Amazon River

This incredible journey included many wild exotic animals, remote rainforest villages, and a boat ride along the Amazon River to the Tres Fronteras, which was like a trip back in time.

GETTING THERE

I started at the port city of Iquitos in Peru, which could only be reached by plane or by boat. I flew to Iquitos IQT on a direct flight from Lima LIM, the capital. Iquitos was a launching spot for many Amazon tourists, because three rivers converged here, the Amazon, the Itaya, and the Nanay.

AMAZING EXCURSIONS

A small boat took me upriver to a jungle lodge for a few days. It was in a awesome location and environmentally friendly. One of the highlights was a terrifying yet exciting night trek through the rainforest with a guide, searching for Tarantulas. Several species could be found in the Peruvian Amazon, all poisonous, and some reached a foot long. It was super scary as we searched with flashlights because the tarantulas could be burrowed into the ground but also hidden in trees! It was thrilling when my guide finally found a tarantula, for a quick moment, on the forest floor. I was happy to see it, but very relieved to get back to my room in the lodge, safe and sound.

On another excursion, I went fishing for Piranhas. My guide took me in a tiny boat, weaving in and out of a narrow waterways off the river. He slowed down when we came across a small pool of pitch black water, surrounded by jungle on all sides. My guide put fresh cut up fish on a crude fishing pole and popped it in the water. Within seconds, there was a tug on the line and he pulled up a small piranha about a few inches long, with gigantic teeth almost bigger than its body! I gave it a try and hooked them very easily. We caught many.

Meals at the lodge were an event in themselves. The dining room had floor to ceiling glass walls on 3 sides. Wild animals freely wandered through the rainforest outside. I saw many Capybaras, which look like walking russet potatoes, also Monkeys, Tapirs and lots of birds. In addition to the great view, I feasted on Peruvian delicacies like Lomo Saltado, a stir fry dish blending meat, onions, tomatoes, garlic, and other spices.

After several days I had to leave the lodge, because my travels would next take me deeper into the Amazon. I jumped on a small local river ferry, packed with a couple dozen local people, heading upriver. My destination was an area called Tres Fronteras, or Triple Frontier. It was where Peru, Colombia, and Brazil all came together on the mighty Amazon River.

The rickety ferry boat floated through the remote jungle, past several small tribal villages with just a few huts. Native people in their traditional clothing greeted the ferry warmly, as family members and supplies were dropped off. Deeper up the river, I saw desolate primitive wooden homes with basic roofs but no walls, just hammocks to sleep and a simple dock to attach a small canoe. At one stop, a woman cradled a sloth like it was her baby and she let me touch it. The sloth's fur was thick and more course than a dog.

After about 10 hours, I arrived at the Tres Fronteras, and I got off the ferry in Leticia, a town on the Colombia side of the river. It was a hub for adventurists, with some hotels, stores, small family restaurants, and clusters of homes on stilts with wooden plank walkways, surrounded by marshy water.

Tabatinga was on the Brazilian side of the Tres Fronteras. It was literally just a walk down river and there were no checkpoints. It had little houseboats along the water, selling meals made from fish or meat from wild animals, and also shops selling fresh fruits and vegetables grown in the fertile soil of this remote area.

By now I had bug bites all over me, repellent was no match for these critters, and I spent a few nights in a hotel being bitten by even more bugs My body had swollen red welts all over it, literally hundreds of them. I remember thinking thank goodness I brought anti-Malaria pills and got all my vaccines before leaving the home! Hepatitis A, Typhoid, Yellow Fever, and more, my arm was a patchwork of shots and bandaids before I arrived in the Amazon.

Finally it was time to get back to civilization. Rather than taking the ferry on a return trip to Peru, I heard about a seaplane, so I rushed around asking everyone about it, trying to find it, and get on that flight. I was told to take a boat to a small dock on the other side of the river, the Peruvian side of the Tres Fronteras. There, I waited and waited. I had no idea if I was in the correct place. After an hour or so, a small seaplane came out of the sky and landed directly on the Amazon River in front of me.

The crew was kind enough to let me on board for a flight back to Iquitos. We started skimming along the Amazon River, gaining speed, then slowly lifted off the water for a low level flight. The view was completely spectacular! It's a sight I will never forget; the massive Amazon River, the smaller streams leading to and from it, the sun glistening off the water, some puffy white clouds floating through the sky and most of all the multitude of vivid green colors blending perfectly to make up the Amazon jungle.