Peruvian Amazon, August 2013

Boarding the "rapido" for 18 hour trip down Rio Ucayali from Pucallpa, the main town on the middle Ucayali, to Contamana, a major market town.

Boarding a motorized dugout on an oxbow lake in the Shipibo community of Canaan Chia Tipishca.

 A waterway leading into the forest beyond Canaan Chia Tipishca.

We boated two hours and walked an hour to this fishing hole where three of us hooked these fish in about an hour.  I caught three.  Fishing is excellent in bodies of water cut off by low water during dry season.

Collecting Rae Rao, a plant used for resolving conflict between individuals or groups.

 

One of two coca bushes maintained on a Mestizo's farm cleared from an abandoned narcotraficante's coca plantation.

 

Floating island on legendary Lago Imiria.  Some floating islands have mature renaco (a fig species) trees.  Jaguars are said to swim out to these islands.

 

Piraña for dinner, yum.  Shipibos have fresh fish with every meal.

 

Entrance to the market town Contamana on Rio Ucayali.

 

Medicine & magic shop in the Cuzco market, in the Andes.

 

Double and triple flower Brugmansia blossoms in Cuzco.

Peruvian Amazon 2012, part 3

Volley, chopstick lessons, and Shipibo textiles.  Then downstream to Pacaya Samiria National reserve where we saw sloths.

Iquitos Art 2012

One of my students did a project on Iquitos pro-conservation street art which led to a tour with Sose, a graffiti artist, and his pal Ashuko, a bar and bordello artist.

Peruvian Amazon 2012, part 2

We motored to Malinowski Biological Station and to Calleria, a Shipibo village where we read with the kids.

Peruvian Amazon 2012, part 1

Liz, Bret, and 16 great students cruised Amazonian waters in January and February, 2012, tried to pick up huangana signals, came across a snake of unusual size, and learned about plants which cure most anything.