How many times have you thought “how did I get here?” During good or bad times “what brought me here?” Or, how did I get so lucky (or unlucky) to have met my spouse or have this job or have these great (or not so great) kids? I’m wondering just how lucky I am as we boated along the mighty Amazon, the amazing river of middle school geography book fame. Greg and I thought that more active vacations are warranted while we are still healthy and top of our list was Machu Picchu and the Galapagos.
We hesitated going with a tour organization, but South America was a big black box, a great unknown to us. Upon recommendation from some well travelled neighbors, Bob and Bonnie, and some research, we selected travel with Odysseys Unlimited and added the Amazon pretour option. We booked 7 months ago and I’d been preparing and packing since. Finally we departed, heading to Miami in advance and then onto Lima. After a brief overnight in Lima we met a tour representative who escorted us through the ridiculously long lines at check-in at the Lima airport. Apparently the airport is undersized for this burgeoning city of 11 million. After an almost 2 hour flight we landed at Iquitos, a landlocked city of 1 million in the heart of the jungle on the Amazonas, the Peruvian Amazon river. Odyssey tour representative Cesar met us at the gate and immediately we gave up our concerns as we were taken under his wing like a comforting big brother.
He was friendly, warm, and direct, having 19 years experience herding wide eyed gringos through the jungle, yet so proud of his country and heritage. Cesar was raised in a small village on the Amazonas, went to school and college locally to become a biologist and has become an ornithology and wildlife expert. He was a guest lecturer at Cornell University! His trip 3 years ago to Lima, NYC, Boston, and Ithaca was the first time he was on a plane or even on an elevator for that matter. Yet he was knowledgeable and worldly and humorous, but especially, patient and aware. Our whole group fell in love with him.
Our bus took us through Iquitos and it’s buzzing, bustling streets full of 3 wheeled motorcars called tuk tuks. Imagine an automotive mullet: business motorcycle in the front, 2 wheeled seat in the back. Children, adults, so many people on the street waved as we went by the open markets, outdoor barbers, a specialty banana market (12 varieties!), the various town squares, schools and small shop fronts. Iquitos was quite busy in the mid 1800’s when rubber was discovered here. There were a few elegant old homes and hotels and a cathedral remaining. One home with ornate metal railings was designed by Gustav Eiffel. Later someone smuggled the rubber seeds out to Malaysia and Ceylon and the rubber boon ended. Iquitos is nearly 2000 miles from the mouth of the Amazon on the Atlantic so it is a relatively expensive place to live, as there are no roads to there. Luckily the Amazon is entirely navigable throughout.
We arrived at the office of the Explorama Lodges where we embarked on our covered flatboat for the 25 mile downstream trip to our lodge, Ceiba Tops. This was the most luxurious of the Explorama Lodges having flush toilets, in room showers, wifi, and a swimming pool. Our lodge also had a resident tapir named Cynthia and a toucan. And a bar. We were at home in the jungle.
The Amazon is the world’s longest river at over 7000 km and it’s origin is in the Peruvian Andes. It was 5 miles wide and silty brown at our location, the color due to constant runoff and soil erosion. It’s tributaries are black in color due to vegetative decay and resulting tannins, creating a distinct division between the two. At this time of year the Amazon is enduring it’s annual flooding, rising 45-50 feet from Andean snowmelt. The shoreline was flooded, hence the rustic homes and villages are built on stilts.
After settling in, we went for an afternoon hike in the surrounding jungle. Property is not owned but permission is granted for homesteading or lodging in the Amazon. We saw the jungle up close: vines, trees, cocoa, and wild plants which otherwise would be houseplants at Grandma’s: philodendrons, wandering Jew, ferns, ficus. And best of all, we saw a ginormous Ceiba (aka Kapok) tree. Imagine the tree of life in the movie ‘Avatar’. This was the real tree, one of many. Awe Inspiring. After an amazing buffet dinner of local foods (Dorado, chicken, rice, fresh veggies, yucca, bananas) we turned in.
The next day we boated to the other bank to do some bird watching, some fresh water dolphin siting (blue-grey and pink dolphins. Yes, pink!) And piranha fishing. Yes, using beef bait everyone caught piranhas with simple bamboo rods, it was so easy. Captain Abigail was kind enough to assist me (I know, I said “easy”) but eventually I landed my own tiny but mighty fish. With mighty sharp teeth. There was plenty of fishing action and we all enjoyed our time in the flooded swamp.
