Amazon River - Peru (OAT tour)

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Day 1) I arrived in Lima after an unpleasantly long flight from Boston with an extended layover in Miami. Who cares? I am in Peru finally after a year of anticipation. Due to the delay in Miami it was already lunchtime when I arrived, and I was ready. Our group, totaling 22, and including my mother and me, met at the Hotel El Condado. We joined our guide, Johnny for a quick meeting on our tour schedule, then lunch. I had been reading a lot about Peruvian cuisine and had high expectations. I had egg rolls stuffed with cheese and served with guacamole sauce, cold potatoes with a spicy crème sauce, homemade pasta with a “Peruvian green sauce” which was a sort of pesto, and Lucumas ice cream made from a native fruit - unusual tasting.

After all that we had a city tour. Many have commented that Lima is not very interesting but I enjoyed every minute. It is a huge city with typical city traffic and dirt but just watching the people and seeing everything so different from what I am used to at home was great. Already discovered that dogs are all over the place - strays or not they seem to spend all their time outside. During the entire trip we saw dogs everywhere - not too many cats though….hmm.

Dinner tonight was too touristy for me, dancing and buffet and nothing to bother writing about. Tried the famous Pisco sour, but it isn’t for me. Not really a fair statement as my taste seems to have changed and even my favorite beverage, wine, doesn’t appeal to me anymore.

Day 2) Today we visited a fish market on the water. There were no tourists other than us, it was very much local and all the vendors had their fresh seafood out for sale. I actually bought and ate one raw scallop and it was great - although I worried the rest of the day that I would have some unpleasant reaction. Maybe not the smartest idea I have ever had but it turned out ok. After the fish market we headed to Villa El Salvador, the largest shantytown in the world, with a population of 1 million. On the way we passed a line of women and children, they were waiting to visit prisoners at the women’s prison. These ladies all smiled and waved at us, I am realizing that Peruvians are some of the nicest, friendliest people. The shantytown is built up the side of huge sand dunes. We shopped first for ingredients to cook Peruvian fried rice. This was our gift to the women who run a kitchen and serve up to 100 residents a day at 2 nuevo soles per meal, or about $.60 US. The women showed us the kitchen and answered questions. It was interesting to see the different homes, some with little shops in them, all tightly closed up for the most part. Again, this is something that OAT has set up, and is not a usual tourist destination.

Dinner tonight was at Costa Verde on the water. Obviously they do lots of tourist groups, but dinner was good: ceviche (of course) and rice with seafood - no complaints!

Day 3) Early wake-up and flight to Iquitos. I don’t even remember it, must have slept through the whole thing. Before I knew it I was in Iquitos, ready to cruise the Amazon. As soon as we got to Iquitos we had time to explore. My mother realized she had forgotten flip-flops, so our guide took us on a tuk-tuk which was fun, and we bought the most expensive pair of flip flops ever - $12! We could have shopped around and gotten cheap ones but we didn’t want to take up time shopping, we were ready to get to our riverboat.

We got to our boat, La Aquamarina, under Captain Richard (formerly in the Peruvian navy) and into our air conditioned cabin. The boat can hold 24 passengers and each room has 2 beds, a desk and a private bath. It was nice, but more rustic than otherwise. There was a covered deck with ceiling fans above and an enclosed and air conditioned dining room with a tv and computer where the crew playsed solitaire when they were on break.

Lunch was great, our chef did a very good job. We had rice, beans, salad with a terrific lime dressing, fried catfish, chicken, spicy fresh salsa and fresh fruit juice. This describes most of our meals on board, but it wasn’t boring and it was always good.

In the afternoon we got onto our small boat driven by Robin, with Johnny and our naturalist, Neil, and took a ride out onto the river looking for wildlife - which was mostly birds. We saw a sloth, but honestly, I only saw a dark spot high up in a tree. It could have been leaves for all I know.

Day 4) Today Johnny told us about the lives of Riberenos (the River people). Johnny was raised on the river. Most of these people are mestizos or mixed (Indian, Spanish, other European). There are many isolated villages on the river that we pass as we go along. It was dark and rainy but we got into our small boat and prepared to visit a village that Capt Richard had noticed, but the boat had never stopped there before. We were all kitted out in the garbage-bag style rain ponchos. As we arrived children were on the bank above us and Johnny went ahead to see if it was ok for us to visit. We were invited to come up and mother and grandmother with several children shyly welcomed us. One of the children had run off to get the father who arrived and spoke in Spanish with Johnny. He asked if we were planning to stay - I felt bad, he probably was wondering if he had to feed all of us. Instead we met the family and got to take picture, which they got a kick out of seeing on our camera viewers. It turns out that no boat had ever stopped there and we were the first foreigners they had ever met. They thought we were very strange with our ponchos, big shoes and many grey haired people (River people typically don’t get grey hair).

We weren’t unprepared, thanks to Johnny. We all trooped over to the schoolhouse - under former President Fujimora, each village got a school and a teacher. Their equivalent to a PTA head is the most important position in the village. Several adults were around, but the teacher had canoed over to Iquitos to get his/her monthly paycheck. We got to ask questions and the children and adults asked us questions. Johnny was so great at breaking the ice, he had us sing Old MacDonald with the children. Afterwards, Johnny presented our gifts: salt, flashlights, machetes and school supplies. What a great time. We departed with many smiles and invitations to visit any time.

