Our last full day in the Amazon was an action-packed day! We started with an early, pre-breakfast kayaking outing which provided us with tremendous light for photography and great wildlife sightings!
Our second outing of the morning was right after breakfast; this time we headed to a creek known as Supay, which had quite a few treats for us all! As we searched for wildlife, we came across a small village with a group of “rivereños” who were willing to share with us some of the wildlife that has come to their village over the years. Among some of them were a baby sloth and the “tamandua” which is the local name for one of the species of ant-eaters. When we visit remote locations like this one, we have to remember that the rules that we obey in our daily lives, doesn’t necessarily apply when you are in a place like this. Not only the “pets” are different, but the very day-to-day life is exposed to what we would call “dangerous” situations in the more “civilized” cities where we come from. Kids are running all day long bare-footed, and they are all well trained from the time they are little to watch over themselves and their younger brothers and sisters. Dangerous animals could be anywhere in the jungle, and they learn to exercise their good judgment to be able to survive. The same concept applies when on the river in canoes. There is no such a thing as life jackets for anyone, and the kids are expected to even go spear-fishing on canoes without supervision to contribute to the daily, difficult life at the jungle.
During part of our afternoon excursion, we did a quick stop and visited the community known as San Jose for one more and final shopping opportunity! The town has gotten smarter, as they are attracting tourists to their village by maintaining within their grounds a healthy group of “Victoria regias” which is the local name to the famous giant water lily.
After such enriching experience, we came back to our comfortable ship, the Delfin II, to continue navigation to another location known as Yarapa River. This location was the great finale for our trip and many more species found during this last outing, made it to the already long bird and mammal list of the voyage!
