The morning started overcast, and a few minutes after I woke up a heavy rain got us. “It’s raining cats and dogs!” someone exclaimed on our way to get breakfast. It was very windy and for first time in my stay here I saw the river a bit choppy.
The Amazon is a world full of surprises every day, you find many types of birds, reptiles, butterflies, insects, mammals – it is a fascinating world. There are also local people here. Many live in very isolated villages where they don’t have basic services like electricity or drinkable water. They live in very small houses made of wood, and mainly are fisherman that also farm so they can be self-sufficient enough to survive. Our visit to the Amazon community is a very important event. Many come out of their houses to see the visitors. “Minga Peru” is one of the projects that Lindblad-National Geographic has here, to give something back to the areas we visit and to improve their economy. In the end, after learning from them what they do every day and how they live their lives, we were invited to see and purchase multicolored handicrafts that they create for visitors. It is handwork and the material they use is a fiber from a local tree called “chambira,” they color the fiber with many combinations of seeds and fruits from the Amazonia. The vibrant variation of colors along with the skill and creativity it takes to create these handicrafts makes them beautiful souvenirs.
A few hours later we went out again to discover more of the jungle. Clavero Lake is big, and has rich black waters. As soon as you get to the entrance you can spot many birds that live in the estuaries or humid lowland forest. Many types of egrets, cormorants, and ducks are seen plunging or hunting their prey, and we also spot some of the very famous pink dolphins.
After riding further up in, we started to see more birds: macaws, oropendola birds and more. We suddenly spot two big monkeys, resting and caressing each other.
The highlight of the afternoon for many of us was the three-toed sloth and the little baby resting on her chest up in a very small secropia tree. They were just hanging on that tree, the mother was eating a big leaf while its baby was sleeping and warming up. It was a very unique moment, something we usually call a “Nat Geo moment!”
A few minutes later a full moon appeared in the sky. Pisco Sour, cold beer at the bar…well, it’s five o’clock somewhere! Time to cool off and to finish a great day in the Peruvian jungle.