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After lunch at the lodge we headed out to another tributary to visit with a local indigenous tribe, the Yagua. Dressed in their traditional outfits, long grass skirts for the men and red skirts and optional modesty grass tops for the women, they greeted us with smiles and a 3 toed sloth named ‘Pancho’. Inside the Cocomer, their grass covered community lodge, we learned of their history and their struggles to maintain their identity and culture. Cesar also told us how the women make beer, mayantu or masatos, by macerating a vine in their mouths and then fermenting it. Luckily none was offered. They then performed a few ceremonial dances and we were asked to join in, which, of course, we did! We were treated to a blowgun demonstration by Don Mermertos, their tribal leader. A few of us tried our hand (or mouth) and successfully hit the target, a 6 inch wide stake 20 feet distant. Meanwhile Pancho slowly meandered about and the children played all around us. It was magical. Afterward we shopped their handmade wares and then returned to our lodge.
Our 2nd full day we headed to the other, more rustic Explorama Lodges, further downstream to Indiana, Peru and overland by tuk-tuk to and down the Nabo river, about 2 hours travel time. The rivers are so swollen Captain Abigail was able to navigate narrow, windy channels to the remote, rustic ACTS Explorama Lodge, typically hosting scientists and biologists studying the jungle and it’s inhabitants. In fact, we met a grad student from George Mason Univ studying there, Bryan Griffiths, who knows my nephew from his hometown in Maryland. It’s a very small world indeed. From the lodge we hiked to the canopy walkway built in 1992 under the supervision of our guide Cesar’s father, Don Victor Sellanos. The Explorama Lodges and canopy walkway were created under the vision of Peter Jenkins some 30 years ago. The canopy walk consisted of 16 or so sections gradually rising to 118 feet at the canopy above the trees. If we were more quiet and more still we would have seen or heard more animals up there. The only animal we saw beside birds was a vine snake wrapped in the webbing. Which I touched. And then I screamed. It was so well camouflaged. It eventually slid over to a tree and left and we proceeded on. You should know I have a fear of heights but was comfortable on the bridges. I’m also afraid of snakes but managed to remain calm and not jump overboard 100 feet up. So cool! We made it across and down and back to the lodge for lunch, including a veggie pizza (veggies instead of dough!) and a rice pudding which they decorated just for us.
After lunch we headed to the on-site ethnobotanic garden for a lecture on natural product pharmaceuticals by 2 Amazonian shaman, Don Desiderio and Don Gugiermo. A few in our group had neck and back massages with natural lotions for their aches and pains. The shaman also performed a ritual for us in support of our individual wishes. My wish is always the same. Anyways, I cried during this ceremony as I welcome any and all good karma, reiki, or spirits that I can garner.
Prior to leaving the shaman showed us snakes they caught just a few days prior. They were so proud to display a butterfly boa and an anaconda, each about 6 feet long. The anaconda kept spiraling around the shaman’s arm in a stranglehold. They just smiled (grimaced?) They would release the snakes after a group of herpetologists visit in a week’s time. Even the lodge workers went well out of their way to avoid getting too close. My feelings exactly!
We returned to our own lodge, preparing for dinner and departure the next morning. But wait! Cesar planned an additional early morning excursion to go bird watching. Four of us got to see over 36 bird varities and a couple of monkeys and an iguana in a tree. Cesar had an amazing eye and ear for birding. It was the perfect ending to our Amazon Adventure. Now, onto Lima!
Hi Christina. Let me know if you read this.
Other notes: for homeopaths, the shaman recommended reading “the Green Pharmacy”.
Some notes from their lecture:
Cats claw vine, with eucalyptus, arnica, and ginger. Una de gato.
Wild garlic tea for respiratory
Santa Maria, peiparisi family. Headache. External use.
Dragon blood sap anti itch, antiseptic and coagulant. Turns white.
Cow udder vegetable, external anti fungal. Feet, ringworm. And gets mosquitos larvae out from under skin. Yuck.
Ayawaska vine. Hallucinogenic, and laxative. Shaman take it prior to becoming shaman, see into future, learn medicinal plants and see gardens and hear how plants are used, also converse with teacher shaman. Shaman control the visions with shaking leaves or beads. Then you tell the shaman what you saw. Aka soul vine. Stonger than peyote.
Birds we saw:
My new reality 