Tuesday, March 12, 2013.

On a final day, we awoke early and did stretches on the deck waiting for the 6 am coffee.  Breakfast was at 7 followed by a meeting in which Julio reviewed for us the trip.  We boarded our skiffs at 8:30 and headed out on the river.  We motored to the junction of the Ucalyali and the Maranon for the beginning of the Amazon.  Daniel was with us and told this story.  The work Amazon comes from the Greek legend of warrior women who removed their left breasts in order to use the bow more effectively.   When the Spanish came to the region they encountered a tribe the Llaguas,  whose traditional dress involved men wearing short  skirts.  In war they wore elaborate head dresses that, from a distance, looked like long hair.  When these tribes attacked the Spanish for stealing their women, the Spanish thought they were breast-less women and therefore must be the legendary Amazons – literally “without breasts”. Later we learned that Julio was from this tribe.  He also told us the men painted their faces red in battle to look more fierce.

After our visit to the birthplace of the Amazon we went to a village named, aptly enough Amazonia.  It is a sizable village and prosperous by local standards.  It has a population of 300, 70 families.  With 140 adults it has about 160 children.  The Aqua moves around and selects different villages for these visits to minimize their impact.  They also do not tell the villagers they are coming so that they will not change things for the visitors.  We had planned a visit to a different village but it was inundated with water. 

Amazonia has a generator and power lines and poles to distribute it through the village.  The village has a fish farm where it cultivates fish and the villagers also fish the river.  They raise mantioc and other edible crops.  We went into a typical home which was not much more  than a pavilion with two enclosed rooms.  The residents sleep on hammocks. Amazonia did not look typical if the villages we saw just traveling through.  It had much more going for it but even so it was very poor.  The homes had electricity but no refrigeration, plumbing nor anyway to protect themselves from the mosquitos  We were able to visit the school children who were so cute and orderly.  They all lined up and we sang some songs together.  The ladies brought out their wares and we purchased a minor straw basket to buy something.  We had brought along some t-shirts to give as gifts and they appeared to be much appreciated.

After the village we returned to the boat, showers, lunch and departure.  We were delivered to the dock in Nauta where bordered our van for the trip to the airport.  On the way we visited  manatee rescue center.  The road from Nauta to Iquitos is about 96 kilometers and just barely two lanes.  It took 26 years to build because the local officials continually misapplied the appropriations for the construction.  Julio told a humorous story about a childhood adventure.  He and his brother decided they would take the road to Iquitos from Nauta because it was paved leading out of town.  They discovered it to be only paved for 10 kilometers and the rest mud.  It began to rain (it is after all a rain forest) and the road turned to mud.  It eventually became impassable.  They found a farmer and asked him for shelter for the night.  The next day it as still impassable and they had to push they bikes.  They finally got to Iquitos and caught a boat with their bikes back to Nauta.  He did not try that again.  Julio is 54 and the road was just finished. 

We arrived at the airport, caught our flight to Lima.  Our driver was running late so we ha a little wait in the lobby of the airport hotel.  By the time we got to the Miraflores it was too late for us to clean up and go out.  Instead we cancelled the dinner reservation made for us at a nice restaurant and ate at the hotel.  Turns out it was delicious.  I had sea bass with a Japanese teriyaki sauce that was fantastic and Caroline and Gail had tempura that was great as well. Ben had fried rice with chicken and miso soup.  He has developed a little travelers' discomfort and is going easy on the food.

We were happy to have a short dinner and use the time to get our laundry and luggage organized.  We had left some luggage at the hotel when we went to the Amazon and needed to claim that and sort out for the trip to Brazil.

When we returned again to email-dom, I found an email from Ben with and attached invitation to Elgin Air's inaugural (and only to be) Lima to Iguassu Falls on a Lear 35.  We accepted with joy and canceled Lan Chile.  The flight from Iquitos will be the last commercial flight for us until we leave Brazil as we have lined up a joint venture between Hardin Air and Elgin Air to lease a King Air 300 for the in country hops from Iguassu to Pantanal to Tiradente etc.