Amazon 2015: April 2015

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Day 9 Iquitos, Manatees, Home

Woke up just after 2am again; so got up and blogged. Showered and went topside for 5am coffee.

Unsure what life back home will feel like… now that I have seen and done these things this week.

Still teary eyed...

Packed, showered and had breakfast at 7:30am. Disembarked in Iquitos (Peru) at 8:30am.

* * * * *

Given driving tour of Iquitos through the rain. Still grateful that this trip had so little rain. When it did rain, it was at unusually convenient (to us) times!

Iquitos' claim to fame is it is our world's largest city (by population) inaccessible by roads.

Political Posters - Mayor

One of two pigs/peccary loaded onto Tuk-Tuk

Tuk Tuks sporting rain shields

Saw many short 'man doors' inside larger doors

Iquitos has cars - even though the city is accessible only by plane/boat

Gassing up Tuk Tuks

Dirt roads are common in Iquitos

Manatee Rescue Center

On the way to the airport we stopped at ACOBIA-DWAzoo Amazonian Manatee Rescue Center in Iquitos and fed manatees. Manatees are known also known as sea cows and measure up to 13 feet and 1,300 lbs. All three species of manatee are listed by the World Conservation Union as vulnerable to extinction.

Logan of Suffolk, VA - feeding Manatees

Logan of Suffolk, VA - feeding manatees

Flights Home: 26 hours / 3 planes

Sat 4/11: 11am checkin for flight. 12:30pm - 2:30pm Iquitos to Lima (630 miles over Andes Mountains, all in Peru).

At Iquitos' airport, we checked luggage and cleared security. Again we were able to take though Security: any liquids, bottled water and boxed lunches. And we did not need to undress or send laptops through separately.
As we enjoyed our boxed lunches as the gate, our expedition leader, collected food items we did not eat. I saw the bag of our uneaten food given to the airport janitorial staff.
4pm-10pm: 6 hours in hotel to shower/eat/nap - use free wi-fi (!) for first time in a week!

10pm checkin for flight. Sun 4/12: 2am - 9:30 am Lima to Atlanta (6.5 hrs, with time change)
Sun 4/12: 12:15 pm - 1:40 pm Atlanta to Norfolk

Inspiration (and validation for my craving) to travel: http://quoteslauraloves.blogspot.com/2014/10/travel.html

Link to trip's photos: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/116319833256517272396/albums/6079311244192080433

Friday, April 10, 2015

Day 8 - Last Night on the Amazon

After our daily ‘power nap,’ we met in the 3rd deck lecture room for our last map meeting - to plot the tributaries and villages we explored. We covered 680 miles in the big boat (340 from Iquitos, up the river, to just past Bretaña), plus another 150 miles on tributaries by skiffs.

Iquitos (Sat pm)
San Joaquin (Sun 9am-11am)
Yarapa Creek (Sun 3-6pm)
Supay Creek (Mon 6:30am-8am)
Supay Creek & Auca Yacu village (Mon morning)
Faucet Creek (Mon afternoon)
Atun Poza (Tues 9:30am-11:30am)
Bretana, Pacaya River (Tues 4:30pm-7:30pm)
CP2 Yana Yaku blackwater lake (Wed am)
Dorado Creek (Wed afternoon)
Requena (parked Wed pm)
Yanallpa Creek (Thur 6:30am-8:30am) - wildlife sightings in all directions!
Iricahua Creek (Thur 10am-11:30am) - first/BIG rain
San Jose de Paranapura (Thur 4pm-6pm) - Shaman
Nauta market (Fri 6:30am-8am)
Jungle Walk @ location called Casual (Fri morning)
Float plane over Confluence (Fri 12:30pm)
Panguana (Fri 5pm-5:45pm)
Iquitos (Sat 8:30am)

Remember, the Amazon River is over 4,000 miles; so there is still a lot left to see!

Completed our expedition's list of wildlife sightings. I remain ASTOUNDED by the volume we saw! In addition to the bugs, snakes, fish and mammals spottings, I saw more bird species in my 7 days here, than I’ve seen in my life!

Boarded the skiffs for our final ride on the Amazon River. The trees and birds along the river were no longer nameless to us - thanks to our guide’s teachings this week.

Ferry - hammocks lined the top deck and cars were on the front bottom deck

Segundo and Jair showed us one last pygmy marmoset, and we headed back to the big boat with the sun setting - behind us.

Jair and Last Sunset on the Amazon!

Jair

Last Sunset on the Amazon!

Before dinner, we found three tipping envelopes in our cabins. Thankfully, our pre-trip paperwork offered guidelines.

Harpy Hour included a new band (same 7 crew members plus Renzo). This band was named 'The Yellow Anacondas' in honor of today’s sighting in the jungle!

Between Harpy Hour and dinner, Renzo gave us a short slideshow of photos he had taken of us this week. He then presented each of us with an International Expeditions flash drive of these photos! ...While we had been busy taking photos of the Amazon, Renzo had thoughtfully taken photos of us. I was quite touched by this.

At dinner, free red and white wine flowed throughout the meal. After dessert, the boat’s full crew (of 16) was introduced to us, and they then came to each of us and shook our hand or hugged us. There was a captain, first mate and 2 other navigators, 2 skiff drivers, 3 cabin stewards, 2 waiters, a bartender, an operation manager, two naturalist guides and our expedition leader.

Crew of 16 (for 20 guests)

Link to next post: http://lauralovesamazonbirds.blogspot.com/2015/04/day-9-iquitos-manatees-home.html

Day 8 Float Plane

After lunch, our boat parked near a float plane. In groups of four, we took a float plane ride (compliments of International Expeditions!) above the Confluence of the Marañón, Ucayali and Amazon rivers. We had our second heavy (but short) rain - enough to soak our shoes - just dried out from yesterday's rain! haha! Not bad, considering we expected rain every day - and instead only had it twice briefly. Even then it was at the end of both activities.

Pilot & Jeff

Our Boat: Le Estrella Amazonia

Confluence of 3 Rivers: Amazon, Ucayali & Maranon

Start of the Amazon River (top right) - above the Maranon River

Flooded Flatland Village

Day 8 Jungle Walk

Before we boarded the skiffs, our guides told us waders were mandatory for protection from snake bites.

After a short skiff ride from the boat, we pulled up to a place called 'Casual' in San Jose De Sarapanga on the Marañón River. We climbed ‘stairs’ made of logs that led us to the Amazon Rainforest. This particular forest was also on higher land, noteworthy considering something like 90% of this area of the Amazon is flatland and we are in wet season. I imagine higher land is a more likely place for mammals (jaguar, ocelot, peccary, armadillo, etc.)

We hiked up and down muddy trails, carefully choosing each step to avoid slips, insects and snakes. The heat, humidity and careful hiking - while in the necessary and nearly full body covering - was stifling x10. This led to contemplations of how people endure/endured life in the jungle and gave a new appreciation for the early explorers of this region. The perspiration payoff was the wildlife viewing.