Amazon Trip 2007: April 2007

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

4 weeks in counting!

Four weeks from today we'll be flying to Lima, Peru to start our Amazon trip. Internet access will be limited (though we're planning to have a satellite phone and laptop), so we'll post as often as possible.

This trip happened to fall on the last two weeks of the year, at the school in which I work. The plan is to have the students learn some about the Amazon while I travel there. So this blog will serve as a way to keep in touch with them (Hey MLA students!!), as well as our friends and family back home.

There's lots to do in the next four weeks, so I better run...

Sara

Amazon Voyage: May 26 - June 2, 2007

Today was the final day of the “Amazon Voyage” portion of our trip. Once again we are back in Lima – which means we have internet access and a cell phone connection again! I was so pleased to see that you are following along with my trip and learning about Peru. It made my day to read your postings and hear from all of you. I wish I had a day back before school is out so I could talk with you in person about it. Here are some of the highlights from our days on the Amazon River. I hope you will all keep learning about Peru and sending me your comments. Tomorrow morning we leave for Cuzco and then Machu Picchu. I will try to write at least one more time. Have a great last week! p.s. Don’t grade me on my spelling and grammar – I have to type quickly!

Sunday, May 27

Sunday we had to get up at 3:50 am to make our flight to Iquitos. In Iquitos we visited a local market for tourists where they had handmade goods. On our way through the town we saw the markets that the local peoples attend. You wouldn’t believe how crowded the streets were! We loaded our boat, La Turquesa, and shortly after went on a short excursion on the river. We saw a group of people floating down the river on a bunch of timbers that were tied together. They were taking the timbers to Iquitos to sell them. They had been on the river for days – never getting off the timbers.

Monday, May 28

Monday morning we found a spot on the river where there were a lot of dolphins. Normally you do not hear of dolphins being in rivers. There are many dolphins in the Amazon River because many years back the river changed direction. The Amazon River used to flow south and when it changed to flow north (due to the mountains moving and emerging) the dolphins became trapped in the river and adapted to the fresh water. Mr. Vevea – you will have to explain this better. The dolphins are very hard to photograph because they only come out for a little bit, but my brother got this great picture of a baby gray dolphin. The Amazon is famous for pink dolphins. Monday afternoon we visited a village along the river. My dad took a Polaroid camera so he could take pictures of the people there and let them keep them. It was a huge hit because most of the people along the Amazon have never had a picture of themselves. The children who got their pictures taken at the start of our walk spread the word to everyone along the trail and soon we had mobs of people waiting for me dad to take their picture.

Tuesday, May 29

On most of our excursions this week we were lucky enough to see several sloths and monkeys. Our guides were very good and could spot animals in the trees like nobody’s business! Sloths are very slow moving and interesting creatures. I recommend reading about them on the internet. Tuesday we visited an elementary school. It was a one room schoolhouse with one teacher and kids ranging in age from 5-12 years old. They take most of the subjects that all of you take. Each of them stepped up and told our whole group their name, age, and favorite subject. A fun time! Tuesday night we went on a late excursion to hunt for caiman (they look like crocodiles). One our guides grew up in the rainforest and was amazing at catching caiman. He would spot a caiman and while the boat was still moving he would hang half of his body outside of the boat, reach down and grab the caiman.

Friday, June 1

Friday we visited another small village and got canoe rides from the local people. I ended up on the smallest canoe and could hardly turn by head without tipping it! It didn’t help that the boat also had a leak. Needless to say, I asked my rower to turn back early. Some of the people on our trip went swimming in the river today. I decided to pass, after all of the horror stories I've heard about swimming in the Amazon. Then we took a boat ride through one of the larger cities along the Amazon River, Requena. Unfortunately the city is rather corrupt.