Pacaya River
We have now reached the halfway point of our expedition, considering the total distance we have and will travel by river on this trip. We have navigated over 160 miles and will spend the entire day today in this pristine area around the Pacaya River. “Knock-knock” this morning was at 0600 and the day dawned clear and bright as we boarded the skiffs. The “Primo-Luis” fan club skiff departed first as usual and Reny and Rudy took their boats out shortly afterwards.
This morning once again we had fabulous wildlife viewing! We found some of everything: mammals, (squirrel monkeys galore—scampering up vines and along the limbs and flying from branch to branch, many with heavy babies on their backs and our sloth of the day, too) reptiles (green iguanas and an eight-foot caiman), amphibians (a colorful yellow clown frog that came with us to our breakfast in the skiffs), and numerous birds of all colors, shapes, sizes, and species (some of the more noteworthy that we saw were: a great potoo sleeping in the sun and looking exactly like a stub on the tree, a rufescent tiger heron building a nest, a darling ferruginous pygmy owl and blue-and-yellow macaws in the sun that were spectacular!)
Barman/waiter Denny and our team of naturalists put on white gloves to serve us unique “jungle sandwiches” for breakfast. Chef Raul and the kitchen assistants had risen this morning in the wee hours to make sweet potato and yuca flour from scratch, and we loved these savory and unusual rolls. A yellow-headed caracara flew in to alight on a dead branch above us to investigate; three skiffs tied together in the shade of an orchid- and bromeliad-laden tree, which is an uncommon sight on the unspoiled Pacaya River!
Later, back on the Delfin II, guest Albert Dickas and I gave a joint power point presentation about the geology of the Amazon Basin and then our cabins boys, Jorge and Wilson (with Denny as host) showed us how to fold towels—towel origami—is what they called this fun exercise.
At lunch Reny introduced the Delfin II’s Captain Remigio Teran and his crew to us and we enjoyed another delicious meal. After a welcome and well deserved siesta, we were ready for another Pacaya River adventure. And boy did we have one! In the three skiffs we motored up the river, taking a shortcut across a swamp where we had to force our way through the thick aquatic vegetation and Primo had to pull Miguel’s boat into the open water. When we reached Yanayacu Lake (Yanayacu is an often used name in this area as it means “black water” in Quichua), Rudy’s boat headed to the center of the lake where they had lots of fun swimming in tepid, tea-colored water with more than a half dozen pink dolphins (the total count was either 7 or 8 depending whom I asked) cavorting around them.
Luis and Reny—with Primo and Paul as drivers—continued on up the Pacaya deeper into the Reserve. Beyond the lake, no one is allowed to fish, so this is truly a pristine, unchanged area. We were hoping to see howler monkeys along this section of the river and to our delight everyone saw plenty of them! All of our guests joined us on this afternoon’s outing and every one of us had the luck to see several troops of howlers – big, deep red and black monkeys that easily ran up and down the tree trunks and leapt effortlessly long distances from branch to branch. Other highlights on the Pacaya were many squirrel monkeys with babies, brown capuchins playing in a comfortable crotch of a large tree and the gorgeous late afternoon light as the sun set and the full moon rose through the forest trees. We raced along as dusk fell, navigated quickly through the tricky and darkening swamp and, as the stars and planets blazed overhead and the yellow light of the moon shimmered on the dark waters of the Pacaya River soon were back to the comforts of the Delfin II. What a breathtakingly beautiful skiff trip back to the boat; that is one magnificent evening I will never forget.
