Amazon Day VII.

2-20-13 VERMONT: We’ve been here since Sunday, the boys and I skied Monday and Tuesday and opted out today. I get home from skiing and lay down, they go out and sled or snowshoe in the pasture. We got a new five inches last night—the fresh stuff always looks so clean.


And now, back to the Amazon...

2-9-13 RÍO UCAYALI, PERÚ: Last night we started down river back to Nauta but stopped this morning for two skiff rides on the Río Zapote. A black hawk raided the nest of a pair of hoatzins, eating the eggs or chicks. It was a sober reminder that the jungle is a jungle, the screaming set my nerves on edge.

After breakfast on the boat we were back for a visit to the village and market. We gave them school supplies and a soccer ball. In the rainy season, now, their soccer field is under water, but the goals are still visible. After the visit, we went further up the river for more birds.


Gray dolphins.*

Pink dolphin.*

Chestnut-eared aracari.

White water.

Kids grow up in the water.

Dugout canoe.*

Dugout canoe coming up. The outside is shaped with machetes and planes. The inside is burnt out.

Back yard, the ducks seem comfortable.

The midday diversion was a lesson in making Pisco Sours. It’s simple—pisco, a grape brandy,-3 oz., lime juice-1oz, sugar solution-1oz, egg white-spoonful, shake with ice, pour, top with dash of bitters. Nice.


Pisco Sour lesson.

The afternoon skiff ride was on Supay Caño, we went from the river through jungle with heavy overhead canopy and out into an open lake dotted with clumps of palm trees that is probably a meadow in the dry season. While we were admiring the giant lily pads and birds, the sky turned black behind us and an intense T-storm moved in behind us and then over took us. We were back in the ponchos and raced back to the boat through sinuous passages of the forest. We passed a native canoe full of ladies with kids all laughing, in their usual clothes, no rain gear, and soaked. The locals seem impervious to frequent soaking. The rain continued for hours—it is the rain forest.


Tui parakeets?

Hummingbird. There are about 100 species of hummers and related species in Perú.

More lily pads in another meadow/lake.

We're gonna get wet.

Dinner was a BBQ with musical performance by some of the crew afterwards, including dancing in native dress.

Showtime!

Here's a hoatzin on a different occasion, a Suessian bird. It's pronounced 'watson'.*