Today we explored the most remote areas of the week’s voyage by skiff. A morning ride through the Zapote River brought us up close and personal with the endemic monk saki monkey. The flooded lagoons off the Pacaya River, with their towering isolated trees, were a departure from the densely vegetated forest we’ve grown accustomed to this week, and were the backdrop for some great bird-watching.
5/24/2025
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Delfin II
Yarapa River, Amazonas Village, Peru
Leaving Delfin II at 06:00 for our morning skiff ride, we explored the Yarapa River and monkeys were everywhere! We saw common wooly monkeys, monk saki monkeys, and common squirrel monkeys. We weren’t monkeying around! In addition to the monkeys there were woodpeckers galore! We photographed crimson-crested, yellow-tufted, and cream-colored woodpeckers as they were busily hammering away at trees and termite nests. Our afternoon was spent at Amazonas Village getting an introduction to life along the river. We enjoyed demonstrations of food preparation, basketmaking with palm fibers, and hand-dying with local plants to give the baskets vibrant colors. We also had an introduction to Minga Peru, a group serving 40 different communities in this area. Our evening was topped off with a toast to the beginning of the actual Amazon River, where the Marañon and Ucayali Rivers converge. Salud!
