AMAZON ODYSSEY: From the River to the Jungle

By Roberta Sotonoff

Here along the Amazon, no one sends out party invitations. Instead they hang colorful blankets, pots and pans like flags atop a stripped palm tree to signal party time. The dress code consists of red face paint derived from paprika plants. Dancing provides the entertainment; round and round a tiny, crowded dance floor to the rhythm of flutes and drums.
The Amazon conjures up images of excitement and the unknown. Forty miles at its widest, it starts in the Andes Mountains in Peru and then rushes 4,000 miles to its mouth in Belém, Brazil. Its basin holds an unrivaled diversity of life with 4,000 species of birds (including 120 types of hummingbirds), 20,000 different plants and 2,000 species of fish. It is home to tribes who still hunt with poison darts, colorful birds that squawk like shrews, and unusual animals such as three-toed sloths, pink dolphins, piranhas, and tapirs.
My trip began in the town of Iquitos in northern Peru—the country’s largest Amazonian town. The first stop, Explorama Lodge, was a 50-mile boat ride from Iquitos. The pristine, thatched-roof accommodations didn’t have electricity or in-room running water, but kerosene lamps and shower huts were more than adequate. Where else can you wake up to four macaws walking atop your mosquito net, or see a 400-pound black tapir saunter through the dining room door?
Ceiba Tops, the crown jewel of Explorama Lodges (www.explorama.com), features rooms with not only air conditioning and hot showers, but also flush toilets. Lush plants and colorful flowers surround the Jacuzzi, swimming pool and water slide. This jungle paradise is just a short river ride from Indiana, a larger town with a small market area selling everything necessary for river life. Though it has electricity several hours a day, it is not as thriving as Mazan, where three-wheeled motorbikes shuttle people from the Amazon River to the Napo River to catch river taxis.

River People
Time on the river was spent connecting with pink dolphins and piranhas. A food staple for ribereños (river people), piranha are easy prey. A clean tree branch, some line, a hook, a weight and some beef for bait will snare these toothy creatures. Since I wanted to keep my fingers, I let the guide unhook my catch. “The lakes are like the market to the river people. Everyday they come here for fresh fish,” said our guide, Luis Mayanchi. At night, fishermen keep warm with liquor from the riverside rum factory, which consists of a bowlegged horse to work the grinding wheel, a canoe for fermenting the juice and a big pot for boiling. The rum can be sampled and purchased ($3 per bottle) in the tasting room/owner’s home.
If Amazon hooch or rum doesn’t cure ribereños ills, the rainforest offers plenty of other remedies. Luis’ father was the village shaman (tribal doctor), so he learned the medicinal uses of certain plants and trees. He explained which plants make the best rope and how to weave a thatched roof from palm leaves. “If you want to sleep in the jungle, do it in the hollow of a large tree root,” he recommended. “Cover the area with palms. Just pull on the palms when a jaguar walks by. It will frighten him away.”
One day we visited the Yagua Indians, known for hunting with darts dipped with curare, a poison from frogs, ants and plants. The Yagua wore traditional dress, with grass skirts and stringy hats that trailed down their backs. Standing alongside a cone-shaped grass hut, a little boy held a baby three-toed sloth. The Yagua soon got down to the business at hand, a “how to” demonstration of how to make and use a blowgun. We onlookers then had a chance to test our lungs with the guns, or just have a picture taken holding the long tubed-apparatus alongside a Yagua.
For more rainforest hikes and jungle survival tips, we floated over to ExplorNapo Lodge on the Sucusari Stream, about 100 miles from Iquitos. Although I was impressed by its resident capybara—a hairy, four-foot domesticated rodent—the lodge’s biggest attraction is its proximity to the Canopy Walkway, about an hour’s walk from the lodge.This engineering marvel of suspended bridges and 14 platforms that span nearly 2,000 feet was constructed without nails.

Wildlife on the River & Travel Tips
By midday, a cruise down the Black River was most welcome and with such an abundance of feathered creatures all around, bird watching was a given. All the chirping, whistling and squawking made it easy to spot kingfishers, great ani, black collar hawks, egrets and vultures. Measuring more than three feet wide, the immense Victoria Regia water lily pads make an excellent landing pad for jacana birds. Also easy to sight are the monkeys on the aptly named Monkey Island. Branches swing and leaves tumble as the monkeys jump and play. After spotting us, they swooped down and ate bananas right out of our hands.
Guests should bring a flashlight and a good mosquito repellant, along with plenty of film and extra camera batteries. Hiking boots or old walking shoes are a must for muddy jungle trails, while quick-drying clothes counteract the sweat factor.
The Amazon fluctuates about 45 feet throughout the year. Waters start to rise in November; low waters begin in June. During the low water season, there is less rain, better fishing, but many excursions can only be done by trail. When the water is high, it is easier to visit the interior black water lakes and animals are more visible.U.S. dollars are accepted practically everywhere along the Amazon.

For more information, visit PromPeru at www.peru.info