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| Last night we kept sailing upriver, thru inky night, and once in awhile a log struck the boat and clunked under the hull. We see why we need a steel-hulled boat. This morning we awoke on a small tributary of the Maranon River. The water is black from tannins excreted by the trees. We've taken a few shore excursions to visit riverside villages. The Amazonians have traded their grass skirts for Adidas shirts and khaki pants. They survive by fishing, growing bananas, and harvesting lumber. Every village, no matter how small, has a soccer field. The water laps their porches - most houses are raised on stilts. | |||
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Our
guide, Alfredo, often re-arranges the jungle with his machete to let us pass. | |||
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Best
looking bug: Blue Morpho Butterfly | Saddle-back
Tamarin monkeying around and playing hide-n-seek. | ||
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Blue and Yellow Macaws,
living free in the Amazon. In the USA one of these birds costs up to $3000. They
live for sixty years, so maybe it's not such a bad investment as a pet. | |||
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| Black collared Hawk | Unidentified Amazonas bird - too many to count. | ||