We arrived in Iquitos on Good Friday. As we drove through the town, we saw lots of people traveling about in these motocarros and others celebrating this special day in a religious procession to the nearby church. Iquitos is the launch pad for entering the Amazon River basin.
No more trains and buses. As long as we are here in the jungle, we will either travel in this boat or smaller boats for day expeditions. Off we go to the first destination.
It takes about 2 hours in the fast boat to reach the first Explorama Lodge. Everybody on the boat was beaming! We were finally on our way to the jungle!
It is impossible to share all the sights and sounds on this blog but I will let you know about some of the fantastic sightings I have experienced. This was the first bird in the rain forest that captured my eye. Again, it took me over an hour 2 days in a row before it came out and posed for a moment. It is called a Yellow-rumped Cacique. Fortunately for me, we have a fantastic guide and I brought a Peruvian guide book.
These Scarlet Macaws were difficult to find for a photograph until one of the staff brought out a couple of bananas. Yeah!
Saddle-back Tamarinds love bananas as well. A troop of these cute little tree climbers came for a snack late in the day.
Imagine trying to find this tiny frog in the rain forest. Somehow, our guide found one. Hope it is the first of many...
Somehow, I found this Long-nosed bat.
Paddling at night is an experience! One of the surprises was a Caiman. One of our guides quietly slipped up on this unsuspecting sharp-toothed critter. After getting a spectacular look, it was returned to the river.
Besides the Caiman, we found a couple of these tiny sleeping Pygmy Kingfishers. Beautiful!
Although change has come to the rainforest, the villagers are trying to maintain their culture. These members of the Yagua tribe performed a traditional dance and demonstrated how to use a blow gun followed by a chance to try it ourselves. Not sure where my dart ended up but it wasn't on the statue where it was supposed to go...
The Roadside Hawk is a familiar sight along the river as well but it sure needs a different name! No roads around here. Riverside Hawk would be a perfect name.
At first glance, I thought this was a huge hummingbird because of that long, skinny bill but it is a White-chinned Jacamar.
Wattled Jicanas walk across the vegetation on top of the river without any trouble.
The coloring of this White-headed Marsh Tyrant reminded me of the White-headed Woodpecker in our mountains.
Another exciting sight along the river are the sloths. They look like a large nest from the boat but as you get closer you can see that it is actually a sloth. Incredibly cute!
Explorama Lodge was a fabulous place to explore. Next stop, Explornapo Lodge.
Click on photos to enlarge.
Photos and content by Robin Roberts.
