in the auto-taxi which is a motorcycle taxi like a tuk tuk and they took us for a nice ride through town and out in the country. Our driver was a bit interesting-we had an accident right off the bat when he cut it too close to another one and hit it….nothing was hurt or at least the damage fit with all the rest of it! Then we got back to Nauta and were at the native market so there were a few more places. We had a few minutes to look but there were not many things, though we did buy 3 more baskets for gifts.
We walked back to the skiff and back to the boat for lunch. After lunch we did our packing and getting ready for our flights tomorrow.
We went on our last skiff ride late in the afternoon. It was beautiful and while we still did not see any big anacondas or other snakes and such, we did see more beautiful scenery and birds and had a good time. Our only snake of the trip was a dead fake coral snake in the road on the tuk tuk ride. A fake coral snake is a real snake and looks like a coral snake but is not poisonous-it has a white belly. A couple of people did see a snake on their canoe ride but the rest of us were not so “lucky”.
We finished the evening with our farewell dinner on board the ship. It has been a wonderful group of people to travel with and the Arapaima staff and OAT team has been great. We spent our last night on the ship in the dock at Iquitos. We have an early wake up call so we can get to the airport in Iquitos for our flight to Lima. Then we have a hotel room in Lima and they take us to a restaurant for lunch. Our plane leaves right after midnight so we have all day and head to the airport about 8 PM. It has been a great trip but we are tired and ready to be home. It has been very interesting and we have seen beautiful things and met wonderful people and are blessed to have done this.

Friday's Adventures

We woke up at 6 this morning and after breakfast we went in the skiff for another adventure in the jungle. We saw a saddle backed tamorine (monkey) which was what we saw the other day at the village where they had the crafts out for us. He scampered around , there actually were at least two of them, so it was neat to see them in the wild after seeing that one up close. They are really cute monkeys. We saw some more blue morpho butterflies. We hacked our way into a secluded area that was a canopy and tried to catch piranha but none were biting at all in that place. But while we were there, I saw a hummingbird for a long time in one of the leafy areas. Eric could not see it so we are not sure what kind it was. I thought we would see many more of those than we have, but we saw more at Machu Picchu than we have at this area. We moved to another place to try our hand at fishing. We were successful at that place, at least some of us were. We used raw beef as bait and the poles were long sticks and they just had the hooks and weight on them. We had to feel the fish biting and snag them. I caught one tiny one but asked them to throw it back in. I had three more out of the water but they “got away”. yeah yeah, I know. Then anyone who wanted to go swimming could go. It was raining and it was right at the place we caught the pirahna but about 8-10 people went in, including Jim. There was a dolphin playing in the water on the other side of the boat so you could say they went swimming with the dolphins. It started out clear when we left this AM but started sprinkling and did that off and on for awhile, turning into a steady heavy sprinkle. We were all pretty wet by the time we got back, even with ponchos and such, just from the length of time we were out. It is nice really though as it is not as hot when it rains and with the rains being gentle, we can still go and do. Today is laundry day though and we are all down to our last duds and the rain doesn’t help! Socks, pants and underwear are at a premium! Most of us brought more shirts so are doing ok with those, except for the long sleeved, cover up variety.
