Part of the overall experience when visiting the Amazon, is not only to see and learn about the flora and fauna of the region, but to learn about the communities that have settled here and have learned to survive and depend on it.
San Jorge community is one of the many settlements existing along the river. These communities are no longer isolated from the world, as they have developed a constant trade of their products coming from fishing and farming. The river not only provides their food, but also connects them with the outside world. The river is the highway of the ribereños (river people) and it is the only way to travel in this part of the Amazon; there are no roads anywhere!
In the last few years, as tourism grows and becomes an active part of their daily lives, the communities have developed a sustainable income from it, by selling their pretty handicrafts to tourists visiting the villages. The learning experience goes both ways, as we also do our part by visiting the local school and trying to impart a little bit of geographic knowledge regarding the areas we come from.
School supplies brought up by the guests were given to the classroom teacher, and at the end we all are very happy to enrich our knowledge and our lives by getting to know - at least a little bit - these wonderful people!
Once done with our shopping, we returned to the ship to continue our navigation, this time heading east to the very origin of the Amazon itself!
By lunchtime we were already there; the confluence of the Marañon and the Ucayali Rivers formed millions of years ago - the largest river on the planet, the Amazon!
Turning sharply back west, we left behind the confluence to immerse ourselves once again into the varzea (or flooded) forest. This time we would continue our navigation at the Ucayali River, reaching by mid-afternoon the confluence of a small tributary known as Yarapa River. This location is well known by the amount of wildlife, so many lodges have created tourism camps in the area. But to see animals and the forest, one has to be on the water, so our skiffs were the best platform to access the farthest areas within the Yarapa River to search for more wildlife. The afternoon turned out to be a great, very productive experience full of wildlife encounters, including colorful birds, monkeys, and to top it up, a sunset painted with every hue of blue and gold!
