Day 5: Sunday, July 26

We were up early this morning to catch the first flight out to Iquitos, the major port city of the Amazon River. As we flew across the snow-capped Andes Mountains and the winding rivers of the rainforest, we left behind the urban jungle in anticipation of the rainforest jungle, where our "real" adventure was about to begin.

Even on Sunday morning, Iquitos is a lively spot - the overwhelming impression is of noisy traffic.






Most of the noise comes from the thousands of "motokars" - three-wheeled vehicles that are used for taxis. Very few people own a private car, so they use these things to go everywhere. Not that they can go too far - there's only one road out of Iquitos - a fine paved road for 63 miles upriver to the town of Nauta.




We had a quick tour of the city, checking out the busy market, the main square and church, and the Eiffel House - a metal house designed by the creator of the Eiffel Tower.

While we were stopped at the square, we had a surprise visit from Edgard's family. Edgard lives in Iquitos, but he was born and raised in a much smaller village on the Amazon. We are about to learn how special it is to have a 'river boy' as our guide - he knows the area, the people and the customs.

Finally we arrived at our home for the next week - the good ship Arapaima, named after a huge fish that lives in the Amazon and its tributaries. We met the crew, including the ship's naturalist, Neil Guerrera - his mom named him after Neil Armstrong! Neil and Edgard are long-time friends, both natives of villages in the Amazon rainforest - they were a dynamic duo for sure - once again, we were fortunate to have excellent guides!

We got underway immediately, sailing from Iquitos upstream on the mighty Amazon towards the distant Andes Mountains. After room assignments, we gathered for lunch, a Peruvian style buffet, with Dorago catfish as the main course, accompanied by rice and potatoes.

Each mealtime opened with Neil making a dramatic presentation about the food being served. There was a big emphasis on using local products and traditional Peruvian recipes., which meant that every meal was based on fish, rice, potatoes, and bread. We did have lots of local fruit and fruit juices, but we sometimes wondered if these folks ever eat vegetables!

After a little time to relax and unpack, we piled into a smaller motorboat, the Caiman II, for a little exploration along the river. Our guides reminded us that they would not be able to tell us what we would see or experience - every trip is different, schedules are totally flexible, and things change on a moment's notice. So forget the printed itinerary - this is an adventure - sit back and see what happens next. But …each evening after dinner, Edgard did tell us the plan for the next day, as well as what to wear and what to bring with us.

We quickly met up with a couple of ribereños (river people) fishing for their supper, so we stopped to see what they were catching. We gave them a gift – a couple of bags of salt. That might sound strange except that there is no source of salt in the rainforest, and the local people must have it for food preservation. It was nice that we could give them something useful – and save them a trip to the market (which is NOT just around the corner).

We saw the first of many interesting boats heading up and down this river - here are three: a ferry, a water taxi, and a dugout canoe.

We also got our first look at a typical village along the banks of the river. Houses with thatched roofs are built on stilts or even floating on the river. No doors, no windows, no electricity, no running water ...just a very basic shelter.

As we headed back to the ship, we found out what was in the ice chests in the back of our little boat. The big one was full of wonderfully cold water. The small one was filled with rolled up wet wash cloths that had been frozen. This was a routine that we all appreciated - an icy cold wash cloth is pure luxury in the rain forest!

Back on the mother ship, Freddy the bartender gave us a lesson in how to make Pisco sours - a delicious learning and discovery event as we passed the juncture of the Ucayali and Marañon Rivers. As darkness fell, we headed up the Ucayali.