ARAPAIMA  FRONTIER  JOURNEY - PCI03
Visit: Iquitos - Amazon River and tributaries - Leticia (Colombia) - Tabatinga (Brazil)
7 days / 6 nights / Departs on selected Fridays

 Day 1 - Saturday  - IQUITOS - AMAZON RIVER
AM or PM - Our services will begin upon your arrival in the jungle frontier city of Iquitos in the morning hours. Our local representative will meet and greet you outside the customs area of the airport. A transfer is provided to Iquitos’ main docking area where you will board the MV Arapaima, the newest tourist vessel on the Amazon River and your comfortable home for the next week. As soon as everyone is aboard and settled, you begin the journey down the mighty Amazon River.

PM - Following cabin assignments, an English speaking naturalist guide will give a general ship orientation, crew member introduction and brief you on ship’s safety information while the Arapaima sails along the city’s river front, passing lumber factories and small villages. Later you will enjoy a delicious lunch featuring authentic Peruvian dishes aboard ship followed by a visit to a local sugarcane liquor, or “cachaza”, factory at Yanamono creek.
 
EVE - At sunset, we take the motorized canoes further downstream to the mouth of the Napo River where we will feel like explorers in the wake of Francisco de Orellana, the Spaniard who in 1541 named the river "Amazonas" (for the Amazons of Greek mythology as his expedition encountered fierce female warriors in the area). In this area we have a good chance to observe graceful herons with their slimmer postures reflected on the river, curious pink and gray river dolphins checking us out, and countless birds. Dinner and overnight on board.
(L & D.)
 
 Day 2 - Sunday  - AMAZON RIVER - PALOMETA - PEVAS
AM - When you wake up this morning, the Arapaima is tied up at the mouth of the Palometa creek, near the village of Pevas. Your tour guide will take you by motorized canoe on an excursion to a nearby black water lake. These “cochas” offer an exciting early-morning bird-watching adventure where we have lots of opportunities to look for exotic birds as well as other wildlife. We will be on the lookout for the Hoatzin, one of the jungle’s most unusual birds, mimicking the sounds of a number of animals. After breakfast, we will visit a small Bora or Huitoto Indian community where you will receive a warm welcome from the chief and villagers alike. This visit will carry you back in time, as these natives live much like their ancestors hundreds of years ago. You will be invited into their traditional building, or “Maloka”, made from sticks and palm leaf thatched roof held together with different types of jungle vines, where they will perform some traditional dances. You also will have time to buy, or bargain, for their multi-colored handicrafts they make using jungle seeds and vines. Boras and Huitotos maintain their traditions, values and customs as in the old days, such as using hand-made tools in their everyday lives as yuca or manioc grinders and shakers.
 
PM - After lunch aboard the Arapaima we head out for an extensive primary and second-growth forest hike in the Limon creek area giving your guide a chance to point out one wonder after another. Here you may be able to see oriole blackbirds, yellow-headed caracaras, Squirrel and Capuchin monkeys, colored butterflies, leaf-cutter ants, trees like the giant Kapok merging overhead to form a verdant archway, leaves the size of umbrellas, vines with incredible sizes and shapes, and medicinal plants. Along the trail, you will learn which plants are edible and which are poisonous.
 
EVE - After dinner we end the day with a night boat excursion to look for nocturnal wildlife. The Amazon is an amazing place to observe a crowded sky full of stars above our heads while sailing the silent waters of the Amazon River. Overnight on board.
(B, L & D.)
 
 Day 3 - Monday  - AMAZON RIVER - CABALLO COCHA
AM - Early this morning, you will explore the rainforest along the banks of the Amazon River by motorized canoes. When the engines are shut off we should hear and perhaps see monkeys and birds like toucans, parrots, kingfishers, and black-necked red Cotingas at Alfaro Island. After breakfast, the vessel will drift silently downstream while we observe lush green forest on both sides of the river. We may pass an occasional dugout canoe, loaded with bags or people, with merely an inch of freeboard showing.
At mid-morning we will visit a typical Amazon jungle village at Paranaquiro where you will observe how the locals live their daily lives in this part of the world. We will continue sailing down the Amazon River passing a few jungle homes, which are light thatched-roof dwellings with countless natives, especially children, walking along the shoreline.
 
PM - After lunch served aboard, we arrive at the channel of Caballo Cocha Lake. The next hour (water-levels permitting) we sail up a narrow channel of only a hundred feet wide with countless varieties of animal sounds on both sides. Perhaps you will see a pair of macaws flying from one side to the other, and the slow, unpredictable flight of the large metallic-blue butterflies. Near the mouth of the channel it is easy to spot groups of grey and pink Amazon River dolphins arching silently out of the black water. By mid afternoon the ship will tie up at the village of Caballo Cocha for a short walk. Then, using the motorized-canoes, your guide will lead you on a piranha fishing trip, using just a wooden stick, line, hook and a cube of beef we will be able to catch this legendary fish.
 
EVE - After dinner there will be time for alligator spotting. Equipped with a flashlight and with the best of his skills your guide will catch a small alligator with his bare hands. You will enjoy additional opportunities for viewing nocturnal wildlife and the Southern constellations while returning to the ship for overnight. During the night we will continue the journey down the Amazon River.
(B, L & D.)
 
