The second day of our Amazon expedition started early in the morning. We embarked our skiffs to look for wildlife along a tributary of the Marañón, called Pucate River. Pink river dolphins frolicked around our ship, and excellent wildlife sightings waited for us. The Amazon always has interesting surprises, and today was exceptional. We were fortunate to see several king vultures up close, something that is very rare! King vultures are rarely seen, and when we do, they are climbing up the thermals at high altitude. Today we had about five individuals, including two beautiful adults, two young ones and at leas one other individual behind some trees.
King vultures are not only colorful and rarely seen, but they are also fascinating birds, with an incredible sense of smell, which may surpass by far most other birds in the jungle.
After our morning outing, we went to visit a local chaman, close to the village of San Regis. Carola, A Cucama lady, thought us about the local traditions of becoming a medicine woman, and described the eight-year training that she endured in the jungle to become a healer. She taught us about ayahuasca, chacruna, black tobacco, cumaceba, and other sacred medicines that are traditional to her culture.
We traveled up the Marañón River to a place called Amazon Natural Park. This private reserve is where we walked through the jungle and experienced a series of suspended bridges. WE got an entirely new perspective of the jungle from above. Onthe way, our local guides described many interesting plants and told us interesting stories of the jungle and its inhabitants
After a wonderful dinner prepared by our skilled and refined galley crew. We had yet another outing of walking through a jungle trail at night. The sounds of nocturnal creatures were fascinating. We looked for insects of multiple shapes and colors, and learned how to photograph them surrounded by the jungle´s darkness.