Also, we are using the 97% deet and the mosquitos are coming up to us while we are spraying! These things are vicious! I killed about 7 in our room this morning just slapping my hands. We have been bitten several times but not as bad as I would have expected, but I think to not get bitten would be impossible.
I have given up trying to photograph the birds except when one is extremely close. It is so vast here and it is just too hard to catch them where you can see the color. We saw a toucan on the journey this morning but it was again
at a far distance. I am glad I saw one in Argentina when we went as that may be the only one in the wild I ever see! Secondo , our naturalist is especially good at spotting things for us.
We went into a community for a home hosted meal today. It was certainly one of the most different ones we have done. The house was pretty new but was basically all open except for one enclosed room that was about 8x8 where they slept as well as the oldest son was an artist and he painted there. We all bought one of his paintings as they were more souvenir types than anything but it was a nice way to support his talent. There were 8 children in the family and 6 of them were there with us. The food was cooked on a wood fire grill and included placostemus (catfish) like we use to clean aquariums, except much larger, wild guinea pig, another fish cooked in palm leaves, palm nuts, and other things. We spread palm leaves on the floor and that is how the food is served. They had a pet parakeet that was fun to watch. There was also a beautiful moth that was similar in color to the blue morpho butterfly.
After Siesta, we got in the skiff again and went to the shore where there was a eco tourism resort. We went a short distance to the dock of a small lake where we got in catamarans, which were boats that were two dugout canoes tied together. We could go 7 people in each catamaran and a driver. I sat in the front and they gave me a paddle so guess I had to help. I made sure to sit in the back the next time. There were beautiful birds flying all around the lake and Secondo heard a pigmy marmoset monkey but we could not see it. But we did spot some more of the saddle backed tamorin monkeys from the catamaran. Then when we got to the start of the trail, we split into two groups and we went with Secondo who very shortly saw two big families of the same monkeys. We stopped and watched those and then continued up the trail. The trail had big tree slices for stepping stones and they had put wire mesh on there to help with traction. But it was still slippery in places. The total walk was 3 miles roundtrip and was really a wonderful experience. Midway, there was a canopy walk with the wires and ropes and was like swinging bridges from big tree to big tree. We saw some birds but none too close. We got back and took the catamaran back to the lake boat dock and on the way we saw a baby caiman on a log sticking out of the water. And shortly after that, we saw about 8-10 big capybaras eating near the shore so we were able to see them in the daylight and it was really amazing as they are huge.
After dinner, we had a talk by Eric about shaman. Then we had a visit from one -he came on board and we met up on the top deck and he explained what he does. It was very different from the Shaman we saw in the Andes. This one is more of an herbalist and while there is some spiritualism tied in, it is more about curing people who are sick with natural things that the rainforest has. Since there are no medical doctors except in really large cities, his knowledge of which plants can help things is very valuable. It was very interesting

