Going hiking in the jungle!

Thursday, March 12, 2020.  This morning started with the usual 5:30 am call, which I chose to ignore..... the bed is really comfortable, and I am still feeling a bit woozy because of the malaria pills ( which I have decided to stop taking, since there is no malaria here.  A lot of my fellow travelers are doing the same.).

Quite a few of our 32 explorers also chose to stay in bed, but Joe, who is tougher than me, went and took a lot more pictures of birds (see end of blog), and of this tree iguana.


The main event for the morning was a hike in the high grounds of the rainforest:

it’s only about 100 feet above the water, but that means that it has a substantially different fauna and flora than the flooded forests through which we have been travelling so far.  It also means that we got to experience really being in the jungle.  

The tour companies contract with local villages to ensure that a path is built through the forest, and that the forest itself remains untouched.

  They also hire a local person to go ahead of us and find interesting stuff.

Which is how we got to meet our first anaconda snake.  At first, the anaconda was all coiled up, and I thought it was small.  But then, as it uncoiled to climb the tree just above us, we got to see it’s entire length, which was about 8 to 10 feet.  It was very impressive.  

You can tell all of us were very happy with this encounter, even when it climbed the tree over us and threatened to fall on our heads....

Then our tracker found a tiny poison dart frog.  It is tiny and really interesting (it’s called a poison dart frog because it’s skin secretes curare, which is used to poison the tips of arrows for hunting).  

We then encountered a red tailed boa constrictor - even bigger.  He did not seem happy to see us, so we moved on.

 Just as I thought that I was happy we had not met any spiders, this one came out of it’s hole (I DO NOT LIKE SPIDERS!!!!!). It’s about 6 inches long and eats birds!!!!

Finally, our tracker found this pretty lizard.  

Along the way, we learned a lot about the different trees and plants and how they are used by the people who live here

We stopped at this beautiful old ficus tree.  I don’t think we have ever been that sweaty!  It’s humid in the rainforest.  Even though it is blooming season, we saw very few flowers.  There is not enough sun reaching the ground.  Flowering plants grow on top of the canopy.

On the way back to the boat, local people were selling beautifully crafted wood plates, dishes and carvings.  We could not resist and bought two.  They are beautiful, not expensive, and it’s nice to support the local economy.

After lunch and siesta, we had a lecture about pre-inca civilizations - too much to summarize here after a few Pisco sours...  but re-read 1491 - its a great book and you’ll get the right info.

Then we went on a boat ride that first took us to the confluence of the 2 main rivers that form the Amazon (The Maranon, and the Ucayali).  Each river is very flat, but right were they meet, there are some impressive currents!  A few pink dolphins were swimming around the boat - but they are impossible to capture pictures of, because you never know where they’ll pop up, and the only stay above water for very short periods of time.

We went into a side creek and discovered some new birds (see end of blog), and the went up a creek to a small lake, where giant water lilies grow - what a beautiful sight this was, particularly at sunset!

We met two little frogs on the way back (the one at the top of the blog, which is a green polka dot tree frog, and a clown tree frog).

The sunset on the river was awesome!

Before dinner, we had a “class” on how to make Pisco sours (the previously mentioned “few Pisco sours”), and another concert by the amazingly talented crew band - they are fun, they can sing, they play all types of instruments! (The reason I’m wearing a red bandana is because it was “Peruvian Day” on the ship. 

I may try to get up at 5:30 am tomorrow morning to catch the early boat ride, but can't guarantee anything......
Below are more birds!