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Blog - Jim's Thoughts

Peru Tours and Travel

Suggested Packages / Amazon / Cusco / Lima / Lake Titicaca / Arequipa / Nazca
Trujillo & Chiclayo / Chachapoyas / Trekking / Multisport / Rafting / Biking

Amazon River Cruise -
"The Earth's Greatest Experience Yet To Be Discovered"

A remarkable voyage of exploration has been professionally organized to travel up the Amazon river and beyond its confluence of the Ucayali and Marañon Rivers into the remote Peruvian Amazon. Amazing wildlife is identified as the expedition navigates into one of the world's largest wild wetland areas - the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve. Many species of monkeys, hundreds of colorful exotic birds and family groups of both Gray and Pink River Dolphins are observed in a single day of exploration.

All staterooms offer unpretentious comfort featuring air-conditioning; ample storage including closet and under-bed roll-a-way shelves; and writing desk with chair. Roomy bathrooms have hot water showers and designer fixtures. As you stroll down the corridors, your eye can't help but be drawn to the beautiful door and window trimmings, hand-carved by local artisans.

In the lovely dining parlor, you will dine in casual elegance. Your palate is rewarded with international cuisine as well as a mixture of dishes whose origin in rooted in Peruvian cooking traditions. These delicious meals are prepared each day from the freshest vegetables, fruit, fish, and other local produce. Looking through the bank of floor-to-ceiling windows, you are reminded of the ever-changing exotic and remote beauty that surrounds you.

Intimate, classically styled, this comfortable vessel offer incredible wildlife viewing from spacious open-air observation decks, each with a direct line to the captain's bridge. You can relax here and quietly savor the easy pace as the rainforest reveals itself to you. Or, you can enjoy the camaraderie of new friends as you discuss the wonders of the day's excursions or the adventures that await you tomorrow. In the evening, sip coffee in solitude under the expansive opal skies and watch the sun disappear behind yet another limitless expanse of vibrant rainforest.

Expert naturalist guides from the area take us on daily daylight and night time outings aboard specially designed excursion boats along the Amazon River and its tributaries. The guides have vast knowledge of the Amazon Rainforest Ecology, the most important element to ensure that we will receive the best wildlife interpretation and appreciation of their heritage.

Deck Plan - La Amatista

Itinerary

Day 1 • Friday U.S. / Lima
Fly to Lima, Peru, the nation’s capital and largest city, and transfer to Swissotel for the night. (D Aloft)

Day 2 • Saturday Iquitos / Nauta / Embark Amazon Riverboat
Tour historic Lima, seeing the Cathedral and Plaza de Armas before we fly over the Andes Mountains to Iquitos. Drive to the small port town of Nauta on the Marañón River, where we board our riverboat, La Amatista, home for the next seven days of our Amazon cruise. Our first excursion navigates the waterways aboard sturdy excursion boats to areas where we may find marsh birds such as oriole blackbirds, green ibis, yellow-headed caracaras, black-capped donacobis and white-headed marsh-tyrant. Tonight, we journey slowly up the Amazon, looking at the stars of the northern and southern constellations. (B,L,D)

Day 3 • Sunday Amazon River / Río Ucayali
We awake this morning on the Amazon, seeing some of the ever-changing panorama of jungle life as the boat continues upriver. Small villages dot the shoreline, and channels weaving through island mazes provide close-up views of a variety of marsh birds. The confluence of the Ucayali and Marañón Rivers is famous as the beginning of the Amazon River. Amazingly, we are about 2,400 miles from where the river flows into the Atlantic. The river drops only about 350 feet the entire way! We turn into the Río Ucayali, where we’re apt to find gray river dolphins and Amazon pink dolphins cavorting near the boat and along the shoreline. Later we take an excursion into the surrounding rainforest in search of giant water lilies and elusive wildlife such as monkeys and sloths. As dusk approaches, fishing bats begin their night’s foraging. (B,L,D)

Day 4 • Monday Río Ucayali / Pacaya-Samiria Reserve
We explore a small tributary of the Ucayali in search of piranha, which are very common in the slower-moving water. With luck, we may catch red-breasted, white or black piranha, and feast on our catch this evening. We look for animals including primates, sloths and an enormous variety of birds. La Amatista continues upriver to the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve. Although scientific studies are far from exhausted, the Pacaya-Samiria is the known home to 450 bird species, 102 species of mammals, over 130 species of reptiles and amphibians, and countless plants. This afternoon, an excursion into this largest wetland reserve in the world provides the opportunity to see primates, including monk sakis, red howler, saddle-backed tamarin and squirrel monkeys. We explore Caro Lake, connected to the river by way of a very small stream, where we may find flocks of greater ani, often seen following monkeys in search of insects disturbed by the monkeys’ foraging. We enjoy a nighttime boat excursion for a chance to find caimans, capybaras, common potoos, frogs and other nocturnal wildlife. (B,L,D)

