Pacaya & Zapote Rivers
I love the trees, I love the birds, I love the reptiles and mammals, and I am even starting to appreciate insects; I love this land, the Amazon, with half of the world’s species; I love my home, Earth.
Everywhere you go on this spinning planet there is life and beauty; but here it is concentrated, it’s effervescent, it’s explosively green, with flashes of reds and blues and yellows, when Macaws pass by, with sounds soft and hard; here in the Amazon it comes to your senses all at once; it’s overwhelming; here I am reminded about a blue and very green planet I have the good fortune to inhabit.
That’s what I was thinking while coming back from Pacaya, after five intensive hours in the wild. We had left the ship at 6 a.m., with rain, strong winds, a sort I hadn’t experienced before in this area. Creatures started to show up, first dolphins, both grey and pink, then howler monkeys, horned screamers, hoatzins. At a certain point our eagle eye skiff driver, Primo, spotted a Manatee. I cannot say that we managed to have a look, but just learning that it was there, together with us, made us feel even more grateful and sure about the pristineness of the area.
We had our breakfast surrounded by this world of emerald, we jumped in the black waters of Yanayacu Lake, came back happy, fulfilled.
In the afternoon we explored a different river, Zapote, and found pretty active common squirrel monkeys who completely stole the show. The sun was setting and, before returning to the ship, we decided to pay a visit to the little village in the area. Kids were happy to see us; we exchanged smiles, gifts, and hopes for a healthy Pacaya-Samiria Reserve for many generations to come.