Thursday on the Amazon

Today we were supposed to get up early to go on an early morning boat ride with a picnic breakfast in the skiff. But it began raining during the night and was raining hard enough at 6AM that they decided to postpone and see what happened a little later. So we slept in and had breakfast and 8 and all agreed we’d don ponchos and let’s go anyway to see what we could see. It was a great adventure! We wound our way through small canals that were more like what we pictured the Amazon to be like. We were in the Pacaya Samiria Reserve. We had to sign in and sign out that we were visitors there. We saw a red howler monkey, and wonderful pink dolphin who played with us in the small waters. They were jumping all around us and we never knew where they would show up next. They were so close and it was really spectacular. They are so much larger than the grey dolphins we had seen earlier. We then spotted a hoatzin, the bird that has two stomachs like the cow. And it looks like a pre-historic bird. There was a pair of them and our guides chopped (with machete) our way so the boat could get a clear view of them and they stayed in the same spot and we all got great views of them. So we were excited about those. We had to chop down limbs and all sorts of things to get to these newly flooded areas. It did rain but it was a very slight rain and it was cooler and we didn’t mind. It was amazing how they go places that look impassable with the help of machetes. The water lilies are everywhere-the water hyacinths have filled the flooded water. We saw sloths in the trees and parrots and parakeets flew overhead. You can hear them all around but at a distance and they blend so well, that photos are impossible. On our way back to the Arapaima, we stopped in a small village to see the carvings they do out of the ivory palm nut. We bought several and had fun looking. These villages are in the preserve but were there when it was formed so they are grandfathered in.
After lunch it was Siesta time but we “docked” about 30 minutes after lunch-we simply picked a place (though I am sure there was some logic) and went in sideways and the guys used a machete to knock down all the branches and small trees that lapped over the boat. Ants came running onto the boat from these trees so that was an experience as well. When siesta time was over, there was a demonstration of some cooking things which you know I was most definitely not interested in. ha. After that we left on our excursion to a small village where they had arranged for each of us to go in a dugout canoe with a “driver”. Mine was Dondo and he spoke a little English but not much. I am not good at paddling so I let him have all the honors and he took me through the most beautiful area of the rainforest. There were birds all around and flowers and children were swimming at one place. It was a very nice experience and very peaceful and a glimpse of life in the jungle. We came back and had dinner and there was a video for those interested in the flooding of the Amazon. We skipped that as we needed to get our laundry ready to go out tomorrow. We are all laughing that they told us they would do laundry one day during the trip so we all assumed that it would be midweek as they were encouraging us not to bring many clothes. But no, it is going out on Friday and will be back by Saturday morning which is our last day here. We have been doing the laundry in the sink as there is no way any of us can stand to not shower when we come back after a morning or afternoon of sweating and bug spray and sunscreen and the high humidity. Most days it is a two hair wash day! So needless to say, the clothes don’t last all day even. I think they need to rethink when they do the laundry as the clothes do not dry when we do them. With the humidity, we have things hanging all over the bathroom (and our bathroom is bigger than any of the others) and all over our room. We have run experiments-do clothes dry faster in the bathroom without air conditioning or in the air conditioned bedroom. So far, neither is winning any prizes. One pair of my socks is going on 3 days of drying… It all makes for an interesting experience and part of the Learning and Discovery, I suppose! Let’s just say I could give good advice to those taking this trip-and it would not be what came in our packet about clothes! But we have managed fine and for sure, none of us have cared about what we looked like so that was good. It has been very relaxed and actually very different than what I expected. We have had little down time and our bird watching has been farther away than I expected, for the most part. But it has all been fun and a wonderful experience. The staff is wonderful and the guides are fantastic. They are amazing how they can spot a howler monkey a half a mile away or more up in the top of a tree that looks just like a spot to the rest of us. The saddle back tamorine(sp) monkey we saw several times along our hike to the swinging bridges. The one in the photo was at one of the markets set up by a few families as we finished our walk one day. He is only slightly larger than the pigmy marmoset monkey.

