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Trip, Tour & Travel Reviews
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The Amazing Amazon
Amazon River & Amazon Rainforest, Peru, 2001
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This Reviewer:
Name: Denis Larsen
Citizen: US citizen
Age: 61 years old
Background/Education: Industrial Designer/Graphic Artist.
First time in Peru.
Review Written: November 2001 |
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| My first glimpse of the Amazon. The river twists and turns forming numerous oxbows. |
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| Down the stairs to our boat dock in Iquitos. High water mark was about where the person on the left was standing. |
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| Typical Amazon Transportation. This is the equivalent of the bus or the train. Other than float-planes and paddle-powered canoes, this is the only means of transportation for most people. |
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| Explorama Lodge |
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| Shower house at the lodge |
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| No glass in the windows, but mosquito nets covering the beds |
Spoke with a man who was almost ready to "burn" a huge stack of wood and turn it into charcoal. He had already spend a number of days cutting and stacking the wood. After being covered with leaves and dirt, the core of the stack would be ignited and a controlled air supply would allow the wood to oxidize into charcoal. This process will take an additional three to five days of constant attendance lest the wood actually combust and turn into nothing more than heat and smoke. After the charcoal cooled down (another few days) it will be bagged in large plastic feed sacks (he expects about 30 bags of charcoal from this stack of wood that will sell for about 6 soles each or less than US$2 per bag). Then the bags will be loaded up one of the large river craft that regularly go up and down the river...stopping at certain scheduled stops and also stopping to pick up passengers and freight whenever the boat captain spots a towel being waved from the river bank. The trip to Iquitos will take a day or two, depending on how many stops the boat makes. Then the man must get his 30 bags of charcoal from the dock to the market, find a spot to set up shop and try to sell his charcoal. He (or one of his family) must stay with the bags of charcoal all the time while in Iquitos. He and his family must also eat...and then pay for their boat passage back to their village. For about two weeks of hard work, the charcoal seller might realize over US$50. Out of that must come the cost of the bags, round trip boat transportation to Iquitos, cargo charges (one way) for the charcoal, food costs while in Iquitos and all of his other living expenses. A tough way to make a living!
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| The charcoal burner, taking a break from cutting wood. |
Visited a small village. Didn't see any telephone or electrical lines. The floors of most of the houses are 20 or 30 feet above the river level...and they're all set up on stilts to raise them just a little higher above the annual flood waters.
No kitchens as Westerners know them; just some sand spread over the open wooden floor boards to act as a hearth for the wood burning fire.
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| Cooking on an open hearth. |
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| Looking down on Celso from a higher walkway |
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| Only half way to the highest point and already at over 97 feet in the air |
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| These are not vines; they are roots coming down from plants growing over 100 feet up on the branches of the larger tree. These are the same Philodendron often grown as house plants in temperate climates |
Toured a public library smack in the middle of the jungle! Actually not a public library in the sense that we normally think of...it was started single-handedly by an extraordinary woman and it still run by her. A few years ago, Nancy Dunn, a lady with a doctorate in music who was then teaching at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, took a trip to the Amazon to stay at the Explorama Lodge and experience the ecological wonders of the Amazon. She returned a few more times. She started learning Spanish. She quite her job in the United States and moved to the Amazon to open a library.
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The library. Constructed on stilts to allow for the annual floors. Nancy said that in high water, she can step from her canoe directly into the entrance. However, during high water the building also attracts various critters trying to get to dry ground...critters that include spiders, frogs and snakes.
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Somehow Nancy was able to get a building constructed and opened her library for business. In addition to providing books to read in a land almost devoid of movies, radio and television, Nancy also teaches English to children (allows them to obtain jobs in the tourist and in the oil industries) and, in the evenings teaches English to the staff of the Explorama Lodge.
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| The books you see in the photos above and below are just about all of the books the library has. If you are planning on visiting the Explorama Lodges and want to support the library, you can! |
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| When questioned about the need for a library in the middle of the jungle and who uses the facilities, Nancy told us that during school vacation, as many as 30 to 35 kids a day show up at the library to read. And all the kids have to either walk or boat to get to the library...no bike riding here or drop-offs in the minivan! |
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| Even the river approach to the library is not easy. |
Nancy is running this library with very limited resources. She needs help. If you would like to help, E-mail her at dunn_nancy@hotmail.com.
Don't expect a quick reply because she is only able to check her E-mail every week or two when she travels to Iquitos. Remember she has no internet, no telephone, no electricity in the jungle. |
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| Dr. Nancy Dunn in her jungle library. |
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Explorama Lodge
September 2001
The Amazon in the Iquitos District,
Peru, South America
Summary: A childhood dream fulfilled! The upper Amazon is even more amazing than I ever thought. Expensive but worth every penny. River and jungle meld together and then separate again into water and earth. Magic!
