San Francisco & the Amazon River
Under a cloudy sky we left early once more. It had been raining overnight, and so the air remained fresh for our entire morning's excursion, and the wildlife to be seen by skiff was exceptional in the long, narrow lagoon we visited. It was filled with herons and egrets, black-collared hawks, and striated herons and jacanas. We also caught sight and photographs of kingfishers, black-capped donacobious, and chestnut-bellied seedeaters.
Those who chose to walk in the rainforest at this early hour discovered that yes, the fire ants living in the tangarana trees do bite, the sap of fig trees is used as anti-parasite medication for the locals, and that a multitude of plants have evolved symbiotic relationships with a variety of terrestrial invertebrates both big and small. This part of the Amazon is also renown for its large stands of the “aguaje palm”, or Mauritius flexuoso. The walkers got close looks at these palms as many are planted close to inhabited areas, and the trail led back to the ship via the community of San Francisco. The fruits of this palm are eaten by everyone, humans and otherwise, because of their rich oil and nutrient content (very high in vitamin A). In fact, just before lunch one of the local experts on board, Reny, gave a demonstration and explanation of quite a few of the popular fruits we have been eating at breakfast in the form of juice, or a flavoring in desserts at lunch and dinner.
But I'm getting ahead of myself here, because we had a serious expedition to send out before the fruit talk. I was asked “why” I was offering a swim in the Amazon, and the answer is “because we can”, and so we did...swim in the Amazon, that is! About 14 people took up on my offer to get into the skiffs and drive out to the very junction of the Marañón and Ucayali Rivers. At the confluence of these two rivers, we jumped in! Pink dolphins almost immediately made their presence known, but at a discrete distance of course. We chose an eddy near shore where we bobbed around feeling good and refreshed for a while, before returning to the ship for a quick shower and change before heading upstairs.
Zapote, taperiba, anona, camu camu, aguaje, tumbo, chambira, cocona, macambo...all these and more were on the agenda, and all were taste-tested by many! By the time lunch rolled around, we had pretty much eaten dessert first!
MNT (Mandatory Nap Time) was taken care of following lunch (no arguments from the peanut gallery), and so by 3:30 pm we were set to head out. The ship had meanwhile moved a few minutes down the Amazon river to drop us off at a shortcut into the Yarapa River, our objective for the afternoon. Last year the Ucayali River ate away a narrow bank of land separating the Yarapa River from the Ucayali. This means that today, we can enter the Yarapa River by skiff from the Amazon, but come out up-river in the Ucayali...so we did! And the Captain of the Delfin II, very obligingly, met us at the key location just in time for sunset. Several sloths rewarded our decision, one an athletic individual climbing down a white-barked cecropia tree, the rest rather...slothful and slouchful? Green iguanas were spotted, but it was a “where's Waldo” situation to find them in among the leaves.
As we approached the last quarter of our journey home, we noticed the dark clouds gathering behind us and winds starting to rip through the tree tops. The first two skiffs managed to out-run the rain, but the third got the full “Amazon Experience”. I've been telling people that to be out in a skiff in the rain was essential to their appreciation of tropical rainforests, so it seems today only 1/3 of our party has reached that plateau of understanding!
Tonight dinner was a tad early because we wanted to get out once more for a night hike. One never knows what one can see on a night hike. Sometimes the activity can be low-key and quiet, sometimes surprises can happen.
Boots on, flashlights in hand, repellent applied, and off we went. The sounds and darkness (no moon) were new. Cicadas made the most noise, a few tree frogs peeped...and one we actually saw well, as it sat on its stem patiently until everyone had a chance to photograph it. Looking at our references books, it seems to have been a “quacking tree-frog”, or Hyla lanciformis, though the species could be another. A pair of tiny Tui parrotlets were cosied deep inside a termite nest for the night, and a tarantula sowed its pink toes just barely.
Back on board, the ship took off – a long night ahead of us up-river to more adventures.
