South American Trips: Trip in the Amazonas River, a World Natural Wonder.

The Amazonas River and Pacaya Samiria National Reserve.

This trip started in Yurimaguas town, in the Peruvian Jungle, we took a boat to Pacaya Samiria National Reserve and spent a few days exploring the amazon rainforest, then we salied along the Amazonas River until get to Iquitos city. It was a great adventure.

Amazonas river is the greatest river in the world, it starts in the peruvian andes (Arequipa), at the glacier of the snowcapped mountain called Mismi and ends in the Atlantic Ocean, in Brasil. It has about 6800 Km. long and is the longest river in the world, is the river that carries the most volume of water, in rainy season it can reach about 48 Km. wide. The Amazon rainforest covers 40% of South America and has a great biodiversity, it´s a World Natural Wonder and we have to protect it.

This trip started in Yurimaguas town, to get there you need to take a flight from Lima to Tarapoto city and then a local bus to Yurimaguas, located in the amazon rainforest.

Yurimaguas is next to Huallaga river, a tributary of Marañón river (one of the main tributaries of Amazonas river). Here we bought all our equipment, rubber boots, mosquito nets, water and hammocks to sleep in the boat. We took a boat called Eduardo I, our destination was Lagunas, a little jungle village next to Pacaya Samiria National Reserve, beside the Amazonas river. This is the biggest National Reserve in Perú and is part of the Amazon basin. The plan was to get into Pacaya Samiria in our caones for 7 days, camping (just with mosquito nets), fishing and looking for wildlife.

I asked at the hotel about Lagunas and Pacaya Samiria, the guys there recommended a local guy called ¨Chileno¨, his main job was to sale ice cream in the main square but he also has some friends in Lagunas who can take us to Pacaya Samiria. So I hired Chileno to come with us, we was a dodgy cool guy who knows everything, I like that.

I was traveling with 2 british students, very nice guys, next morning we had a good breakfast and went to the port, our boat was big, dirty and smelly, with 3 levels, the first one with cows, pigs etc, the second and third level were full of locals, some of them with animals like chickens, everybody sleeps in hammocks, the meals were included in the price and were just ok, there was a shop in the boat to sale rum, water, snacks etc. It was cheap and good.

Our boat supposed to take just 10 hours from Yurimaguas to Pacaya Samiria, but because the river was really shallow we got stucked for a few hours, so took us almost 1 day to get to Lagunas. We slept in the hommocks, had a few beers with the locals and enjoy the view of the river and the local villages, at night some caimans tried to enter to the boat, so we all had to make them go away with some poles ! When we get there some locals were waiting for us in the port, we walked to town and met the locals, did some shopping (food and water) and spend the night in a little hostel called Farmacia, it was the second floor of the local pharmacy, the owner was called Don Marciano, not bad. Chileno helped us to hire the local guides and get all what we need for the trip.

Next day we started the excursion, we were just 5 people, the 2 students, me and our 2 local guides, we entered to the National Reserve with 2 canoes, mosquito nets, rubber boots, some bad coffee , pasta and fishing lines, hooks and bate to catch our meals.

We paddled 3 days down the streams of this National Reserve, watching spider monkeys, tarantulas, sloths, turtles, caymans, anacondas and pink dolphins, we fished some piranhas for lunch and mixed it with pasta or rice, sometimes we just made a fire and talked with our local guides, they told us some stories about the jungle and the local communities where they came from. It was really warm, almost 40 degrees every day, it was September of 2004 so didnt rain too much. The locals were really good guides, they know where were the best places to camp and to hike into the jungle, we saw different kind of monkeys very close to us all the time, loads of sloths, macaws and turtles, there were no more tourists, was just us and the nature.

After 3 days going down stream in the jungle, camping and hiking we got to a little lake , spent the night there and next morning we started the journey back to Lagunas going upstream for 4 days , that was a hard work, the 2 students were tired but they did very well, the guides and me paddled almost all the way back but we let the students try sometimes. After 4 days and 3 nights in canoes and camping we got back to Lagunas, that was a great experience and Im sure I will do it again.

We stayed one more night in Lagunas at Don Marciano´s place, the local guides told us they have a guides organization and they were trying to get more tourists, I think this way of travel, camping, canoes, pharmacy hotel and dirty boats full of amazing crazy locals is the best way to travel around. I dont like tours, it´s better just to travel.

Next day we were looking for a boat to continue travelling to Iquitos. The locals told us that the boat wasn´t coming so we had to wait all night in the port until a boat shows up, so we put our hammocks at the port and got some rum and cards and wait. The boat arrives at 3 am. so we jumped in and continue our trip, it wasn´t a big boat, but was ok. We sailed for 2 days along Marañon river, this river joins Ucayali river in the Amazonas, it is amazing when you enter to the Amazonas river, the landscape, the jungle, some islands, wildlife, it´s a huge river. At night there were some waves coming against our boat, so people came to the front of the boat to see the waves and drink rum, we had a big party there, we got to Iquitos at night, after 2 days sailing and sleeping in hammocks, was a great experience, the 2 students were really happy, we had a great experience.