Our last full day in the Upper Amazon of Peru was truly wonderful, and it started in a great way with a trip ashore to visit a local village named Amazonas. Located near the confluence of the Marañón and Ucayali Rivers, the village is home to about 300 people. They make a living by raising bananas, sugar cane, corn, cassava, and other crops; they also do some fishing, raise fish in farms, and make handicrafts. We visited their very clean and pretty village and learned how they still use many traditional methods in their daily lives; for example, a couple of women demonstrated how they obtain the sweet and refreshing sugar cane juice with a wooden press and lots of muscles. Young women and men explained the benefits they receive from the local Peruvian non-profit Minga-Perú, an organization that Lindblad Expeditions has been supporting for the past ten years. By teaching about hygiene, self-esteem, sexuality, traditional handicraft methods, innovative agroforestry practices, and the creation of fish farms (among many other things), Minga-Perú has been empowering women and increasing the quality of life for thousands of people in this region.
After another delicious lunch on board, we took our skiffs for one last exploration at Piranha Creek. Located in the easternmost portion of the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve, Piranha is a small and narrow blackwater creek. We enjoyed watching the fascinating inhabitants of the rainforest, many of them already old friends to us, including the ubiquitous black-collared hawk, yellow-headed caracara, wattled jacana, yellow-rumped cacique, and many more. Next, we headed back into the open water to navigate a bit downriver and officially entered the almighty Amazon River! All three skiffs got together, and we toasted with sparkling wine for our amazing week together exploring the Peruvian Amazon!
