Wild abandon on the Amazon
Marcio doing flips off the boat
On our last morning in the Amazon, we ate breakfast, packed up and took a last boat trip up the river. Where tributaries feed into the Amazon, pink river dolphins hang out. They really are pink although they are born grey, as are the other species that lives there. As they get older, they turn pink or stay grey. It's hard to get a good photo because they don't jump out of the water like ocean dolphins do. It was so exciting to see them, especially for me, because I had missed them the day before while dealing with traveler's tummy. The kids swam in the Amazon, and were so excited.
There is something wonderful about having an experience that no one you know has ever had. When we started planning we realized that even though we are headed to the southern Amazon rainforest later in the trip, for Mariana, it wouldn't do. She had to be on and in the Amazon. Although the biodiversity is better in the South, we had to come here, too. Where they swam and where the dolphins are, there are no piranhas. The dolphins know how to avoid them. This trip had the best wildlife...check out the photo of the tree Iguana!! They hang out in the trees. Very different from the other Iguanas we've seen before.
There were also amazing birds on this part of the river. These really beautiful red birds walk around by the edge of the river and when they fly, they have white tipped wings. We didn't get a great shot of that, but we have a male and a female here.
There were some other interesting birds too. I loved this one. He was completely hidden by vegetation but so beautiful.
We went farther up the tributary to see the famous Victoria Regia, those hugh water lilies. The particular tributary dries up in August. The seed pods fold up into themselves and wait underneath the old lily pad until the rains come. This activates them and they produce the new year's plants. Very cool. The flowers are white or pink and last 3 days.
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