During the night, La Esmeralda cruised up the Rio Ucayali to the village of Requena. In the morning, a pre-breakfast trip to the Rio Tapiche provided us with an opportunity to see some Amazon Umbrella Birds, macaws, monkeys and sloths. After breakfast, we visited another village. That was another good opportunity to see how the people of the forest live, and our presence seemed to provide a welcome break for them as well, not to mention the money we spent. Here the children sang a song for us and our group responded with a song of our own. In the afternoon we went off on a special outing to fish for Piranha. Stories about this fish abound, but those are mostly exaggerations about the Piranha's fearsome feeding frenzies. Those in our party who could not catch anything while we were fishing will attest to the fact that Piranhas will only eat when hungry. In fact, the local people view the Piranha as a valuable source of protein and they are quite good to eat, although somewhat bony. They tasted very much like a sac-a-lait fish which one would catch in a Louisiana bayou. Avispachocha, the blackwater lake where we fished, is also an excellent place to observe Pink Dolphins, Gray Dolphins and a wide variety of birds. Here, the still, mirror-like water is often crowned with giant Victoria Regia water lilies. The leaves can exceed seven feet in diameter and are able to support the weight of a small child! The sharp, hook-like spines on the undersides of these massive water lilies deter predators. At dinner that night, we were treated to fried Piranha and the crew had cleaned the skulls of all flesh so that we could take back home with us evidence of what we had caught. That night, after dinner, we went off once again to look for nocturnal animals as La Esmeralda prepared to sail on back to our starting point, the town of Iquitos.
In the early morning, our vessel began its return voyage down the Ucayali toward the Maranon. We had a morning outing to a small tributary, the Rio Blanco. This little river featured numerous birds and a large population of various species of primates. Like most of the places we had been, there are very few people living in or near this area. In the afternoon, we cruised the Maranon and the Amazon as we enjoyed yet another day full of adventure in the Amazon River Basin. Sailing downstream, pushed along by the powerful current, we quickly returned to Iquitos, arriving there in the late afternoon. As soon as we docked we checked into our five-star hotel and relaxed for awhile before our farewell dinner that night at a popular restaurant. There we were treated to a delicious buffet of native dishes while being entertained by a folkloric group playing native instruments and singing and dancing while garbed in the traditional costumes of the various tribes that inhabit Peru. And, of course, there was a rendition of the obligatory "El Condor Pasa," which we heard everywhere we went. Those Peruvian musicians were truly magnificent!
In the morning, we went off on a guided tour of Iquitos. In the afternoon, we were free to shop and explore Iquitos on our own. That evening, we boarded another Aeroperu flight back to Lima. We were met at the airport and again taken to the Sheraton Lima, where there was a mix-up regarding our dinner reservations. Most of us went to bed without eating because of the lateness of the hour.
