Nov 9 - Floating downriver, not a care in the world

Room at lodge

I stink. It is wonderfully hot and somewhat humid. But 10 min after I start hiking, I'm dripping wet. It's not worth taking a shower just to get dirty on the next hike, so i just rinse off in between. Yesterday was really bad, even I couldn't stand to be around myself, I stunk so bad.

After three days of mostly hiking, I went boating in the morning looking for pink dolphins and to Chino, a nearby village for "market day". Several villages bring their hand-made items to sell to the tourists.

In order to not get completely lazy, i went hiking at 6am this morning. It was a great hike, we saw several birds, pygmy marmesots (monkeys only slightly larger than chipmunks), and tamarin monkeys.

After lunch we took a boat ~ 45 minutes until we saw a large dolphin. I really had it lazy. It was just me and my guide, Orlando. So I sat on one of the boat cushions on the bottom of the boat, and put another behind me, token off my shoes, and relaxed while Orlando drove us. I saw birds flying around and dancing on the water, butterflies flying along with us.  It was lovely.

After lunch we went to a nearby village to shop for handmade souveniers.  After we walked around the village - they have added a few new buildings since I was last here, including a secondary school (before they had to go to Iquitos if they wanted to continue their education).  Orland bought me a drink at their bar - "moonshine" and coke.  The moonshine is homemade from sugar cane.

Then we played volleyball...or at least I tried. I played with some young girls. I was terrible, but they were good.

Got to go, more later.

Friends from the Village: