My Amazonia Adventure

Yikes the whole family on Arla's Blog-that is very scary. Ok I will try to participate. Yes the trip was unbelievable...to have the opportunity to trek the rainforest for six hours at a time, sometimes thru ankle deep mud with hundreds of mosquitos buzzing around your head is an unreal experience. We were where no tourists can go, deep in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve, 2 and 1/2 days upriver from Iquitos. No Arla there were no plastic bottles floating down the river, only Pink and Grey Dolphins leaping and caimans glidng by. We saw RedHowler, Wooly, Squirrel, and Brown Capuchin monkeys, an ant eater(in a tree), and way too many birds to relate...lots of Macaws. We anchored in the middle of the Samiria river and conducted our surveys in one of the six assorted boats we towed with us. Our favorite boat was the " sinking Yellow Boat" a canoe that had to be constantly bailed and escaped on our way up river and had to be retreived by the only speed boat. The Ayapua that we stayed on was a beautifully restored 1906 Rubber Boom boat with air-conditioned cabins and ceramic tiled bathrooms. Yes we did have "unlikely events" as Richard called them such as engine and generator failure but the crew was fabulous and very helpful to all. The bar on the upper deck got alot of use! The head PI Richard was a quirky, interesting guy that we all liked very much and the biologists were great fun to work with. The rest of the team (we were 18 in all) had a great time together. Once the 3 Aussies, four Brits and one Canadian realized Hank and I thot Bush was stupid too we all hit it off...they really are angry at us for the Iraq mess! I have lots of stories but too much to tell here. We got off the Ayapua on Dec 17th, spent the nite in Lima and were off to Machupicchu the next morning. That was something to see and try to hike around without sucking air! We arrived home yesterday afternoon and I suddenly realized that we had been on 8 flights during our three weeks. No wonder I'm tired but happy! Merry Christmas to all! Judy