Cedro Caño, Flor de Castaño and Iricahua Caño
When we came up on deck this morning for a cup of coffee, tea and a sweet finger banana after the 0600 “knock-knock” on our cabin doors, we were surprised to see that the Ucayali River was hidden in mist and the air was wonderfully cool. Naturalist Adonai took ten guests up Cedro Caño where they boarded the jungle kayaks for a peaceful paddle. They enjoyed a most intimate and personal glimpse of the rain forest and could now better imagine how it might feel to be all alone in a tiny dugout canoe fishing for your supper.
The skiff riders, with naturalists Luis and Rudy, once again saw reptiles (green iguana), mammals (we had our sloth for the day – actually more than one of them), and many species of birds. The parrots and parakeets were particularly chattery and active: we identified cobalt winged-parakeets, mealy parrots, festive parrots and white-winged (also called canary-winged) parakeets among others. A family of jacanas chased bugs on a wide platform of floating water lettuce, a large cocoi heron flew overhead, and we got a really nice look at a beautiful black-collared hawk. Because of its white head, the locals call this bird of prey “mama vieja” or “old mama.” They are one of the most common raptors that we will be seeing this week.
When we climbed back on the Delfin II, Chef Raul had a lavish breakfast buffet waiting for us; soon after our delicious meal we returned to the skiffs for a short ride into the village of Flor de Castaña (Brazil nut flower) for a cultural visit with these friendly people. On this warm sunny morning the women were washing clothes in the river and one couple was cleaning their successful catch of fish. There were green palm fronds, recently woven, drying on the soccer field/central plaza that will be used for roofing. These palm “shingles” will last ten years or more, as long as the roof has a steep pitch to it so the water will run quickly off. Our naturalists took us along the main cement path (provided by the Peruvian government for these small towns) and into houses, showing us how the buildings are constructed and telling us about the way of life of these rivereños (river people).
We interrupted the elementary school classes and enjoyed a moment of singing and laughter with an eager group of happy, healthy kids whose lives are so very different from ours! But they seemed to enjoy our visit as much as we did, and we gave them a box of soap and some other donated items as a thank-you for letting us take a peek at their rain forest lifestyle.
Back on the boat, Captain Remigio Teran navigated for another hour upriver while naturalist Rudy showed us at least 10 different rain forest fruits, many of which we have never even heard of! Lunch and siesta followed and while we were resting there was a troop of squirrel monkeys leaping among the branches on one side of the boat and dolphins playing in the river off the other!
Our afternoon skiff ride exploration up Iricahua Caño was only possible because Adonai and skiff driver Primo spent two hours cutting back the branches that crossed the creek while we took our siesta. We have not been able to go up this creek for two weeks because the water is so very high and there was no space left for our skiffs under the tree branches!
We had a great time on the Iricahua and found some species we are now familiar with (cayman lizards, green iguanas, greater anis, caciques and oropendulas) plus some new ones. Most thrilling of all were three species of macaws: scarlet, red-and-green and blue-and-yellow. Some of the guests saw a crimson-crested woodpecker and we all saw several of the large, odd-looking hoatzins. These leaf-eating birds have claws on their wings when they are chicks. They nest over the river and if threatened by a predator the still flightless chicks drop into the water and dive to safety. Later they climb back up to their nests using their wing-claws! Strange birds, indeed.
Tonight after dinner “The Teenagers” band gave their second performance. They are loud, they are lively, and we cannot help but smile and applaud enthusiastically as we watch our cabin boy Wilson strum the charango AND puff on the zampoña he has tucked under his arm at the same time!
