Amazon III

We started off early again and walked and rowed back to the first Yaguas village we stopped at. From there we were picked up in a small motorboat and headed across the river and into the Peruvian Amazon (though without the hassle of any official border crossings). We stopped at another tribal village and visited a local home where the kids were very curious about the “foreigner”. We continued down the river, spotting a solitary grey river dolphin on the way. The river is so large that from the middle it looks like it's a lake as you can see land in every direction. We pulled into a little cove where we saw the beautiful Queen Victoria Lilies, about a metre in diameter. We continued on and stopped in another tribal village, and went into a house which was to be home for the night. My hosts were very friendly and made up a Copa Asu juice, and we chatted while the kids looked on fascinated.

After lunch we headed out piranha fishing, though we only managed to catch one between us, though we did catch some catfish and a very sharp toothed dog fish jumped right into the boat. We came back to our new base for dinner, and Wilson and our hosts talked excitedly about animals supposedly seen, “a big cat”, “this big”, “with webbed feet”, “able to climb trees”. The Amazon is a place where myths take hold as easily as they are difficult to dispel.

After dinner we headed out in the dark on the water. Armed with our torches we were on the lookout for alligators and crocodiles. After about half an hour Domingo spotted a baby alligator and quickly scooped him up in his hand. He gave him to me to hold and despite being no more than a foot long I struggled to hold onto him as he squirmed with surprising strength. I looked around a little nervously for the mother but there was no sign. We headed back to base and set up my hammock and mosquito net, and had another great night's sleep. Those big hammocks are really comfortable to sleep in.

The following morning we headed back along the riverside, spotting Capachino monkeys, tortoises, parrots and a pod (apparently it's not a school!) of pink dolphins that popped up suddenly and then disappeared back under the water, making photography a game of chance, which I played for about half an hour with limited success. Every so often they would pop up right beside the boat, and frighten us, but be submerged again before I got my camera pointed the right way. I'm sure the little fellows were playing games with me! We arrived back at the Yaguas village, transferred to the fast boat and found ourselves back in Leticia. My three and a half days in the Amazon was thoroughly enjoyable and not another tourist in sight! Fantastic!

- David