Amazon - sailing upriver

Today we went by boat up the Yanallpa river and we saw freshwater Dolphins & iguanas

And beautiful birds

A small frog on a lily pad

A highlight was fishing for red-bellied Piranahs. We didn't catch them but sure had a few nibbles

In the afternoon ,we visited a local village school in a village called San Francisco where the Franciscan monks had converted the locals to Catholicism but with their still believing in the spirits of plants and animals - a type of synchronism has resulted..

The river people are different in facial characteristics to the Andean or coastal peoples of Peru and the anthropologists claim they are originally from Mongolia then in earlier times crossed the Barring strait came down North and central America and inhabited the Amazon Basin,

They are a happy people, live simply and are expert fishermen and understand the environment and the need to preserve the river and jungle.

The local medicine man called the Shaman displayed the medicinal plants and a chant he practised for good digestion. Interestingly when he was a teenager he was very ill and the local hospital ( and Western medicine) could not help him and he was told to go back home. Very frail and sick he travelled for a couple of days upstream and saw a Shaman who healed him and he then decided to learn and become one himself. Many medicines have through the ages have come from nature and I personally believe that there is much to be learnt from the native peoples about the remedies they employ and treatments that are used.

A ceremony with the village Shaman was extremely interesting. Robyn volunteered to be the patient and he gave her a chant that would help any stomach ailments or discomfort.

At 6pm we sailed into the Amazon birthplace - a 'Y' junction where the Yacalaya river meets another smaller tributary.