After a quiet and comfortable night’s sleep spent tied up to a tree on the rivers edge, we woke up on the Delfin II hungry and eager for more of what the Upper Amazon has to offer to us today.
This morning we visited the village of San Francisco. It’s a sleepy little town above the flooded plains, where the local people have managed to protect themselves from the high waters this time of the year, and at the same time be close enough to the source of everything here, that is the river itself.
Visiting San Francisco (a fairly common name among catholic countries), we were very impressed by the friendliness of its inhabitants. We were all welcomed into their open homes and lives, and pleased to observe how, though simple ways, they have built healthy and happy lives. Everywhere there were happy children playing or at school. We visited their school and shopped for some locally made handcrafts. It was also interesting to observe that, due to the proximity of the jungle to their lives, a few of these people had adopted some of the wildlife, such as capybaras and sloths. We enjoyed a glimpse of the real normal life of these people of the jungle with no pretenses or set up shows for us, and we enjoyed every minute of it.
After returning to our bubble of civilization onboard Delfin II for a great lunch and some rest, we were offered the opportunity for a refreshing swim at Clavero Lake, and the choice of touring around it by skiff or under our own power by kayaking.
It was a very pleasant afternoon, and the weather held up pretty well during the whole day, considering that we are in a rainforest, after all.
We had great views of several of the birds of the Amazon at the rivers edge, and several sightings of lethargic three-toed sloths as well.
Upon our return we immediately started to sail to a different destination for our activities tomorrow, as the sun came down with and incredibly gorgeous sunset. An immensity of water, and a sky with hues of orange, yellow and blue.
