Zapote Creek & Supai Creek
We awoke this morning on the Ucayali River across from Zapote Creek. Our pre-breakfast excursion was an exploration of this creek either by skiff or kayak. It is a lovely blackwater creek with no currents and bordered by beautiful forest. As we motored up the creek we saw wonderful birds fishing and hawking insects. Birds like snowy egrets, black-capped donicobius, kiskadees, great black hawks, roadside hawks, and a variety of kingfishers. We had the river to ourselves and the quiet was broken only by the many calls of the birds. I love morning in the Amazon!
Up the creek there was some rustling in the trees and we heard high pitched squeaks. Soon we saw a brown capuchin leap from one branch to the next. There were about 10 monkeys in this troop and they had found a tree with fruits they were enjoying. This was great for us as they stayed in this tree for 20 minutes feeding and jumping and holding on with their prehensile tail. Normally, it is hard to see this monkey as they typically leave quickly if humans are nearby so we were lucky indeed. The other skiff saw monk saki monkeys. These black fluffy monkeys were hunted for their tails historically which were used as feather dusters! Fortunately this practice is not continued today.
After breakfast we started our long descent down the Ucayali towards Nauta. We filled our morning with talks and demonstrations. First we had a great question-and-answer session with our guides where we got to ask anything we wanted to know about life in the villages the Amazon. Life along the river is so different than what we are used to at home. This was followed by an origami folding demonstration of our towels by cabin boys who kindly fold a different shape or animal everyday in our cabins. Next we had a lesson in Peruvian Amazon cuisine by Delfin II sous chef in the art of making the traditional dish called Juanes, which is a rice, chicken, egg, and olive mixture cooked in a large heloconia leaf! I finished our morning events with a talk on the evolution of birds. Then it was lunch and siesta time. We have really become fond of our siestas during the heat of the day and after getting up so early every morning.
Our afternoon excursion was postponed due to heavy rain, but it was wonderful to experience rain forest downpour from the comfort of our ship. The rain cooled the temperatures and we headed out for our afternoon skiff ride under a cloudy sky on Supai River. Hawks lined the river and we saw many. Plumbeous kites, crane hawks, black-collared hawks, and a new one for Adonay and me, the black hawk eagle. It was a great afternoon!
Our evening started with the slideshow of photos from our trip submitted by all the guests. It was really fun to relive the trip through everyone’s different perspective. This was followed with a sumptuous barbeque and an evening of Peruvian music and dancing. A great way to spend our last night on board the Delfin II!
