The Jury's Out

Sunday October 11 I'm keeping an open mind because it's a handy thing to have. Our Machu Picchu group was so wonderful - perfect size and a good vibe. The 25-person Amazon group contains 10 friends who came together and who are my philosophical polar opposites. What an opportunity to practice tolerance, mi amigos! Soon we shall bond over the place and its wonders, I think. We went out in George's boat this morning (highly recommended by our MP crew as a superior naturalist) spotting several pink dolphins, a hawk, turkey buzzard, iguanas and numerous birds. It's amazing how our naturalists can spot small animals on shore and in the foliage from a moving boat. Our afternoon excursion was incredible. We saw toucans tiny monkeys, gray and pink dolphins, macaws, storks, and several species of hawks. Near the end of our outing, we came upon a river family moving toward Iquitos to market a thousand catfish that were part of their "houseboat". The fish were contained in front of their living platform in a large fenced contrivance that enclosed by an underwater net that appeared to extend several feet under water. Both of the excursion boats pulled up to the fence, one on each side while we watched the father jump into the fenced pen and retrieve 15 catfish from the depths. He relayed these to his son who then tossed the beasties into the front of our boat. You know what we will be eating tomorrow. Pretty incredible. Add to that one spectacular sunset and you have paradise, my friends. We have live entertainment before dinner and two of the young crew guys ask me to dance. We are all old enough to be their mothers but they are good sports in keeping the passengers entertained. I am happy to oblige and for the chance to move around a bit but end up paying dearly for the festivities because I came DEETless to the party. The resulting welts itch like a mother. Everyone wants to sit near me on the boats, because I summon all the insects and they are unmolested. My friend Ellen says, "Take one for the team, Jane!" Ron calls me the Swedish smorgasbord for the Amazon insects.