Day 5 • Tuesday Pacaya-Samiria Reserve
We spend the day exploring this flooded realm, seeing wading birds such as herons, wattled jacanas and horned screamers. Parrots are common, including the endangered scarlet macaw. We’ll watch for giant river otters, which have become increasingly rare but still may be found within the reserve. We may also see massive black caimans and manatees. Venturing deep into the rainforest, tour an igapo (seasonally flooded forest), where plant life is very different from what we see along the main course of our Amazon cruise, and walk through the forest. (B,L,D)

Day 6 • Wednesday Pacaya-Samiria Reserve
After an early breakfast, we board our excursion boats for access even further into the heart of these vast wetlands. As our Amazon cruise tours the narrow waterways, we’ll find birds such as canary-winged parakeets and spectacular blue-and-gold and scarlet macaws. Primates also are fairly common, including noisy squirrel monkeys. We arrive at a ranger station, where we may take a short hike to explore the forest. After a picnic lunch, we gradually make our way back to our riverboat through the maze of waterways. (B,L,D)

Day 7 • Thursday Río Ucayali / Marañón River
This morning we head back downriver, with a morning wildlife or other activity. After dark we’ll go out in our excursion boats to listen to the sounds of the rainforest and look for nocturnal wildlife. Take a walk in the rainforest, where we may spot poison dart frogs. (B,L,D)

Day 8 • Friday Marañón River / Amazon Rainforest
Journey into the terra firma forest on a winding trail. Large trees festooned with epiphytes, palms, woody vines and a vaulted canopy add to the shadowed mystery of the tropical jungle. Once back aboard La Amatista, we enjoy a farewell dinner. (B,L,D)

Days 9 & 10 • Saturday & Sunday Nauta / Iquitos / Lima / U.S.
In the morning we disembark La Amatista in Nauta and drive to Iquitos for flights to Lima. Enjoy lunch at a distinctive Peruvian restaurant. The rest of the afternoon is at leisure, with dayrooms reserved at our hotel, before we transfer to the airport for our flight to the U.S. We arrive Sunday and connect with flights home. (Day 9: B,L; Day 10: Meals Aloft)

Note: Because conditions at the time of our visit and new opportunities always determine what is possible on the Amazon, our itinerary is flexible. The itinerary shown is a guide to what we may do, but it’s always subject to change.

2010 Prices per person in US$:
Upper Deck: $3,498 (Oct-Dec) $3,348 (Aug-Sep)
Lower Deck: $3,298 (Oct-Dec) $3,148 (Aug-Sep)
All costs are per person based on double occupancy.
Single Occupancy: $4947 (Jan-Apr; Jul; Oct-Dec) $4,722 (May-Jun; Aug-Sep)
Single accommodations are limited and are available on the Lower Deck only.
Kids 7-18 receive a $150 discount off double occupancy rate.

Plus In-Country Airfare: Lima / Iquitos / Lima $325, subject to change -

2010 Dates: Sept. 3,17, Oct. 15,22, Nov. 12,19, Dec. 17,24

2011 Prices per person in US$: Upper Deck: $3,698 , Lower Deck: $3,498
All costs are per person based on double occupancy.
Single Occupancy: $5147
Single accommodations are limited and are available on the Lower Deck only.
Kids 7-18 receive a $150 discount off double occupancy rate.

Plus In-Country Airfare: Lima / Iquitos / Lima $350, subject to change -

2011 Dates: Jan. 14,28, Feb. 4,11,25, March 4,18,25, April 1,8,22,29, May 20,27, June 10,17,24, July 1,8,15,22,29, Aug. 5,12, Sept. 9,16,23,30, Oct. 7,21,28, Nov. 4,11, Dec. 23,30

IMPORTANT - Day-by-day itinerary may vary pending on weather, water level season and wildlife cycle to help protecting its natural habitat. Visits to villages may change randomly to avoid cross-culture.

INCLUDED - First class service on board and fully supported voyage with personal attention in small groups. Highly skilled native naturalist and experienced crew members.

NOT INCLUDED - International airfares, airport taxes. Health insurance and personal travel insurance. Other extension and optional tour arrangements. All beverages and liqueurs. Gratuities to guides and crew members.

Highlights of Cruise