Wednesday on the Amazon river trip

Today is Wednesday and it started out with an early wake up call. We got on the skiff and went bird watching down one of the smaller inlets. It is still very difficult to see the birds and sighting them is still disappointing to me as even with binoculars, they are not up close so that you can see the markings well, for the most part. The Jacana bird here is also known as the butterfly bird as it is so colorful when it flies. We saw tons of that one and it is one of my favorites. We’ve seen parakeets who are noisy and fly in big flocks. We saw several eagles that were pretty and easier for me to spot. We found an eagle who looked like it had been caught in a vine so our guides were going to free him by using the machete on the vines. He did this and got the bird but it appeared the bird’s leg was broken so I doubt he was going to live long. We took him and the guide placed him on a wooden long where maybe he could get some food if he was able to feed. It was interesting to see up close but sad to see one maimed like that.
We came back to our boat for breakfast and got ready for our hike in the upper hills today. I don’t think I have ever been any hotter. They are not doing our one time laundry until Friday and it will get back on Saturday and we fly home on Sunday….hmmm. Something is wrong with that picture! We have been washing things in the sink but it is so humid that they don’t dry, especially socks. They did not tell us to bring high socks until we were already in Fla and I had two pair in. We tuck our pants into our socks to keep the mosquitoes away. They wash our shoes each time we come back from a hike-we leave them on the deck -it is better than having mud tracked all over the boat, I am sure.
We went on a hike mid morning after breakfast. It was an uphill and downhill walk and we saw a lot of interesting things-my favorite was the poison dart frog. It is red and only about one inch long and boy, are the guides good to find them! Our naturalist was the one Jacques Costeau’s grandson used on his trip here and they did a documentary. I am anxious to go back and see if we can see any of those programs. We saw a blue morpho butterfly flitting around as we walked and we saw bats in a huge tree. We saw lots of kinds of mushrooms and he kept looking for snakes, and I was so glad he did not find any. The walking sticks they have on the boat are invaluable. Today was not as muddy as yesterday, but the mud was slippery in places and several of the handrails fell down when someone tried to hold onto them. When we got back to the skiff, there was a little market set up and one lady had a tiny monkey. It is just barely bigger than the pigmy marmoset. It was a saddle tailed tamorine and he was so cute and not real happy about us all taking his photo. I have been disappointed because so far, the baskets are not nearly as intricate and beautiful as the ones in Africa and I had thought they would be. We got back on the boat and were all drenched in sweat and so our showers felt so good. We had a nice siesta after lunch and then we sent several members with Eric to invite some local families along the river to come on the ship. I thought I had seen people before who were isolated, but the people here truly live in their own little world. The lady and her 18 yr old daughter that came would only come if her neighbor, his daughter and grandson would come too. So there were 5 all together. We had popcorn and banana snacks and juice and talked for about an hour an half. They had never seen gringos before. They said they would not have come if Eric had not been the one talking to them. But they seemed to enjoy it and we really found out a lot about their lives and they asked questions of us and Eric translated. They had seen the boat go up and down the river but never been on board a boat. They did not know that airplanes could hold more than 5 or 6 people. They did not have tv, radio, internet, phones, nothing we take so for granted so knew very little about the outside world. The fartherest any of them had ever been was Iquitos and only one had been there. Most had been to the nearest “city”. Afterwards, we went to their homes-it was a group of about a dozen families maybe and they have a one room school house. It is their summer break now and school is not in session but we took our school supplies and the kids heard about us and Eric had them singing for us and us to them. We saw short tailed parrots closer than we have before-still not close but you could at least see them in the trees. They are green so blend so much with the trees. We got back and after dinner we are taking a night boat ride to see what we can see at night.
Update after the night boat ride. This was one of the best things we have done as far as I am concerned. We got in the skiff about 8:30 and Eric and Singja had big flood lights. We went in one of the smaller inlets to see what we could see. They caught 2 different kind of frogs and we saw a really big yellow frog up on a big tree leaf. They spotted a caymen but he got away before they could get him. We saw a capybara, which is the biggest rodent in the world. We saw him eating grass and then he got in the water and swam and we could see him swimming for quite a distance. We turned off all the lights and the boat motor and listened for several minutes to the night sounds of the Amazon. Mostly we heard all kinds of frogs. We watched one of the frogs practically walk on water before he started swimming to get to a leaf-he would have been good fish food. We saw glow worms, which reminded us of the ones we saw in New Zealand at Rotorua. We saw big bats called fish bats which flew all around us at times. We heard the bamboo rat but did not see him. It was threatening rain so we timed it exactly right and hurried back to the boat before the rains hit. There were lightning flashes all during the drives but never any close to us. It was a lot of fun and cool at night so it was just so pleasant

