Early in the morning we woke up on the Marañón River. An early, optional pre-breakfast skiff ride along the river was offered to enjoy a magnificent sunrise on a welcoming and promising day. We saw fishermen with their catch, and one showed us his particular paddle that was clearly carved with pride and effort.
Back on board and as we finished with our breakfast we started our next expedition—this time we visited a village where we proudly sponsor a local program, Minga Perú. It is a social program that involves educating residents and working to regain an almost-lost native language, plus many other projects that we believe strengthen the local community.
Walking among the locals in their village and even into their houses has allowed us to see life from a different perspective—for life here along the river is far beyond our expectations. Things many of us take from granted are a luxury here: electricity, running water, medicine, and even housing is limited or nonexistent and yet, it seems they live a fun, simple, and happy life for they have abundance in the Amazon and their families.
Back on board we learned about local exotic fruits and seeds from our naturalist Renni as we navigated to our next destination.
Lunch was served, and today we had the opportunity to meet our crew while we sailed down the Marañón River into the Amazon and then back upstream to the Ucayali River for our afternoon visit. Before our departure we learned about local culture from our naturalist Adonay.
Our first activity on the Ucayali River was a fun skiff-ride searching for wildlife, and some of us also took the next option, kayaking.
Fun times were had on the skiff ride. We spotted monkeys hopping from one tree to the next and to our surprise some were running on the ground from one side of the creek to the next closest tree and back up. Some opted for a big risky leap—great photo opportunities.
We returned to Delfin II for a demonstration from our bartender Martín. Today was how to prepare your own local Pisco sour. We had to shake the drink and ourselves to the rhythm, and soon after we got to enjoy our drinks afer all that fun work.
Dinner is now served and we are relocating further upstream for our next adventure while our maître d’ “lightning-fingers” Pedro shared his musical talent to our amusement.
I will miss this wonderful place and people; we still have a few more days to celebrate life. Wish you were here my dear reader.
