Paula and I have been perusing many of the Peru flooding headlines. We did check with Ann, our travel agent, and G Adventures, our tour company, and both said it was still a "go". We are not sure what this trip will be like, but I betcha it will deviate a bunch from what our itinerary lists. I guess that is why they call it an adventure.
This was our first time using JetBlue (we usually use Delta). So far we are pleasantly surprised - Half the price! Nice size seats with more legroom than Delta - snacks and full size cokes for our first one hour flight. Both of us think we may try them again.
We got to our hotel room by 2:15 am - immigration and customs were quick. We were only slightly panicked when the workers started yelling at me trying to go out the wrong door.
A little late afternoon walk to exchange some cash and then we rewarded our self with cocktails of Pisco sours before our tour meeting. We have lots of Canadians and Europeans in our group of 26.
Sunday - Iquitos/Boat The Amatista - Amazon
Today was basically a another travel day. Lima to Iquitos by plane and
Iquitos to the boat by bus. Our room is cozy and functional and our first meal
was pretty good.
We got a quick dusk skiff ride into the jungle which also
covered as our evacuation drill. (which proved to be VERY useful).
Drinks, dinner and early bed finished off our
first day on the Amazon.
Monday- Red Letter Day
I GOT TO ACTUALLY SWIM IN THE AMAZON. That 's about it for the
day.
OK, I did get to see some other things
but the swim IN THE AMAZON AND WITH THE PINK DOLPHINS was so over the top it is
hard to talk about anything else. Dragging the life jacket around was a pain- but there were spots in the river where the current was really strong so I can see why they would require it.
Alright, I will start at the beginning. Monday morning started out with breakfast on the skiff then bird and critter hunting. It was pretty neat to be eating your breakfast in the middle of the Amazon with all the amazing sounds of the birds.
Most of the things we saw today needed binoculars and really good luck and quick reactions. I did get some photos but you would really need one of those really expensive cameras and willing to spend many hours in one spot to catch that National Geographic type of a shot. I was SEEING tons of those NG memories but just could never get them in digital format.
The little star shaped things lined up on the trunk were bats - and yes we saw them fly off so we knew they were real and not just painted on the bark as I had originally thought.
Things are Big here - even the 'sea oats'?
Nun Bird
Soon after this we did the infamous swim with the dolphins. As I type this in my Georgia house - Even with the 'events' of the last night on the boat- I still think the swim was MY highlight of the trip.
After lunch we sat on the sun deck by a spot that had 5 pink dolphins
playing and eating along the shore. After a couple of hours of trying to get
that perfect shot I gave up and just enjoyed the show. When the sun hits them
just right, they are the color of double bubble bubblegum.
Side note on
Pink River Dolphins They are shaped different and definitely don't stay on top of the water very long - the link and its video will give you an idea how hard it was to take a photo of them. Here are my few semi-successful attempts.
Honest, they really were swimming in the same area where and when we were swimming but they never got close to us.
Another sunset boat ride. We saw a total
of 8 sloths, a wonderful treat for the eyeballs but not for my camera because
they were masters of camouflage.
Bottom center and a little left are TWO sloths - one hanging in the middle and a smaller one balled up to the left. Remember we are sitting in a boat a good distance away -- it is amazing that our naturalists can spot them from a moving boat. (BUT in fact - Jen, one of our group, was the first to spot one - THIS time.)
Tuesday Amazon
Morning trip to a local eco-lodge where we separated into two
groups - short walk or long walk. I used my ankle as the excuse to do the short
walk and of course Paula went with me to "watch over me". We started
out with 8 but quickly ended up with just 5. There are hills in he Amazon! It was in the mid 80's, but I really think the humidity
was the toughest part of the hike.
Lots of roots to trip you up and lots of
slick ground to increase your instability. We saw lots of termite and ant
nests, we drank water? from the cats claw vine, we were decorated with the
jungle's version of bright orange calamine lotion and we learned how to weave a thatched roof
( which needs to be replaced every 8 months).
Edgar, one of our boat crew, substituted for our naturalist and did a great job as a first timer. Here he is taking a piece of ant nest and smooshing the ants up to create an 'fragrant' insect repellent. (who needs Deet anyway).
Be careful what you grab for support when climbing up the hill.
Paula with her handmade sweat band and her first orange bark "stain".
The beginnings of a woven thatched roof
Colorful Mushrooms
We made it !
Afternoon was for being lazy and cruising to our next stop. There
is thunder in the background - so this might be our first real rain in the
rainforest.
We didn't need to go to the jungle to find this guy.....
Another late afternoon boat ride looking for wildlife.
