Just yesterday we started our adventure, arriving to this very remote part of the world by plane. We started by having an overview of Lima, the capital of Peru, to learn a little of its interesting history and see some of the main buildings. Later we went back to the airport to fly to Iquitos, the largest populated area not connected by a road in the world. Virtually, an island of a 500,000 plus people surrounded by a vast sea of green tropical rain forest.
At the airport our naturalists and staff welcomed us, and drove us a short distance though Iquitos to the Delfin II our extremely civilized home at the edge of civilization.
Today we woke up early to experience first hand a walk in the rainforest, under the rain in an area called Casual.
At Casual we had the extra benefit of having some local people of the area. They knew the area so extremely well that it ended up being more like a show of magicians performing for us. They disappeared into the forest and then reappeared at different sections of the trail bringing goodies with them, interesting and weird looking creatures. Among some of the creatures that made our visit to Casual so delightful, there was a medium sized anaconda, a huge hairy tarantula, and several species of frogs. But the highlights were a couple of rare and very seldom seen creatures. One of them was a very odd looking, very well camouflaged turtle with its flat carapace and perpetual grin, and the other a very small and furry, delicate looking, silky anteater. Silky anteaters are only found in the “New World,” the same as other species of anteaters, sloths and armadillos.
Casual was indeed a great walk!
After returning to the Delfin II to dry up and change clothes we had a delicious lunch, a little rest and then we were ready for our second outing by skiff into the tributaries of the Amazon, until sunset.
The weather for the afternoon was ideal. We had a very enjoyable ride, and our expert naturalist pointed out to us some more interesting creatures, several species of birds, and the cherry on the cake: gray and pink dolphins that played around our boats, teasing us by regularly coming out of the water with a loud exhaling sound every time.
What a great couple of days!
