Supay and Flor del Castaña, Rio Ucayali
We resumed what has become our “normal” schedule this morning, keeping an ear for the morning wake-up knock at 5:30, rolling out of bed, and heading out into the day via either kayak or skiff. This morning’s site for sallying forth was Supay, a narrow, winding channel that leads to a wonderful lake. The channel is full of camu camu, a berry we’ve become familiar with over the week in breakfast juices and sauces, and it was nice to see the plant out in the wild.
After breakfast, we headed deeper into Supay, which took us to a lake. Entering, we snuck through a bit of varzea, pausing to enjoy a lineated woodpecker and a strong-billed spinetail working the trees. Then the world opened out, and what struck us was what a noisy world it was! Parakeets. The busiest and bustling-est of all the rainforest birds were in full force—dusky-headed, canary-winged, cobalt-winged and even the unusual rose-fronted parakeet were flocking around, chattering from the treetops, and generally enlivening the place.
Even though the sun was not out in full force, a quick swim in the lake felt refreshing. Some might say that swimming in a white water river is dirty. But it doesn’t feel that way. The suspended sediment that travels down the Amazon and gives it a thick, coffee-with-milk color doesn’t really register at all when you’re swimming. It felt great.
We ducked out of the heat of the day, repositioned the Delfin II a bit further downstream, then headed out by skiffs. Some decided to visit the community of Flor del Castaña, while others chose to focus on wildlife. Both groups were richly rewarded. Flor del Castaña is off the main channel of the Ucayali, and has a different feel for that reason.
The highlight for wildlife searchers, aside from hearing calls of the dusky titi monkey, was the discovery of a black-throated mango on its teeny-tiny nest. Amazingly, this is the second nesting hummingbird of the trip. We don’t know who brought us such great bird luck, but we’d like to keep him. Tanagers were out in full force, and it was an eerie treat to wind through the still waters of this lake, with dead trees all around.
A gorgeous sunset, decorated with fishing bats, capped the day, and we went inside for dinner and another performance by our new favorite band, The Teenagers. Who would imagine that calm Adonay, who peers from the skiff as if nothing could ruffle him, would be such a mean guitarist? Who knew that Wilson could play the pipes (as well as, it seems, every other instrument)? It will be hard to leave the spirit and generosity of the Delfin II’s crew behind.
