San Francisco Village & Yarapa River
The people living along the Upper Amazon here in Peru are an unexpected highlight of many visitors’ trips. Most people here are a mix of many cultures, and live an incredible lifestyle. Many are subsistence farmers and fishermen, living more or less in harmony with the nature around them. Today, we visited a village, learned how to make some traditional food (and eat it too!), and had a presentation about local living. As well, we of course went out and saw monkeys, birds, and dolphins.
The village of San Francisco is built on terra firme and thus has developed a decent infrastructure. Main street involves one single paved sidewalk, leading from the school to the water tower. Lining this are many houses, a few shops, and many fruit trees. We wandered along, visiting with people and learning about daily life. A NGO had donated outhouses and a water system, and we learned the advantages of these.
The central part of our visit was the school. We were warmly welcomed into a classroom and visited with students ranging from seven to twelve years of age. Songs were exchanged as well as learning about each other. Many of them wanted to become teachers, policemen, naturalists(!), or of course, professional soccer players. We told them what we do, and where we were from. Lots of smiling and laughter were shared by all.
Around lunchtime, we had a cooking class, learning how to make a local treat called Juanes. Around this same time, we reached the confluence of the Marañon and Ucayali Rivers—the beginning of the mighty Amazon. We turned upstream on the Ucayali and arrived at a side river—the Yarapa. Here we learned about life in the flooded forest and how the river causes many people to move. Whole villages regularly have to relocate as the river eats away the land. Some people spend 3-4 months of the year living perched in their houses on stilts, with only water below them.
A late afternoon powerful thunderstorm provided for some fireworks, but luckily it passed in time to head out. We once again enjoyed kayaking and skiff riding, with more views of wildlife and some magnificent forest.