Cost: $1044 from Lima Airport as an extension of another trip to Peru.. Does not include air from Newark, USA to Lima.
Additional $319 single supplement was not needed as there were only three people on this trip and the other two were a married couple.
Duration: 5 days
Extensions Available: Yes. See Explorama Lodge web site for details on extensions at more "civilized" accommodations and at more primitive ones.
Activity: Jungle tourism. Launches, skiffs and canoes provide transportation on water; feet provide transportation on land...there are NO roads, no automobiles, not even bicycles. Walks/hikes along jungle trails to view flora and fauna; suspension-bridge, tree-top canopy walks 120 feet above the forest floor, visits to hospitals, schools, villages, farms and local craftsmen.
Accommodations:
Lima accommodations: A modern, high-rise Hilton in the Mira Flores district of Lima.
Jungle accommodations: I stayed at both the Explorama Lodge and at the Exploranapo. Both offered similar accommodations: thatched roofs, rustic and charming. Comfortable single beds with mosquito netting. Two beds to a room. No electricity. Kerosene lanterns in the rooms, on the covered walkways and in the dining halls provided adequate light when the sun went down. No clothes closet but there is a small table with water pitcher and basin as well as a couple of chairs. Pegs on the wall for clothing and towels. No glass in the window...just café curtains for privacy. Toilet facilities and separate showers a short walk, from the cabanas via roofed, raised walkways. Toilets are spacious, clean and odor-free, however, they are also lit with kerosene lanterns. Air temperature showers. Various common areas with comfortable chairs and even more comfortable hammocks for lounging
Food: All meals at the Explorama Lodges were excellent. Meals were served cafeteria style. Ample food for even the healthiest appetites. Always a meat or local fish entree with varied side dishes. Vegetarians can also find plenty to eat. Lots of fresh local fruit. Coffee, tea and water available 24 hours.
Transportation:
My international flight to Lima was met by a representative of IncaNatural and I was driven to my hotel by car, checked in, then picked up early the next morning to return to the airport via a small bus for the one-hour plus flight to Iquitos (see above). We were met at the Iquitos airport by our guide, Celso, an English-speaking Jivaro Indian. After a short bus ride to the Explorama headquarters, way above the surface of the Amazon, we transferred to one of about 40 Explorama water craft for the 50 mile (80 KM) voyage down the Amazon River to the Explorama Lodge. The next day we continued downstream until the Napo River joined the Amazon where we headed up the Napo to the Sucusari River and up that to the Explornapo Lodge. After the bus ride from the airport, all transportation was watercraft or foot.
What was included:
All airport transfers including baggage.
All airport check-ins and baggage checks.
Accommodations
Food & purified water
Canopy tour.
All guided tours, walks and excursions.
What was NOT included:
International air transportation
Electricity (lights) in the cabanas.
Soda, beer or bottled water (available for sale)
Laundry service.
Sunscreen and bug dope.
Air-conditioning
Tips
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Guides:
Celso was very knowledgeable about local plants, animals and fish. Very agreeable to our wants and requests. Watched out for us and for our safety from the time we arrived in Iquitos to the time we left. The people who coordinated and provided transfers to and from the airport in Lima were also prompt, polite and friendly.
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 Donna and Miles Southworth,
my traveling companions in the jungles of Peru. |
Participants:
There were only three of us traveling from Lima to the Explorama Lodge. We got along well together and had similar interests so we were able to request a few minor changes in the program that Celso, our guide, could easily accomplish |
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Staff:
Very efficient, worked in the background to the extent that you did not even notice they were doing their jobs. Very responsive to questions and needs with a pretty good command of English. On our initial visit to the Explorama Lodge, we were the only guests...there were at least three times our number of staff that were visible! At the Napo Lodge and on our return visit to the Explorama Lodge, there were more guests, but the level of service or the quality of food did not suffer in the least.
Best thing (s) about the experience:
My first sight of the Amazon from the airplane. The boat rides up, down and across the Amazon and its tributaries. Fishing for piranha. The canopy walk...looking down at the tops of trees from a height of 120 feet above the forest floor. Watching a man fabricate a "dugout" canoe from a log that had washed up on an island in the middle of the river. Hitting the mark on my first try with a blowgun in a Yagua village. Meeting an American woman who had opened a public library in the middle of the jungle.
Worst thing (s) about the experience:
The dampness and the humidity. Nothing seemed to ever dry out...and we were there during the "dry" season.