Later that afternoon we took another small boat ride and saw pink dolphins, and lots more birds. As we passed people on shore or in canoes waved, it seemed like a friendly river. At one point we stopped and spent about 5 minutes in complete silence, listening to the jungle, perfect! Our boat mostly traveled on the Maranon river, not the main Amazon, and thus we never saw other tourists the entire time. My idea of a good trip.

That evening our crew surprised us with music before dinner. This became a regular event each evening. Johnny, Neil, Merden and Claudio played flutes, drums and other instruments. Singing and music under the Amazonian stars on deck, followed by another good meal. Johnny described our agenda for the next day and told us about a jungle rumor going around lately. Some villagers near the Brazil border were murdered and had their faces cut off. Tourists were being blamed (thanks to European rubber barons in the earlier times who used to punish native people that way). The murders were actually done by drug dealers, but this is how we learned that today tourists (European types) are called “Face peelers”, it isn’t supposed to be an insult (but it doesn’t sound good does it?)

Day 5) Today we get up early for a bird watching boat ride. Down a tributary off the Maranon we see many huts on the riverbank and we pass many canoes. Lots of birds, hawks, woodpeckers, etc. Back for breakfast and to gear up in long sleeves (ugh) and hats, sunscreen, deet, and gators to protect us from snakebites. Did I mention how hot it was? Off we went for a jungle hike. Some villagers had cut a path for us already and off we went. Hot, buggy and unpleasant but we are in the jungle! We saw lots of different plants and bugs, even a tiny whip snake. I don’t think he would have been a big threat, but the dreaded fer-de-lance snake kills many people each year in the jungle.

After lunch we have a visit to a Shaman. My understanding is that OAT has more than one Shaman, so it isn’t just tourist in, tourist out. Johnny wasn’t even sure that the Shaman would be there at this time (obviously communication channels are quiet limited out here, river people don’t always know what is going on in the outside world or even in the rest of Peru). We took our boat and headed out, passing women and children washing in the river.

The shaman was in a large, circular ceremonial thatched-roof open-air hut with support posts around the outside and one in the center. Masks hung on each post - they were Shamans that our Shaman had met, and his master was represented by the mask on the center pole. Two fires were burning and we sat on posts around the outside circle. The Shaman spoke Quechua and Johnny interpreted. He had actually been cured by this Shaman in the past and spent time with him deep in the jungle. Our Shaman told us that he had 9 children but none of them wanted to learn to be a Shaman. He had taught his skills to 2 other people, and we met Carola, who was training with him to be an herbalist.

To become a Shaman (Johnny called him maestro), this man left his village at age 17 and spent 8 years in the jungle training with his master, learning the skills, herbs, chants, needed to help his people. He can cure many illnesses, and only sends people who need surgery to the hospital for treatment. We were able to smell some of the concoctions including the infamous hallucinogenic ayahuasca. Then the Shaman offered to perform a special blessing for someone. I was the only one who volunteered, so I went up to the center of the round hut, and bowed my head while the Shaman chanted and blew fragrant tobacco smoke over me. It was incredibly special and I will never forget it. Afterwards he told Johnny that I had a strong spirit and that I was at peace. After that ceremony, the Shaman and Carola chanted and went around the circle doing an abbreviated blessing on everyone. The chanting or singing is beautiful and haunting. After this, Carola performed a ceremony to share her strength with the Shaman, who expended all his energy performing the ceremony.

Perhaps I had the peaceful spirit from the ceremony, but after the wonderful visit with the Shaman we headed over via a short walk to a jungle lodge that was getting ready to open for visitors in a few months. This property was not open so again we didn’t see other tourists, but they had some animals that were not caged, just tamed. There was a big wooly monkey and a tiny spider monkey, a baby peccary and a koati. The baby peccary came up to me for a good scritch and of course I sat down for some quality animal time. All of a sudden koati ran over and climbed up me! He sat in my lap and he and baby pig were obviously big buddies. Anyone who tried to pet koati got snapped at, I just kept still and scratched that pig. Meanwhile the tiny little spider monkey kept sneaking up and tapping the peccary, then getting chased off by the koati. Poor monkey just wanted to play. It was great, I love getting animal therapy, but we had to catch another boat. There was a lake with large lily pads, and we got into canoes for a little tour of the lake, where we also saw the ROUSs (rodents of unusual size). These are capybaras, the largest rodent in the world. Again, these are wild animals that are fed by the lodge, so not truly wild but I am glad they had some mammals for us to see, because the jungle provides privacy for the animals and we wouldn’t see much besides the birds and dolphins.

As evening fell, we returned to La Aquamarina with a fabulous sunset. Time for a cold beer and a much needed shower.