 Day 4 - Tuesday  - AMAZON RIVER - LETICIA - TABATINGA
AM - After cruising all night, you will awake this morning in the Three Frontiers area of the Amazon. At this point three countries (Peru, Brazil and Colombia) meet on the Amazon River. The Arapaima will dock at Santa Rosa Island (Peru). Breakfast will be served onboard followed by a transfer by motorized-canoes to the remote cities of Leticia (Colombia's most Southern city) and Tabatinga (Brazil) *. The morning can be enjoyed at leisure as no tours are scheduled. You will have plenty of time to walk and visit these two interesting cities on your own. Take some time to visit the local zoo at your own pace, shop for souvenirs or just relax with a refreshing soda in one of the local bar-restaurants adjoining the main square.

PM - While some passengers may have disembarked here to continue their voyages to Colombia or Brazil, other passengers may join us here for the up-river portion of the journey. Departing from Santa Rosa the Arapaima, the observation deck is the place for spectacular views of the forest as the ship winds along a narrow section of the Amazon River, now on the way to Iquitos.
Late afternoon, and time permitting, we make a brief stop at the “Isla de los Micos” (Monkey Island) on the Colombian side of the river. Here we have a chance to spot a great number of squirrel monkeys and other species and the huge Victoria Amazonica lily pads, blooming in an estuary of the river bank. Later, stop by the Cayaru River where we have chances to see a huge variety of colorful birds, and with luck, three toed Sloths and some monkeys.
 
EVE - Dinner onboard as the Arapaima moves against the current through the night. The observation deck is the favorite place to observe the stars. The Amazon is a great place to observe a marvelous and incredible spectacle of both Southern and Northern constellations.
(B, L & D.)
 
 Day 5 - Wednesday  - AMAZON RIVER - CAMUCHEROS
AM - An early wake up call will give you time for a cup of coffee or tea before leaving by motorized canoe on a bird watching excursion this time at one of the many oxbow lakes in the area. The early morning hours are the best time to observe a variety of birds. After breakfast on board get ready for an extensive jungle walk through primary and secondary forest near the village of San Juan of Camucheros. Here the guides will show how to survive in the jungle. They will demonstrate how to find food, water, learn how to make a fire and point out termite nets, lizards, big trees, medicinal plants, and other type of wildlife. Here, as during the entire length of the journey, you get a good start on understanding the Amazon ecology.
 
PM - We return to the vessel for lunch and a quick rest before we go on a new venture into a different part of the virgin rainforest. We enter Terra Firme for a jungle hike and chances to spot a great variety of blossoming bromeliads, delicate orchids, ferns, huge Ceiba trees, strangler figs, lianas, vines, medicinal plants, frogs, caterpillars and ants. We will also visit a nearby colpa to watch for blue-and-yellow macaws, white-throated toucans, tanagers, woodpeckers among other birds. When we return to the vessel we have a chance to observe the distinctive red shining eyes of the black caimans along the narrow shorelines of the stream.
 
EVE - Tonight the Arapaima will continue sailing up the mighty Amazon River while you are relaxing. Absorb the sights, sounds and smells of the lush forest from the top deck of the ship.
(B, L & D.)
 
 Day 6 - Thursday  - AMAZON RIVER - APAYACU RIVER
AM - Very early in the morning, you will take your binoculars and set off to a small black-water lake, home to a myriad of birdlife. As we move on the tranquil waters of the Ampiyacu River, enjoy breathtaking views of the rainforest, we can spot pink river dolphins and a large collection of exotic birds. Upon returning from the excursion, a filling breakfast will be served before we get ready to visit a Yagua Indian community. Here we get a first-hand look at the daily lives of these indigenous people. The tour through the village allows us to see the virtues of rainforest life. It also highlights the problems facing these people caught between their own culture and traditions, and the imposing Western way of life. It is an amazing experience to chat with the village chief and his relatives who will teach you their unique blowgun hunting techniques and perform some typical dances. Try out your bartering skills, or just buying their handicrafts, with westernized articles.
 
PM - The breeze on the river feels great once we reach cruising speed and the views are excellent from the observation deck of the vessel. After lunch, we leave the Arapaima for the last time to fish for black and red piranhas at the Apayacu River, also habitat of other fish species as arawana, sardine, and zungaro catfish.
 
EVE - Sunsets are a special time in the Amazon as they can provide an unbelievable myriad of colors. On this last afternoon have your camera at hand to take pictures when the sun begins to set behind the trees. Tonight, we will bid goodbye to the captain and crew at a farewell dinner, accompanied by live Peruvian music.
(B, L & D.)
  
 Day 7 - Friday  - AMAZON RIVER - IQUITOS
AM - After sailing during the night we will arrive in Iquitos in the early morning hours. After breakfast it is time for disembarkation and,  depending on your departure flights, you may have time to browse the city of Iquitos at your own pace. You may want to visit some of the city’s tourist sights, relax, do some shopping or just take a motorized rickshaw, with a very inexpensive price, to ride around this exotic town. Transfer to the airport for flight to Lima will be provided.
(B.)

* Note: While in the Leticia / Tabatinga area, transfers from / to hotel or airport are not included and are charged as additional services. Any activity in the Leticia / Tabatinga area is at your own expense. If needed we can provide you, at additional costs, with an array of activities such as city tour, visit to the local zoo, meals at local restaurants, jungle lodges before or after cruise program.
 
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