Most memorable incidents:
The most memorable incidents were all realizations...realizations that happened some days after the incidents, after I had processed various experiences.
Walking down the wooden steps from the Explorama Headquarters in Iquitos to the boat dock on the Amazon and seeing, painted on one of the steps, "High Water Mark, 1999". The step must have been 25 or 30 feet above the level of the river. I looked out and across the river and onward to the horizon and realized that everything that I could see in front of me must have been covered with water...EVERYTHING!
Understanding, at least in part, just how pervasive the Amazon is in the life of every creature in its drainage system...and, perhaps, every creature in the world since the Amazon forest produces a large percentage of the worlds oxygen. Understanding that when the river is high, hunting is good (all land-dwelling animals become concentrated on the higher pieces of ground) and when the river is low, fishing is good (fish and other water-dwellers are concentrated in less water).
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Watching a family of four ( a man, a woman and two small children) paddle up a small stream in a dugout canoe after a day of fishing. The freeboard was just inches. Everyone was paddling. The kids were earning their keep. The child-sized paddles they used were not toys, but fully functional paddles meant to be used.
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While we were fishing for piranha from an aluminum outboard, Celso called over a small boy of maybe 10 years who was returning from fishing. Celso asked how his fishing had been. The boy proudly showed off the three fish that he had caught. Two good-sized fish that looked like a cross between a carp and a yellow perch, but with black and white markings that were almost checker-board like. The other fish was from a bad dream...a slender, long, almost rectangular body that quickly tapered at both ends...a silver-white color...the head was mostly underslung jaw and up-ward looking eyes. The lower jaw was lined with small, sharp teeth with two fangs pointing up at the end of the jaw. A predator that attacked his prey from below and behind...they called it a dogfish
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Typical Day:
I'm not sure there was a "typical day". Each day melded into the next. There was no television, no phones, no newspapers, no internet, not even electricity. We rose when it got light and went to bed soon after darkness fell. Natural rhythms quickly became the norm.
Up early for a cup of coffee or tea and watched the surrounding jungle come awake. There was NO morning chill to ward off! It was hot! In the middle of the night, I sometimes pulled up a sheet to cover me...other than that, no covers at all
Since are the only two methods of travel available we either walked or boated everywhere we went.
An extended hike along a slippery jungle path. As the day warmed up and the sun got high enough to start filtering down to warm the path, Celso took the lead and tapped ahead with a long stick that he found. He explained that when the sun warms the path, sometimes a fer-de-lance snake will curl up on the path to absorb the suns rays. The tapping would cause the snake to move and be seen before someone stepped on it. Almost impossible to see because the colors were identical to the mottled colors of the jungle floor. They also call the fer-de-lance the "three-step" snake...so deadly you can only walk three steps after being bit by one. The reality is not quite so bad. Anti-venom serum administered within 24 hours usually prevents death or other serious consequences. However, the great distances to travel to reach medical assistance, the slowness of travel by foot or canoe coupled with a distrust of "modern medicine" make the fer-de-lance more than just a pest.
After my return home from Peru, I received an E-mail from Nancy Dunn (more about her later) telling me that a young student of hers had been bitten by a fer-de-lance. The girl's mother didn't take her for medical treatment and, instead, relied upon a local shaman, or "witch-doctor", to cure the bite with a traditional medicine stone rubbed over the bite. This remedy did not prove effective and the girl finally, was taken to the hospital where her leg was amputated to save her life.
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Another boat from Explorama's extensive fleet for our trip further down river to where the Napo River flows in from the north. The Napo is quite a river on it's own merit...it's a big river that begins in the highlands of Equador...without a town of any great size along its entire length. We did pass small villages...thatched roofs over stick buildings...near the river because the river is the lifeblood of the entire region...without it you are cut off from the rest of the world. With it you are connected. By the time we settled in at the ExplorNapo Lodge it was time for dinner and bed. Accommodations were about the same as at the Explorama Lodge, but the walk to the dining area was much, much longer. Food was equally as good.
