Early this morning we started our second full day of adventure along the Upper Amazon River in Peru.
We had an early delicious breakfast which included many options to choose from, some familiar ones like breads of many kinds, eggs prepared to our own personal liking, and some not so familiar options, like several kinds of the local fruits, some of which we had never seen or even heard of before. Certainly food is an important part of the experience of traveling to remote and exotic destinations.
After breakfast we boarded our skiffs to land ashore and explore the Amazon by foot, or I shall better say rubber boot (boots provided to us by the Delfin II crew). Once on land we split up into three small groups, each one of them led by one of our expert local guides, two groups were to make a longer walk and cross a suspension bridge built through the canopy of the forest, and one group for our guests who preferred a shorter version of the walk.
As we walked in the forest enjoying the interpretation of our knowledgeable guides, we learned a lot of the workings of this important ecosystem, about the soils, and the diversity of species that live here. During our walk this morning we ran into a troop of saddle-back tamarin monkeys swiftly and easily moving through the tops of the trees, but probably the highlight of the morning was to get to see at very close range a young three-toed sloth that had fallen from a tree into the water and had managed to swim ashore; so while the poor little sloth rested and recuperated after its ordeal, we took a good close-up look at an animal that we normally see from far away.
Upon our return we had lunch and spent the hottest hours of the afternoon with time to rest, take a nap, and the option of participating in presentations in the lounge about the life in the Amazon and expedition photography.
At four in the afternoon, we had the option to explore the Nauta Caño by skiff or by kayak under our own power. During this afternoon outing we had great views of very active troops of squirrel monkeys, distant views of the elusive monk saki monkeys, raucous black-collared hawks, large horned screamers on the tops of the trees, among many other things. Probably one of the most interesting things we saw this afternoon though was a huge hairy tarantula, struggling to walk across the canal on the water’s surface; it was very interesting to observe that the waters surface tension was enough to support such a large arthropod, probably due to all the hairs that covered the tarantula’s body.
After dinner and if we chose to do so, we had the option to go out again for a short walk and experience the tropical rain forest at night, for which we were provided with rubber boots and flashlights. We had a really good night’s sleep, worn out after a great long day full of activities!