Day 6) back to the lake from yesterday we rowed down the lake and got off at a stop where we could hike to suspension bridges. There are 8 bridges high up in the trees. We each got to walk alone so as to keep weight levels down. This was very nice, peaceful and beautiful. My mom didn’t do it though - her fear of heights kept her off and she walked with one of the local people to the other side where the bridges ended. Of course, this is all in the heat with the bugs, but who focuses on that? OK, I do a little, but I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

Back to our boat for showers and then we head out to a village where we would have lunch with a local family. The village we went to is called Monte Allegro, and has a population of maybe 150 people. OAT doesn’t use the same family each time, so they don’t become dependant on that money. Our group divided into 2, and each went to a different home. Our group went to the home of Jaime and his wife and children (I didn’t catch all the names). They were of course, extremely hospitable. Lunch was great - they really did it up for us. There was bbq’d peccary (sorry baby pig) which Jaime had to go 3 hours into the jungle to hunt, there was fish cooked inside palm leaves with peppers and spices, breadfruit, monkey brain (nuts), spicy caracara salsa, yucca, plantain, pineapple juice and lemon grass tea. The piece de la resistance was grilled beetle larvae. I had to try this and it was actually very, very good. I only wish I had a picture of me eating it though. Culinary adventure! This family also had a cat, one of the few I saw during this trip. Outside a large hog walked around and of course many dogs. After this wonderful lunch we went outside to a small market - an open-air, covered hut with about 20 tables, each with various handicrafts for sale by the villagers. Everything is very cheap here and all handmade. I bought bracelets made from porcupine quills, a small dolphin carved from a nut, a purse made of seeds, and a mask that reminded me of the Shaman masks.

Back to the boat for yet another shower and some quality time in the A/C, before heading out on our small boat again for another fun event. This time villagers met us with their canoes - we each got our own canoe with a villager and we could row or not, of course I rowed! It was just quiet and peaceful, we passed many villagers and huts and my guide and I tried to communicate with much pointing and smiling because sadly, I do not speak Spanish. It wasn’t a long ride but it was fun. Later more music before dinner and then time for a night boat ride. We saw bats above us in the night sky, night hawks, herons, etc. and again we had some silent time to listen to the music of the jungle. Perfect.

Day 7) another early morning boat ride, we saw butterflies and then some rare monkeys (can’t recall the name but Johnny was very surprised and said that these are rarely seen). Somehow they managed to serve us breakfast right on the small boat - sandwiches, fruit and tea, then we fished and I caught a piranha. It was lots of fun, and the chef cooked up our catch which we shared as part of our lunch later in the day. After lunch was an optional swim which I decided not to do. No thanks; I have heard too much about icky things in the water.

This afternoon was a very special visit for us. Johnny went to a village near our boat and invited two families to come see La Aquamarina. Two of our group went with Johnny as ambassadors. The families got a tour of the boat and then joined the rest of us on deck for a conversation. The visitors were very friendly, and told us funny impressions of the boat. The said the cabins were freezing cold and the showers looked like snakes. They were happy to see the boat, “We always see the boats go by, but they never stop” was a comment they made. They had many questions for us - starting with asking everyone to tell their name, age and if they had children. We had questions too, asking the children what they wanted to study in school. One wanted to be a teacher, one a doctor and one a nurse.

One of the men asked the men in our group why they didn’t have more children. He wondered if they had “performance” problems, and said that there is a root he could recommend called the “pants ripper”. In turn, he was asked if he planned to have more children - and he looked at his wife and crossed his legs. She said that she got free birth control from the first aid station in the next village over. It was all very funny, but also so meaningful to have the chance to talk to people who live and experience such a different world from ours. Some of the changes they have seen in the Amazon over the past years are the loss of big fish due to over fishing, loss of hunting - they have to go further into the jungle to find food, and more flooding - recently losing many rice crops to floods.

Day 8) our last day on the boat and we visited the largest city we had seen on the river, Nauta. Nauta has a population of about 14,000. This is a major city in the area and a center for selling local goods. We entered at a bustling port with lots of activity - but again I never saw any other tourists. We had time to walk around the pretty main square. A young boy attached himself to my mom and me, practicing his English and talking with us. He wasn’t trying to sell anything but I am not sure if he was looking for money or just being friendly. He was nice and it was fun to talk to him. A man with a small child came up to us selling baskets and I bought a very pretty small basket decorated with seeds and porcupine quills. When we met up with our group a little later we all went on tuk-tuks for a ride around Nauta - lots of fun. As we ended the visit to Nauta we were able to buy more local handicrafts - I found a really pretty pipe made of clay and nuts with a snake and turtle on it. I don’t’ need a pipe, but this is so pretty I had to have it.

Back to the boat, more showering, more A/C relief. Did I mention the heat? This was our last day on the river, ending with a farewell dinner. The next day we were back in Iquitos for a return flight to Lima and the next part of our trip - Machu Picchu.

I can’t really express how magical it was to be on the river in the Amazon. This was my favorite part of the trip, even though Machu Picchu was amazing too. We met many wonderful people as part of our OAT group, and of course, the friendly, warm, hospitable people of the river. Our guide Johnny, who is unparalleled, our naturalist Neil, Captain Richard, the crew, especially Merden, all made this adventure one of the best trips I have ever experienced.

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