View From The River: Aria 4-Day Voyage
| Aria Amazon
Here is an extract of a blog written by Rainforest Cruises client Beverley Campbell about her experiences on her 4-day Amazon cruise onboard the Aria:
At 6,448 kms, the Amazon River is the world's second longest river, after the Nile. For the most part, the river flows through the tropical rainforests of Brazil and Peru. The source of the Amazon is in the Andes Mountains in Peru, on the western edge of South America. It flows eastward into the Atlantic Ocean near the Equator.
Even though the Amazon river may not be the world's longest river, it is however the world's largest river by the volume of water it carries. It moves more water than the next eight largest rivers of the world combined! The Amazon has the largest drainage basin in the world which covers 40% of South America. It accounts for about one fifth of the world's total river flow. It drains from west to east, from Iquitos in Peru across Brazil to the Atlantic ocean.
There are many places on the Amazon where a person on one side of the river cannot see the other side. During the wet season (Nov to May), parts of the river exceed 190 kms (120 miles) in width. Because of its sheer size, the Amazon river is sometimes called 'The River Sea'.
The broad estuary of the Amazon is about 330kms (205 miles) wide. This means that the Amazon is wider at its mouth than the entire length of the River Thames in England! No bridges have been built over the Amazon. This is not because the river would be too wide to bridge. For most of its length, engineers could build a bridge across the river easily, but most of the river's course flows through tropical rainforest so there are very few roads or cities to connect. Most of the time the crossing can be done by a ferry, so there is no real need to build bridges.
Although I was aboard a luxury cruise boat, this was an Amazon River expedition, not a leisurely cruise! After our welcome aboard drink and time to unpack, we gathered in the comfy lounge for the first of our many lectures on the Amazon. Facts, history, wildlife, village life, etc., taking in all this knowledge with a glass of wine in hand of course!
Every day there were several lectures to attend, usually around lunchtime or late afternoon, always drawing a crowd with pre-lecture cocktails and drinks! Most times the lectures would finish with a fun activity: a simple cooking class demonstrating how to make ceviche; a towel folding class; how to make a hanging monkey. The most popular class by far was making Pisco Sours and drinking our efforts!!!
Alarm call each day was at 6.30am, a sumptuous breakfast was served at 7am: traditional egg dishes, Peruvian specialities, fruit and freshly-squeezed juices made from tropical jungle fruits, such as the aguaje.
With a few minutes to get prepared and ready, we boarded our skiff boats and were ready for the off at 8am!
Having cruised from Iquitos overnight we had reached the Yarapa River, one of the tributaries of the Amazon. We set off in the skiffs to explore the Yacapana Isles, known by the locals as the 'Iguana Islands' on account of the number of these reptiles found there.
Amazonian beliefs state that if you touch an iguana, you develop some of its characteristics. As no one wants to look like one of them, these animals are well protected! The boat drivers took the launches as close as possible to the islands, giving us opportunities to take great photos of the incredible flora and fauna that we were able to observe along our route...