Victor always ready with his green laser pointer.
weaver bird's nests
And another beautiful sunset on the Amazon
Side
note: the orange bark stuff we VOLUNTARILY put on our face is semi permanent. It is a
good thing Paula and I are not overly concerned with appearance because both of
us have angry/burn type marks on
our face that after 4 days are just NOW starting to fade. It doesn't hurt
though. Paula gets the prize because she asked for extra 'decorations' and got them.
Wednesday Day 4 Amazon
We stopped by a small village, where there were children on the bank playing with their pet capybara and monkey. We saw many examples of children left alone in situations what WE would consider dangerous. Reminded me that in this environment the people are still in the survival mode. They don't have the luxury of spending time monitoring their kids - the parents are out gathering and hunting food for the kids.
Side note: -- when the Catholic missionaries were in the Amazon Jungle - they gave the natives permission to substitute capybara for fish on their Friday meal because they swam.
We got to visit the village Shaman this morning. Carola was a tiny
woman who had started her 8 yrs of training at the age of 15. The first two
years was spent in the jungle learning her craft. Paula volunteered to be the
first to be blessed by the shaman. She told her she was healthy and strong (aka
pushy).
The shaman ended by blowing smoke, waving a bush she used like a
feather duster and chanting blessings for each of us. The instant she closed
the group blessing, I thought I saw a large black bird or shape in the distance leave
the area.... it gave me goose bumps. Maybe there was something in the smoke she
was blowing at each of us during the blessing.
Next on our adventure was visiting a village family. The mama, 44,
had 11 children and was still breast feeding the last one. She told us about
herself and asked questions about us. We were served a traditional lunch.
I
picked the items I recognized and chose wisely. I had delicious catfish, sweet potato, yuca, and
rice with a nice spicy hot sauce. Eating the rice and sauce with my fingers was
a bit messy but still yummy.
Paula was not as lucky. After eating what she
thought was pretty good tasting wild bore ... she discovered she was not eating
pork but the second largest rodent in the jungle. Snicker.
The afternoon fishing activities were delayed by a wickedly
strong rainstorm. It cleared quickly and we went to a spot where there were known
to be piranha. No quiet fishing here, you tap the water and then put in your
bait. Most of us caught at least one. Paula didn't....
There was a lot of loud
boasting from the other boat
– but I think it was just
“fake
news
”.
And yes, the caught piranha was kept,
cooked and served that night. It was a little too fishy and bony.
Victor, our naturalist, and our skiff driver, hacking the jungle so that our skiff would fit thru.
We had a night skiff ride to look for red eyes. We saw another
sloth, big fishing bats, hawks, glow worms, and a baby Amazon type of crocodile
called a cayman.
Thursday Day 5 Amazon
We visited the town of Nauta (35000) saw some really big fish,
rode around in a tuk-tuk, drank a beer, and sort of shopped. The savvy souvenir
ladies had devised the perfect "click bait" gimmick...they had a baby
sloth as a pet that they let us hold and pet RIGHT BY their blanket of baskets
and trinkets. I bought a basket and held the sloth. Very cuddly but with very
course hair.
After a Chifa (Chinese/Peruvian mixed cuisine lunch) and a nice
siesta, we tied up by another little village to visit.
The captain got one of
the neighbor boys to help tie our boat to a tree.
(I don’t think we ever
really “ANCHORED”
we would just tie up to a nearby tree or ground the boat in the dense but bobbing
hyacinth islands.) A few minutes later, a vulture perched in
the tree that overhung our sun deck. It seemed a little foreboding with the
majority of the passengers being over 60.
After a too long sweltering intro to the village and butterfly
display, we were finally shown the type of rodent that Paula ate for lunch
yesterday.
It was interesting to
see the village but definitely too drawn out in the heat. (Especially as we
were told to dress in our warm jungle gear).
Paula's yesterday's lunch
Agouti - second largest rodent in the Amazon
Village children - Some of the passengers donated some soccer balls and school supplies to their local school.
At the end of the village tour our
guides gave us a monkey spotting boat ride that nicely cooled us off. And
spotting a rainbow on the way back to the ship made the ride even better.
Friday Day 6 Amazon
WE THOUGHT the Highlights of the day would be the bug in my ear
and our last chance shopping. Boy, were we wrong.
We had a morning boat ride past a lot of houses on tiny pieces of
land or on stilts, that would eventually be on dry land in a few months.
Most
were farmers with chickens, banana plants, yuca plants (potato-like tubers) and
lots of children. The kids showed us the walking catfish that can live for 10
minutes out of the water.
We would
later return to this spot to shop when all the neighborhood moms and their
children came to sell their crafts.
