Amazon River Sunset Celebration, Manatee Rescue Center and Travel Home Day 12-14 Peru
Friday, December 21-Sunset Celebration
Saturday December 22-Travel from La Perla to Nauta to Manatee Rescue Center to Iquitos Airport
Our time on the Amazon River is winding down. It's been such an amazing journey. The wildlife, the people, the scenery-they're all things I'll never forget.
After our lunch in the village, we're back on the boat for a siesta. The boat is on the move again. Making our way back to Nauta.
Up ahead there is some serious rain coming. This ferry may get caught in the storm.
Someone is bringing a pig home for the holidays.
The sky gets darker.
And we're just about in it.
We've escaped the rainy season for most of our trip but it looks like it's about to start in earnest.
The La Perla crew offers us bar snacks at 3:30-very yummy. It's also a time to exchange emails and contact info. We have one more skiff ride, a final Chunky Monkey performance, dinner and crew presentation then it's time to finish packing.
We're all onboard the skiff at 4 p.m. ready for our last Amazon adventure. We see our first sighting of an iguana-can you see it? Neal, our Naturalist, has really good eyes.
We pass by a house and have upset the dog. He lets us know we're on his part of the river now-so go away. We retreat.
The birds we see are still drying off from the storm.
We move back into the main river and are treated to a beautiful sunset.
The other boat joins us and Claudio, our fantastic bartender, passes out the chilled glasses and champagne.
We toast to new friends and the wonderful crew of the La Perla.
Neal pours some more champagne so we can wish Wendy a Happy Birthday.
We sing in Chinese, English, Spanish and German to her.
We toast our skiff captain Roger!
We pose for photos with new friends...
A perfect ending to a journey of a lifetime.
More photos: https://photosbynanci.smugmug.com/Peru-2018/Amazon-River-Sunset/
Back on the boat we have on last Chunky Monkey Band show before dinner.
More videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKa6O-DUsAoClmn4VU14XHFo1lpbcgnKb
After a lovely dinner and dessert, we meet ALL the crew and are given certificates.
Applause and hugs all around. Then it's off to the bar to settle the bills and get one more drink before bed.
Saturday, December 22 Travel Day to Lima.
We're up at 5 am and showered by 6 am. Our luggage needs to be out by 6:30am to get loaded onto the skiffs to be delivered to Nauta before the travelers are transported.
Chef makes sure we are properly fueled for our long journey back to Lima by way of Nauta and Iquitos.
We're dropped off at Nauta and transferred to a BIG bus. Neal and Hulber are with us until the Iquitos airport. We settle in for the 1.5 hour drive to Iquitos. It's drizzling but there are dark clouds on the horizon.
It's Saturday and market day. Pretty much every town has a farmer's market set up either officially in the town center or on someone's porch or by the roadside.
We make a stop at The Dallas World Aquarium Amazon Rescue Center (
Centro de Rescate Amazónico) they do rescue, rehab and release of animals brought to them by the "ecological police". Most of the animals have been seized during a poaching raid.
The downpour starts just as we enter the center. So we have a RAPID run to the quarantine area (which is under cover). Our guide Erik, explains how the center is run and funded.
Animals are in quarantine for about a year then moved to the larger ponds on site before being released back into the wild.
Before release they are radio tagged. The center currently has 23 animals that have been tagged in the wild.
This manatee wasn't impressed with Till and slapped its tail soaking him.
They rescue and rehab all sorts of animals.
We finally get a caiman sighting.
This manatee wasn't impressed with Till and slapped its tail soaking him.
They rescue and rehab all sorts of animals.
We finally get a caiman sighting.
We're all back on the bus at 10 am for our drop-off at the Nauta airport. We wait for our flight to Iquitos. This trip was MUCH easier than getting to Iquitos from Cusco. Pretty uneventful travel to Lima.
We are met at the Lima airport by a G Adventures rep. and loaded onto a bus to our hotel in Miraflores.
Jay and I head for La Cerveceria for beer, pisco sours and dinner. Then off to bed for our grueling travel from Lima to JFK to Vermont.
It was a magical trip. And despite the few let downs by G Adventure, I'd highly recommend visiting Peru and the Peruvian Amazon.
Cheers,
Nancy