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| The next morning we walked on a slippery jungle trail to the start of the canopy walk. Celso told us that it was the only one in Peru and one of the few in the world. Station one began with a wooden stair case wrapped around a huge tree leading to a platform about 20 feet above the jungle floor. It looked like the model for the Disneyworld version of the tree house of the Swiss Family Robinson. But the Disneyworld comparison quickly vanished as we faced the real world of the jungle canopy! From station #1 a suspension bridge stretched up to another tree some distance away. |
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The suspension bridge was made of rope, but made secure by a steel cable on either side at about shoulder level. The sides were covered with nylon netting to prevent anyone from slipping out. The walking surface was a wood plank laid over the rungs of an aluminum extension ladder. This provided a surface that did not bob up and down with each step...it also dampened the side-to-side sway of the suspension bridge. Neither Donna nor I were feeling real good about this experience. We both have a fear of heights and were not looking forward to crossing long distances on a high-above-the-ground, swaying suspension bridge. However, our fears were unfounded! The bridges felt safe and secure and we enjoyed the entire experience. Only two people were allowed on a bridge at a time for saftey...others waited on a railed platform until the way was clear...and only a small number were allowed on a platform at a time as well. Since there were only the four of us, this was not a problem. However, a large group would make this a good place to practice patience! From platform #1, each bridge climbed higher to the next until at the upper level of platform #6, we were over 118 feet above the forest floor. and looking down on the tops of many trees. The forest floor was invisible to us. What was visible were close-up views of plants that we could just make out from the ground, birds and insects that we never saw, views for miles across the almost flat jungle. From platform #6, we started gradually going down, each platform lower than the one before it, until at platform #12, we climbed down a wooded stair back to the ground where we were met by a band of noisy, squirrel-sized monkeys demanding that we get out of their territory.
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We saw a group of workmen working on the construction of two new platforms. The temporary scaffold is made of ladders lashed to the tree. These new platforms are necessary because some vandals had deliberately killed two of the trees that currently support the canopy bridges. Speculation had it that representatives of rival jungle lodges might have killed the trees! ¿Quien sabe?
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Fishing on the Sucusari River for piranha. Small bloody pieces of beef for bait. Wire leader above the hooks so that the sharp teeth of the pirana do not bite through the line. Our boat only landed three piranha. They didn't look as fearsome as I had thought. We had whole fried piranha for dinner that night...they tasted like sunfish. Better that we ate them than they ate us.
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| We learned about the Amazon Adopt-A-School Project. A school, organization, family, group or individual can adopt a school in the Amazon region and help support a worthy project. The schools that we visited durning our Peru trip (three of them in total, two in the Amazon and one on the north coast) all suffered from lack of books and materials. The Adopt A School Program partners benefactors with needy schools to close some of the gaps. Learn more about the program at: http://www.amazon-travel.com/CONAPAC/adopt.htm |
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Toured a small jungle hospital staffed by both a Peruvian doctor as well as an American one. The facilities were primitive by my standards but were better than anything for miles around. The hospital is funded, in part, by Rotary International. Various Rotary chapters sponsor an enormous number of pubic aid projects in Peru. I saw the Rotary sign on everything from hospitals to shelters at bus stops. The photo to the right is the OB/GYN room! Clean and neat, but what you see is just about all that there is in the room.
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| The dental clinic was even more basic! The dentist chair was a handmade wooden chair with a clamped-on neck/head brace. |
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| We met another man who might do just a little better...maybe. He found a huge, floodr-depostied tree high-up on the edge of he island. He cut off the proper length of wood for a canoe, then cut that piece in half lengthwise. And then dragged that piece of wood into the forest where he could work on it to fabricate a canoe. Using the simplest of tools, plus fire to both burn away wood and to shape the wood through the expansion caused by heating the moisture in the wood until it turned to steam, he turned a piece of tree into a canoe. The canoe-maker said it would take him about a week of steady work to finish the canoe. Then, if he could find a buyer, he might be able to sell it for about US$100 if he was lucky. |
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| We visited a Yugua Indian village and were treated to a flute and drum musical interlude and then learned to shoot a blowgun. We didn't spend enough time here. I would have liked to learn more about the Yugua and their traditional ways of life. |
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 Miles learning to shoot a blowgun. He hit the mark the first time!
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Value for the Money:
Expensive, but worth every penny. Cost per night (including the not-needed single suppliment) was about US$273, all inclusive. Removing the single suppliment would have been US$208. |
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Recommendation:
For the traveler who is looking for "soft" adventure. It's not really roughing it...and if it gets too primitive for you you can move to the luxury Explorama Lodge that has all of the comforts of a resort hotel! For the jungle lodges, a sense of adventure, a sense of humor, good rain gear and good bug dope are necessary requirements! And maybe a battery powered reading light as well. Almost any kid over the age of seven would love this trip!
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Would I go again?
When I can afford it again, I will go! |
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You can review/rate this trip.
Send me your review of this trip so that our readers can compare how people of different ages, abilities, interests, etc. differ in their experiences and observations.
Write me at drlarsen@aol.com and I'll add your review of this trip
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Who were the participants on our Explorama Excursion?
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| © 2001-2007 OKIDD! All rights reserved |
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