Exploring the Peruvian Amazon: Wildlife, Culture and Adventure

This week Tracy is joined by seasoned travel podcaster and traveller Chris Christensen, host of the Amateur Traveler podcast, to share his recent experience travelling through the Peruvian Amazon.

Together, they explore why this vast and remote region is far more accessible than many travellers expect. Drawing on Chris’s small-group river expedition, the conversation offers a clear-eyed look at what it’s really like to travel the Amazon, from river life and wildlife encounters to village visits and the realities of logistics, comfort, and daily routines.

Chris explains how the Peruvian Amazon differs from the coastal and Andean parts of Peru many travellers are familiar with, what surprised him most about the trip, and why the experience felt adventurous without being as difficult or intimidating as expected.

•  Why much of Peru lies in the Amazon basin
 • How to reach the Peruvian Amazon via Lima, Iquitos, and the river port
 • What it’s like spending a week on a small Amazon river boat
 • How seasonal water levels shape routes, fishing, and daily life
 • Blackwater lakes, piranha fishing, and safe swimming
 • Wildlife encounters including birds, sloths, monkeys, and pink dolphins
 • What village visits and local life along the river are really like
 • Food on board and sharing a traditional village meal
 • Mobility needs, skiffs, stairs, and uneven terrain
 • What to pack for heat, insects, and wildlife viewing
 • Why the Amazon is more accessible than many travellers expect

You’ll find links to Chris’s detailed article about the Peruvian Amazon and his Amateur Traveler podcast in the show notes  globaltravelplanning.com/episode-89

⭐️ Guest - Chris Christensen from Amateur Traveler

Transcript

Why The Amazon Defines Peru;

SPEAKER_02 0:00

When you think of Peru, you probably think of Machu Picchu or the Andes. But most of the country lies deep in the Amazon basin. In this episode, I'm chatting with one of the most well-travelled and famous podcasters out there about what it's really like to explore the Peruvian Amazon and why it's far more accessible than you might think.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Welcome to the Global Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is founder of the Global Travel Planning website, Tracy Collins. Each week, Tracy is joined by expert guests as she takes you on a journey to destinations around the world, sharing travel inspiration, itinerary ideas, and practical tips to help you plan your next adventure. Join us as we explore everywhere from bustling cities to remote landscapes, uncover cultural treasures, and discover the best ways to make your travel dreams a reality.

Meet Chris Christensen;

SPEAKER_02 0:51

Hi and welcome to episode 89 of the Global Travel Planning Podcast. Today I'm joined by Chris Christensen, the host of the long-running and hugely respected amateur traveller podcast. Now, Chris has travelled to more countries than most of us can count, so when he reached out with a list of possible topics to chat about, I was spoilt for choice. But I admit I was a little selfish with this one. I couldn't resist diving into his recent trip to the Peruvian Amazon. Now, with my own long-term plans to spend traveling through South America, Peru is firmly on my radar. And before this conversation, I realized I knew almost nothing about the Amazon region of the country. So Chris's experience turned out to be the perfect way to change that. Now, in this episode, we talk about what the Peruvian Amazon is really like, how Chris explored it on a small group river expedition, and why it challenged many of his expectations. We cover everything from wildlife encounters and daily life along the river to practical questions like packing, mobility, connectivity, and what kind of traveler this experience suits best. Now, if you've ever wondered whether the Amazon is too remote, too difficult, or too intimidating, this conversation may well change your mind. Yeah, so so when I was deciding about what to chat with you, Chris, because you've been everywhere. You had a very exciting year in 2025. But uh I'm being a bit selfish because I chose the Peruvian Amazon. The reason for that is that next year I'm 60, as we're just kind of talking about. Um, and I have promised myself at least eight months exploring South America. So obviously that's going to include Peru. Now I had no idea about the Peruvian Amazon. I read that and I went, okay, I have, I know nothing. Literally, I know nothing. So this is a perfect opportunity for you to educate me and our listeners. If they also like me don't know very much about uh Peruvian Amazon, you know, we think about Peru for potentially different things, I reckon. Um, so tell me first of all, where is the Peruvian Amazon, Chris?

SPEAKER_00 2:47

So it turns out for for many of us, when we think of Peru, we think of a coast and we think of the Andes. The majority of Peru, and this came as a surprise to me, is on the east side of the Andes in the Amazonian basin. And so there's some uh two rivers that meet to form the Peruvian Amazon. Now, I think it loses the name again when it gets into Brazil and then gets it again. So it's it's a little complicated, but it's the it's the Amazon River. It's one of the tributaries of the Brazilian Amazon. Um, but it is um part of Peru that is not as visited as much. There is a large city, a reasonably large city, Iquitos, which is the largest city that isn't connected by land to you know to other parts of the world. Uh basically, there's one road that leads out of a Quitos that goes down to a port city, which we we took and we went, we started our cruise from that port city. But otherwise, to get to a Quitos, you have to take a boat or you have to take a plane.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Yeah, when I was uh I was reading your article about it and I was fascinated by the fact that they you literally have to do the the flying in or you have to take the boat. So I I I'm gonna ask because I know I already know, so I'm kind of being a spoiler here, but I know you took a you took a tour for to do this. So let's just talk about kind of how you like what made you want to go and visit this part of Peru for a start off. And then like how did you decide how to do the visiting part?