We went thru some areas that reminded us so much of our Georgia marsh areas and the Okefenokee Swamp - except everything was bigger, thicker and greener. A lot of the same birds too.
Very close to this spot we were able to spot two rare Hoatzin Birds. They were too far away to take a photo but we could see them.
Returning from the ride and village I noticed a moving tickle in
my ear. Paula had to be nurse for the hour and pour hydrogen peroxide into my
ear.
The little critter was eventually
bubbled out.
When thinking back on all the
tickling and bubbling, it still gives me goose bumps.
The all important group photo
Amazon 2017
Sundeck of the Amatista
Our talented crew members had been entertaining us every evening before dinner with music and sometimes dance.
Victor, our naturalist on the right, next was Edgar, a waiter and our first timer short-hike naturalist, Vincent, the bartender and lastly the first floor cabin 'boy'.
On our last day our entertainment was a little different.
First we had a VERY tedious
“Where
We Have Traveled and What We Have Seen
” lecture.
Then came the rousing towel folding competition - our cabin
boy won hands down. Last was a surprise champagne cruise.... we motored out
into the middle of the Amazon met up with the other skiff and toasted our trip
with some bubbly. After dinner we finally met all the crew that had taken such
good care of us, shook hands and got certificates saying we had survived in the
Amazon.......not so quick......
At about 11:15 (too early for April fools) we were awoken by
Victor banging on our door and yelling FIRE FIRE get your passports and get off
the ship.
Paula kept saying grab
the ropes - ROPES? Where are there ropes in the room?
Why in the hell did she want ROPES?
ROBES is what she really said BECAUSE she on had a tiny nightgown
and NO underwear. I of course was completely covered with my granny gown. Not
sure why she (or why I) just didn
’t turn around and grab our clothes we
had on hangers ready for the next day
….
So in our PJ
’s we got our purses with passports
already in them, shoes and ROBES and nothing else. Damn no camera ! We ran down
the hall and down the stairs into really acrid smoke coming from the lower (we
thought kitchen area) deck. We were the first on the boat
–
‘always
early Paula
’. We actually jumped on before it got to the regular loading
area. (Not real good for my unwrapped healing broken ankle - Probably, I should
have grabbed my ankle support thingy instead of the robe). And why didn
’t
we grab the nice fire extinguisher hanging on the wall in our bedroom?
When they finally
got the outboard engines started to back up the skiff, we were in view of the
flames coming from the kitchen area.
I think a few choice words popped out of my mouth. Smoke
totally filled the kitchen, dining room and upper deck sitting room.
BEFORE
view of the back of the boat - Kitchen on bottom, then our dinning room and sitting room on top.
AFTER
view from the side - flames are below the kitchen large sliding window
The chef
was dumping buckets of water on the flames from in the kitchen. We learned
later that he actually fell out into Amazon- and had to call for help.
Supposedly, the captain and his son jumped in to save him.
We pulled further away from the boat
and waited. Thank goodness the bugs were not out.
The crew, without protective gear, fought the flames and
smoke. After about 20 or 30 minutes (probably seemed longer), the captain gave
us 15 minutes to go back on and get our medicines and get some clothes on. I
got dressed in my airplane clothes and grabbed all I could stuff in my
backpack.
Luckily earlier that
day, we had been told to have our luggage packed and out the next morning at
6:30 am.
Both of us had 98% of our
packing done, just toiletries, electronics and our airplane clothes were left
to throw in our backpacks.
In hindsight Paula and I probably should have done things a bit
differently and hopefully if we ever have to deal with another similar
situation we will make better decisions.
But kudos to the crew! I am not sure how the crew could have been
better.
They kept us safe and calm
and as comfortable as possible.
Granted
I am sure it helped that 100% of the passengers were experienced travelers with
positive attitudes.
We got back into the skiff to evacuate to the Iquitos. On our 10 minute ride into the city it started pouring. Thankfully, they store ponchos in a bucket on the boats, just for any surprise downpour. We had a couple of false landings due to the fact the city was rather large (pop 350,000) and had many docks. Our dock was definitely part of the red light district (I am glad Paula and I were out of our nighties - This mishap will forever change my nightime travel attire).
Somehow the tour company had quickly located a hotel that could put up 28 people at a moments notice as well as a bus to get us there. It was 'economical' hotel across the street from a busy casino with a very strong base system. It was clean and the single night manager was a magician! . He did a surprisingly quick job of getting us all into our rooms (and this is with having to xerox all our passports on a really slow color printer). The beds were comfortable but the sound of the booming base and the raining beating on the tin roof kept me awake for a couple of hours. (Or Maybe it was leftover adrenalin)
