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Ucayali River, Peru
There is something nice about waking up to the sunrise on the Amazon. We probably have 200 shots of the sunrise/sunset, most of which are very good. Sitting in the hammock gives you a clear view of the wall-less deck and pink and grey dolphins can be seen periodically surfacing. Hawks sit in trees on the shorelines. Vultures are common and they pick at whatever they can find. We periodically pass villages, filled with stilted and thatched huts, bordered by rice patties and the Amazon jungle.
The boat employees continue to throw things overboard, as do 95% of the locals. The only time the employee showed any remorse for throwing things over the river was when I tried to take a picture of him doing it. The lady next to Andy seemed to be picking lice out of her kids hair. This toddler ran around unpunished by her mom, touching everybody’s stuff, clinging onto other’s hammocks, none the wiser, and mom to lazy or cowardly to use any discipline.
Fortunately my hammock neighbor, Canary, has an I.Q. greater than his shoe size and is good company. He has a good sense of humor and interesting to talk to. Andy’s hammock broke and Canary tried to explain to Andy how to fix it. Andy, with less Spanish and travel experience than Eric and I, basically just blinked at the guy. I stepped in to interpret, and we jerry-rigged Andy’s hammock and it has worked ever since. Canary’s original idea was better, but we didn’t have the resources to properly fix it, so that will have to wait till we get home.