A gentle fog covered the surface of the Ucayali River early in the morning. We had spent the night close to the town of Llanalpa and now, the area invited us to explore it.
Right before breakfast we geared up and loaded the skiffs. The cool breeze could be felt as we passed close to the entrance of one of the tributaries of the Ucayali River. The melodious bird calls filled the air and delighted our ears.
Even though it was overcast, the lush green forest could be seen with no difficult. Our first sighting was a tree loaded with red belly macaws. They were all close together, heating up and getting ready for their daily activity. A pair of blue and yellow macaws joined the scenario adding more joy to our visit.
It was a great start to the day. We returned to the Delfin II to recharge our batteries with a delicious breakfast. Once we had eaten we changed gear since our next plan was to explore a “varzea” forest near Llanalpa. This is an interesting area. During the high waters, this forest remains covered with water up to 3 meters. We learned a lot from our naturalists. They explained to us the strategies that these trees use in order to survive, one specific strategy is having aerial roots.
After our exploration, we returned back on board and navigated to our last destination of the day, the Yarapa River. We made our way down the Ucayali River. Several pink dolphins passed by our boat, ignoring our presence. We passed next to some of the small and picturesque villages along the river side.
As soon we arrived, we loaded the skiff and explored the Yarapa River. This paradise was full of wildlife. Several black-fronted nunbirds were seen as well as the black-collared hawk. Once of the sightings was the interesting Monk Saki monkey. Among the several calls, we identified the call of the white chested toucan. The view of this toucan made the day for several us.
After we explored the river, we turned around and made our way back to the ship. A slight rain fell over us and this brought a spectacular rainbow. We concluded that this was the farewell that the Upper Amazon was giving us.
It was hard to realize that it was only 6 days ago that we had started our journey to the Upper Amazon. Now, our minds and memory cards were loaded of pictures and information. It had been a great voyage together with new friends. A journey that changed our lives!
