The Amazon, Ucayali, and Marañon Rivers

Andy spent the week before Christmas on a riverboat in the Loreto District of northeast Peru, just below the equator. Birds, frogs, snakes, mammals, insects (mosquitos!). Some of it on view below.

We explored the region around Iquitos in N.E. Peru. Stopped in Tarapoto on the way to Iquitos; in Pucallpa on the way back.. Not an omen, fortunately. Gaiters protect against snake bites. Giant lily pads. Wildflower. Gourds. A boy shows us how he harvests cassava root (think "tapioca"). This girl was named Kimberley. Dug out canoes are the standard means of travel and transport. Smiling faces in a small village. Two long-nose bats on a tree. Carambola, or star fruit - fresh from the tree. Girl watches La Turquesa (our boat) sail upstream. A guy making a floor for his house (hard to explain). The walking palm finds light by sending out new roots that shift its position. Fisherman's house. Strangler figs kill their hosts and grow from the top down. Bizarre. The gigantic roots of the kapok tree. Kids in Payorote, population about 500. Payorote's one-room school house. Peru is 90% Roman Catholic. Village church. Houses on stilts survive the flood season. Kids near Nauta. Andy hangin' with the shaman (shaman in training at left). A boy named Marcuno. La Turquesa tied to a tree on the Marañon River. On the banks of the Marañon. Obligatory Amazon sunset photo. A tree frog. Tree frog trying to hide. After a hike. 100% humidity under the canopy, long sleeves to battle mosquitos. Termite nests!!! Some kind of passion fruit flower. A coatimundi checks out a local camp. Piranhas on board. Greg wrangles a piranha into the boat. Later he caught this bigger one. Drying corn on the streets of Iquitos. Military recruiting poster, Iquitos. Iquitos shanty town. Inca Cola-sponsored outhouse, in use. Girl with a sloth. Upscale Miraflores neighborhood in Lima. Home: 747 visible above Hollywood sign, which is visible above downtown L.A.