Flor de Castaña and Yarapa Caño
Around 0500 many of us were awakened by pounding, pouring rain! Looking out our cabin windows we saw we had tied alongside a soccer field that this morning looked more like a swimming pool. I delayed wake-up and breakfast, and luckily by 0830 the rain had stopped. We took a short skiff ride in to a village of about 200 that is still not flooded and on dry land in spite of the very high waters. The inhabitants of Flor de Castaña, which is named after the Brazil nut trees that grow in this area, welcomed us with smiles (and even a few kisses on our cheeks).
Naturalists Luis and Juan Luis took us through the village, and we had a chance to photograph and talk to the locals and we enjoyed witnessing a slice of their jungle life. Most interesting perhaps, was the group of women cleaning fish near the river, a family who was toasting the farina made from yuca that is their staple carbohydrate, and a visit to the primary school where Juan Luis told us about the rural education system. As we looked around the village, the kids were all smiles, the adults going about their daily chores and when the rain started again, we hurriedly took refuge in the kindergarten.
The children sang for us (and they sounded better than we did, when we sang for them); the teacher thanked us for our donated school supplies and soccer ball, and we went back to our skiffs and out to the Delfin II when the rain had again subsided. We’ve been extremely fortunate with the weather this week, as we could have had more excessively hot days and more frequent skin-soaking downpours.
Late this morning naturalist Reny gave us a presentation about the medicinal plants of the rain forest. He had taken an hour this morning while we were at Flor de Castaña to collect several species of plants that are widely used by the villagers from the forest around their homes. And the final activity before lunch was especially fun: barman Christian taught us how to make a pisco sour—and then we made our own and drank them!
The afternoon was hot when we boarded the skiffs for a final wildlife search or for swimming and kayaking. The kayakers enjoyed a refreshing swim in Yarapa Caño, and paddled under a troop of squirrel monkeys. The two skiffs of rain forest explorers who went out with Juan Luis and Reny found birds, reptiles and mammals and we ended our wildlife viewing with some over the top sightings. A white-throated toucan was finally seen sitting still, five splendid blue and yellow macaws were perched in the canopy of a tall tree, we spotted a brilliant blue plum-throated cotinga, got a good look at a family of dusky titi monkeys, and sat in silence as squirrel monkeys pounced and leapt and fed only meters from us on the low riverbank trees.
Soon after we were all safely and happily on board the Delfin II the sky darkened, lightning flashed and for the second time today, the rain pelted down. But we were cozy on the boat, feasting on a lavish barbecue dinner and applauding the talented kitchen staff and chef who fed us so well this week, and thanking the fabulous team of sharp-eyed and knowledgeable naturalists for showing us so many of the rain forest’s elusive inhabitants. Spirited music and dancing wrapped up what has been a marvelous week in the Peruvian Amazon rain forest.
