Atun Poza Lake & Pacaya River
Another beautiful day in the Amazon! We began our day in the early morning on skiffs, listening to the Amazon Forest waking up with birds chirping. We saw the Cormorants beginning their migration in several groups; flying with such grace and in perfect formation.
We tied up our skiffs and enjoyed a memorable breakfast on the river. The ship left nothing to chance and provided us with all the amenities, including a beautiful napkin place setting! The naturalists served us fresh fruit skewers and two kinds of breakfast sandwiches; one made with the local sweet potato bread! Fresh Camu camu juice and coffee were available and the conversation and laughter could be heard throughout the jungle. On the way back we stopped at a local village to shop for some local handicrafts made by the women. We also presented the children with a portion of the many donations that our women brought to leave the Amazon better than we found it.
One of our guides, Jesus, gave a very interesting and informative talk about his life, being born in the Amazon; his tribe; his customs and beliefs. What a great introduction to the local Amazonian people and how fortunate we were to have all of the guides from the Peruvian Amazon on board.
This afternoon we were out again, and we had some sightings of pink and gray dolphins and the rivers convergence with a tributary. On the banks were migrating Great and cattle egrets and a rare sighting of the Jabiru, a beautiful tall bird with colorful red and black bands around the neck. We stayed as long as we could taking incredible photos of these birds and the many pink and grey dolphins found there before needing to go further back into the Pacaya-Samiria reserve for viewings of Howler monkeys and anything else we might find.
It rained lightly for a short while and soon after we spotted a perfect, double rainbow. It was magnificent! We stopped at a beautiful lake and several of us jumped in the warm waters with our floating noodles and enjoyed swimming with the pink dolphins! Several were very close to us as we floated and swam. What an experience! On the way back to the ship we found two families of Howler monkeys and many sloths, bringing our total to over thirty sloths this week. The sunset was spectacular with pink and blue skies. The positive energy of our Olivia group is apparently attracting a lot of wildlife for us, as usual!
In the evening we enjoyed another exquisite dinner made with local fish and ice-cream flavored from local fruits, beautifully presented. The ship’s staff entertained us with their local music, and two of our very talented guests continued the entertainment with their singing and playing guitar. We all commented on how fast this week has gone. This was another great day that we were sad to see end, but grateful for all we have been privileged to observe here in the Amazon.
