Five days have gone by in the blink of an eye, and lots of memories and pictures have been collected along the way. Today we have added quite a few to that collection, as the encounters have been non-stop during both morning and afternoon excursions.
For all of us who started the day before the sunlight even appeared in the horizon, the image of a perfectly clear sky will be in our minds for a long time. There was not a single city light in the surroundings, and there was not a single cloud either, it was perfect!
Shortly after breakfast, we started our skiff exploration of the Zapote River. This rather large tributary of the Ucayali River provided us with several new bird species for our lists. Plum-throated cotinga, crimson-crested woodpeckers, and chestnut-eared toucans were among the bird species that were easily spotted and observed. As we continued with our exploration upriver, we encountered a large troop of squirrel monkeys that were joined shortly after by a troop of Saddled-backed tamarin monkeys. It was quite a show to observe them flying from branch to branch and from tree to tree!
As we made our way back to the ship, we stopped briefly by the community named after the river, Zapote. It was like vising the “Venice” of the Amazon, as all the houses were on stilts and the streets were filled with water; no cars around, but canoes parked just outside of every house. Like celebrities, we ride around the streets and waved along; both kids and adults were observing us from their windows waving back.
As for the afternoon, it couldn’t have been better! We headed for a long ride on the Pacaya River to a paradisiacal lagoon known as Yanayacu. The landscape along the way was filled with the reflection of gigantic trees partly submerged in the water; large flocks of birds such us neo-tropical cormorants, herons, horned screamers, and the surprising appearance of the hoatzin made of this yet another successful expedition day in the mighty Amazon!
