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Day
3 (August 27, 2025) Amazon
Before
Today our Amazon adventure begins with our pickup from the hotel
around9 AM. After that, we have a car ride and a boat trip to our lodge
deep
in the Amazon rainforest.
Once there, we'll check in and settle into our bungalow.
After lunch, we'll embark on our first trip in search of local flora
and fauna.
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After
We had set the alarm for 8
AM, but it didn’t really matter because, since we went to bed early, we
were already awake at 3 AM. We kill some time however we can until 7
AM, when we go down to the restaurant area for breakfast.
 
There’s still time before we’re picked up at 9 AM, so I decide to take
walk to the port of Iquitos. I pass through a very lively market and
reach the port, which is accessed via fragile wooden stairways, where I
get better views of the river.
 
At 9:10 AM they pick us up
and drop us off at the Muyuna office where we were yesterday. They need
to check everyone in, so we wait about an hour until we’re ready to
leave. We’re split into two vans and leave Iquitos along a road that
shows nothing but jungle on both sides.
After an hour and a half of travel, we get off at a spot from which we
can see the Amazon River. The real one, since until now we had only
seen its tributaries. We’re settled into a covered boat and quickly
head out, sailing the wide river in the direction of the current.
When we enter a tributary, much narrower, the speed drops drastically
and various species of water birds begin to appear. After 40 minutes of
navigation, we arrive at the Muyuna Lodge, which will be our home until
Friday afternoon.
We are welcomed with a refreshing drink and introduced to our guide
during our stay here: Alberto. We are a group of
three couples.
Alberto explains how the lodge works and then leaves us to use the
buffet for lunch, asking us to meet again at 3 PM for our first trip
into the jungle.
When we meet at the scheduled time, we’re given waterproof boots, which
we later find out are mostly for the mud in most part of the trail. The
main objective of this jungle route is to see the smallest monkey in
the world: the pygmy marmoset, but today it seems elusive. Meanwhile,
we receive explanations about the vegetation and its uses by the
indigenous population, such as a tree with iodine in its bark.
We also see termites in their mounds, a spider, and leafcutter ants.
Toward the end, in what seemed to be our last chance, the little
monkeys appear—mouse-sized—and it's hard to get a picture of them
because they don’t stay still and keep jumping from tree to tree. But
it turns out there are quite a few of them, and we end up getting a
good takes.
Shortly afterward, we’re back at the lodge and the guide tells us that
dinner is at 7 PM and that at 7:40 PM we’ll head out for a nighttime
boat ride in search of caimans. As night falls, we watch large flocks
of birds seeming to look for a place to spend the night along the
riverbank.
After dinner we’re ready to sail the river in search of wildlife, in a
darkness that’s countered by a powerful spotlight carried by the guide
at the front of the boat. What really stands out is the view of the
clear night sky with its stars and the Milky Way. First, he points out
a sloth that appears to be sleeping, its body hanging from a branch to
which its limbs are attached. Shortly after, we get the surprise of the
day when we find a herd of capybaras by the river. When they realize
the spotlight isn’t going away, they run away from us.
Then it’s time to look for caimans, and we find two in different spots.
The trick is that they’re babies. These little ones are what the guide
was looking for, as he explains that the adults are in another, deeper
area.
Shortly after, we begin the return journey amid jumping fish and large
bats swooping down to hunt them. Back at the lodge, we turn in for the
night, as tomorrow we’ll have an early outing.
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