Today was our favorite day yet. We had an early breakfast and left the ship to head up the Pacaya River. This is a large river and one of the namesakes of the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve. This was our access to peek a little further into the heart of the reserve. Our ultimate destination was a swim in Yanayacu Lake (Black Water Lake), but we were also going to look for some wildlife we had not yet seen.
Along the way we saw fishermen in the usual dugout canoes, but this time one of them was using a throw net. We marveled at (and photographed) a tree of 40 hoatzin birds—the craziest birds we have seen yet. We also stopped at the ranger station and saw their turtle-raising program as well as the incredibly camouflaged great pootoo bird sleeping in a tree. At our furthest point from the ship we got a great look at red howler monkeys and a brown capuchin monkey.
The excellent wildlife may have even been trumped, however, by how relaxing it was to swim in the Yanayacu Lake. Swim is a bit of a misnomer though, since we all had colorful noodles to float with while we enjoyed the scenery!
This afternoon we visited the small village of Urarinas during our exploration of the Zapote River. This village is in the flood forest where houses are built on stilts and water floods under their houses for at least a few months a year. Right now is the low water season, so it was dry and we walked through town. Once again, we met friendly people and happy kids. No phone or internet here. Electricity for a few hours a day at best. Although these people do not have “much” in our way of thinking about possessions, they have abundant fish in the river and plenty to eat. They have time to play as well. Squeals of delight echoed across the soccer field as kids enjoyed a game of dodgeball with naturalist Chino and guest Kevin. And the men were gathering for a Friday evening soccer game. Many things translate without a shared language. Smiles and photographs and dodge ball were three of those things today.
