We woke up at 5:40a.m. Our rubber boots were waiting for us outside our doors. Enjoying my coffee I see the amazing colors of sunset reflected on the river. It is going to be another colorful day in the Amazon. We disembarked at 6 o’clock.
Our first hike took us inside a forest in Yanalpa, Ucayali River. The place is known as a flooded forest. It is the first time this year that we visit this place, as before it was covered with water. We enjoyed the forest as children enjoy nature walks! Walking in the mud! Getting our boots in the water! The light couldn’t find its way through the vegetation, which made a beautiful setting of contrasts.
Back aboard we had breakfast. While in the dining room we could see from our windows the activity outside. Many “ribereños” fish early in the morning, a line was set, some movement came along. Right away the fishermen came, they pulled out a huge catfish! With some many witnesses they decided to give us the fish for a while so we could enjoy taking our photos!
After breakfast we went out once again to explore Belluda Caño by skiff. Birds and sloths were in the treetops, and we found some new monkeys species for our list as well, my favorite ones so far: night owl monkeys. With their huge nocturnal eyes they checked on us from a hole in a tree. They looked as curious about us as we were of them.
We returned for some activity on board: a talk about primates, a class on towel folding! A photo talk, and even an exotic fruit exhibition. Finally we arrived to our destination: El Dorado. The Spanish “conquistadores” looked all over South and Central America for this mythical place, a city made of gold. We found a natural richness that equals that much gold and more! Our skiffs took us to explore el Dorado, where we found more monkeys, kingfishers, black collar hawks, some three-toed sloths, and almost at the end of our outing—thousands of egrets flying back to their roosting places on trees!
We had a great encounter with fishermen as well. They were proud to show us the catch of the day, piranhas! We came back in the darkness where we could see bats flying around us, and we finally got to see some caimans along the river.
The day ended with music from our talented crewmembers and all of us dancing to the rhythm of South American music! I look around and I see some many smiling faces. Nature makes us happy!
