The Amazon River – Day Seven – A Home Visit

Last Updated on June 24, 2019 by PowersToTravel

Once again, the next morning our Treehouse Lodge guide asked us what we wanted to do.  What a question.  We had seen the cayman, birds from afar, the monkeys.  What more did the lodge offer?  He seemed not to know.   Later, too late, we learned that one of the very tall tree houses was actually a bird blind.  Greg had wanted me to climb it, but at the time I had had no interest in getting hot and sweaty just to see another bedroom.  Sadly we learned we could have been bird watching.  On the other hand, I had hoped each morning for a return of the squirrel monkeys to our own tree.

I told our guide that I was surprised that no one had come to sell us woven crafts, that I had wanted to buy more.  So our guide checked with Jose, our boatman, who was from a village near the Monkey Island.  His mother made crafts and he would take us to his village.  That sounded great to me.   When all else fails, go shopping!

So we headed in our boat back in the same waterway as the day before.  This day we stopped for a short walk at a house which had a lily pond, with the leaves at least a yard in diameter.

We arrived at the village and climbed the high rickety stairs.  A group of people were near the river bank, the women relaxing and trimming thatch, and surprisingly, the men working on and wielding machetes.  With the right music it would have been a frightening experience.  However Jose just waved all around, everyone smiled and we moved on.  A baby in a wheelie incongruously wandered unsupervised around the village.

We went for a walk in the village, to see macaws in the trees on the far side.  A small boy came up to us with a budgie, a parakeet, on his arm, and offered him to me.  The bird, with his clipped wings, hopped over and sat on my wrist.  It was an interesting experience.  You could go to a pet store and check out a bird there, it was a far better experience to visit an Amazonian village and meet the pets there.   Interestingly while I rebelled against the monkey experience I was so happy to hold the parakeet.

Then Jose found us and said that his mother was ready.  She and several other women from the village had laid their blankets on the floor of a house for us to shop.  That moment was the most entertaining and probably most genuine Amazonian experience of our trip.  We were welcomed to her home with smiles and gestures.

I was astounded by the house.  It was a large structure, perhaps twenty feet by twenty feet, on stilts with a thatched roof, like the previous house we had visited.  However this house was just a single room, with the kitchen on the porch.  The house contained three double beds.  Each bed was covered with sheets and comforters in bright childish colors, all disheveled, as if the occupants had just thrown back their covers and started their day, similar to my bedroom, I must say.  However, unlike Rhode Island, the chicks and chickens wandered around on and under several of the beds, clucking and crowing.  Under one bed a baby crawled.  Clothes were strewn around, having probably been hastily thrown to the side to make room for the impromptu shopping mall.

I managed to take one picture from the door, of the entire house, after asking permission first.  I wish I had been able to take detail shots, of the chickens on the brightly colored sheets, the baby under the bed, however I felt that would have been rude.   So instead I tried to burn the image into my brain, and shop.

We found very nice colorful characters made of dyed reed – butterflies and snakes – for decor or as napkin-holders.   It was there that I found the snakes I brought home to my co-workers, as a gift from the Amazon.  Our butterflies float above our shower curtain now at home.

On the way up the river there had been a couple of moments when our boat dragged along the river bed, as the river was extremely low.  On the way out, I was certain we would get stranded and have to walk out, but we managed to scrape by.  It was after the low spot that the skies decided to open up on us.  I managed to get the poncho on, which was supplied by the boat, however I think I would have been much happier to simply get wet, because it was stifling hot under the heavy tarp.

Lunch again, and another siesta.  Our final adventure was a late afternoon boat trip up river, to try my hand at piranha fishing.  Greg had caught one from the Cattleya, but this was my great opportunity.  Perhaps in keeping with my tastes, I failed to catch a piranha – I caught a small catfish instead!

Dinner again, then sleep.Stream

Check out this article of mine too:

Peru Travel Bloghttps://powerstotravel.com/southamerica/peru/peru-travel-blog-itinerary-reviews-and-diabetic-health/ – Itinerary, Reviews and Diabetic Travel Tips

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