Tuesday Update

Today is Tuesday and we are at Siesta time right now. We had a great morning. After breakfast, we got in our skiff and headed more upstream to see what we could see. After awhile we stopped at a family run sugar cane factory and had demonstrations and all. The best part to me was that there were beautiful flowers around which meant we could see birds closer up. I stood outside and watched the hibiscus and sure enough, in a couple of minutes, the black throated hummingbird came along and sent from blossom to blossom. Then we saw a number of other birds that we had not seen.
After we got back on our skiff, we headed to the opposite shore to visit a tiny village to see how locals live along the riverbank. They always say that no one has ever visited this village before….ok I take that with a grain of salt. But it is a good way to see how the local people live. As we were pulling into the bank, a pod of dolphins did a show for us out in the river. I am amazed at how wide the Amazon is. It is hard to see things because it is so big and we are far enough from the shore. It is not rainy today and is beautiful and not as hot as I expected except when we are in long sleeves, long pants, hats, etc walking. Then it is hot, hot , hot.
On our afternoon excursion, we went out in the skiffs and were going to the place that they have the giant lily pads. But after the walk with the mosquitoes, we found out that water blocked the path and we did not get to see them. He said there were other places we would try along the way. But first we saw a family who was on a raft boat with 7 children and they had been traveling for 3 days down the river. They were going to Iquitos to sell the fish they were catching along the way. They had about 1500 today. When they get to Iquitos, they will sell everything, including the wood for the raft and take a ferry back to their home. Then we went to a family’s home where we saw several different birds and iguanas-at least 3 and were all different sizes. These are the big green iguanas. We saw parakeets and parrots as well. Then one of the men went into the woods and came back with a 3 toed sloth. He broke off the limbs that he was on and we got a great up close and personal encounter! Then he put him back on a tree and we got to see him go up a bit and then he came down -we moved on at that point so not sure where he went after that. It was great though. So much you need binoculars to see and it is nice to see something up close where we can really see it well. The children all along the way wave at us and love to have their photos made. The life here is even more simple than the Tsachilas by far. The often live along the riverbanks in groups of anywhere from 3-4 families to up to 10-12. There are bigger communities as well but this is the way of life. The air conditioning feels so good when we get back.

Off to the Amazon-Monday

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Today we set out for the Amazon. We had a very early wake-up call at 4AM and we were catching a 6:15 AM flight for Iquitos. The checkin was easy as Erik had our boarding passes already and we just had to check our luggage. The flight was full but LAN does a good job and the seats were comfortable. When we arrived, we were taken to the VIP lounge where we had snacks and restrooms and seats to wait while our luggage was retrieved and put on the bus. We got our briefing there about what to expect next. We drove through Iquitos and saw it is a much larger place than I was expecting. We were given 15 minutes to walk around the park or do whatever. We then headed off to board our ship, the Arapaima. It is a nice new ship and well maintained. Eric had told us that we were going to get the one suite that was on the ship since we had the most OAT/GCT trips. When we went in our room, it was a tiny room with twin beds and was certainly not what we were expecting. I checked with him and he was upset to see that he had given us the wrong room number and we were supposed to be in the room next door. This room is quite nice, a king sized bed and a big bathroom with a tub. The whole ship is not as fancy as the European riverboats, but this is nice and perfect for a trip like this. The observation deck upstairs is covered except for a small part which helps with the sun and also when it rains, like it did during our talk this afternoon. We got onboard this morning and then went almost immediately to get on the skiff for our first ride. We went to see an area near Iquitos called “Berlin” I think it is. These are reed houses up on stilts and accessible only by water. They have water taxis and boats that sell things. It is rather amazing to see people live like this.
We went back to the boat and as soon as we were aboard, we cast off for the Amazon. We had a good lunch and the dining room is set up with tables for 4 and it is mostly buffet. Everyone in our group is very congenial and moves around to get to know the other folks which is great.
After lunch it was Siesta time but some of us started out up on the observation deck where we had fun watching the river banks and trees. There are some very knowledgable birders on this trip so that is quite helpful. I am frustrated that I am having trouble spotting the birds -I had done so well in Africa that I feel like I have lost my touch. The difference is that the trees and foliage is so much thicker here and when you say “over by that tree” , it is hard to figure which tree someone is talking about. But we did get to see a female 3 toed sloth this afternoon. She was high in the tree and when Erik whistled like the harpy eagle, she turned to look. It was neat. We also saw some dolphin playing around in the water several times. We saw a big green iguana way up in a tree. We did our sightseeing today from the ship since it started pouring rain. It really did not last long and I am sure we will go out in the rain quite a few times, but today we were having good luck from the boat.
The crew entertained us with music after our talk with the boat captain. They were very good and we enjoyed it. We finished the day off with a wonderful dinner and with instructions for our early morning start tomorrow.

Back to Lima from the Amazon

Today is Sunday and we got up at 4AM to catch our flight back to Lima from Iquitos. We have a dayroom here in Lima and I thought I would start putting the journal on the blog. I have written along each day and am just going to put those in, make revisions later, if necessary.