Choosing A Small-Ship River Expedition;

SPEAKER_00 4:24

So it was one of those things where I had an opportunity because I'd worked with G-Adventures before and I took a G-Aventures tour here. Basically, they said, which one of all the tours that we run do you want to do? Which that alone can just that that can use up a whole weekend thinking about what do you want to do. And this one just stood out for me as a unique opportunity to see, especially what I thought. I'll tell you what I thought going in, and I'll tell you what it was really like. I was thinking that it was going to be a very much wildlife-centric trip, which it was and it wasn't at the same time. And it just seemed like a unique opportunity to do something adventurous. And also, so my wife does not travel with me all the time. She does, she's still working full-time. This is not a trip she would want to do. So I can do this, and there's no guilt involved in why isn't she coming? She would not come. Uh now it turns out it wasn't as challenging as I thought it would be, and she probably would have been fine, and we'll talk more about that. But it was something that I did not think was on her wish list.

SPEAKER_02 5:41

Okay, I was gonna say, because I I guess this is under the definition of adventurous travel.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

Yeah, right. Well, and I had the odd thing is I was Peru for the first time, but I've still never been to Machu Picchu. That is on her list, and that would get me in trouble if I had done that tour. Um, so that's one of the reasons that I chose it. But it it is definitely adventurous travel, although not as challenging as I expected.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

And we could go into that. I think we can kind of chat about kind of how it, how what your expectations were and how it actually how it actually turned out. But let's so you you let's kind of go back to the beginning. So then you you decided to you flew into to Lima. I guess that's where you started out the tour.

Lima To Iquitos: Gateway Logistics;

SPEAKER_00 6:25

So yeah, where this particular tour starts is it starts and ends in Lima. And so you fly into Lima, you uh get a hotel, they have a hotel that you will meet at in Miraflores. The Radisson Red in Miraflores just happens to be their base hotel. It's the base actually for a number of different tours. Uh, we were also at the same hotel that the G Adventures group that was going to the same place but on a different boat was, and so it's just a popular place. Miraflores in Lima is a neighborhood that's very touristy, and so it's very comfortable. And so I think a lot of people use that as their home base, but it's it's not near the airport. It's about 50 minutes from the airport, depending on traffic, uh, you know, at least 50 minutes, and traffic is not great in Lima. It's uh congested, it's not dangerous or anything like that, it's just congested. But so we met there, did a you know, uh welcome, welcome to Peru. Hello, everybody, who are you? Uh introduction meeting, and then in the morning we met up, got on a bus, and went to the airport and flew to Iquitos. Uh, from there drove down that 90-mile road, the only road that connects Iquitos, uh, it down to the port city there on the on the Amazon. Right. Right where the two rivers meet to form the Peruvian Amazon.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

Okay, so you you did that flight. So you didn't spend any time on Iquitos, it was just basically a transit through to then catch to go and get the boat. Correct.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

We we actually went back to Quitos. No, actually, we didn't. Uh the only thing we did in Iquitos on the way out is we stopped in a wildlife sanctuary park for that's uh called the Manatee Rescue Center, but they rescue all sorts of wildlife. And so on our way back to the airport, we stopped there to see the manatees and the monkeys and the parrots and all of the other wildlife that they often had taken from poachers or things like that. So it was actually an interesting chance to see some of the wildlife we did not see in the wild.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

I was gonna say, because you did you did see a a lot, uh, a lot of animals which you don't talk about in the world.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

You know, wildlife being as they are.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

It's not predictable, is it? That's a thing you can't uh you can't predicta what you are gonna see uh and and when that's always uh also the the the interesting thing. So um just give us a little bit of an overview of the tour because I'm I I love doing tours like this because they're organized for you. Um so it's great. And and I know uh you mentioned Victor and Eric, uh your two tour guides, and we'll talk about them uh in a little bit as well.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Wonderful, wonderful tour guides.

Life Aboard A Rustic Amazon Boat;

SPEAKER_02 9:03

Yeah, sound sounded absolutely fantastic. Um and and that takes a lot of the stress away because right from the minute you're you're kind of you you're escorted and you've got that kind of safety net of having a tour around you.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

And it's an Amazon cruise, yeah. But that word is bringing up the wrong thing in most people's heads who are listening here because I think we uh I think the the tour maxes out about 24, and that pretty much maxes out the boat. Uh maybe could hold 30 total, but basically smaller boat, uh a little rustic uh from that point of view. I wouldn't say it was a luxury boat. Uh my cabin leaned a bit. Apparently, it always did since since they first built it. It was built there in the in the Amazon basin, but uh but I thought a very comfortable boat and you know, wonderful crew, Peruvian crew, obviously. And you are doing a uh a cruise in the sense that you are waking up not in a different place than you went to sleep. They don't cruise at night because the Amazon changes a lot uh from day to day, from from week to week and from year to year. There are no charts for the Amazon. Apparently, they had uh Navy pilots or Navy uh captains who tried to help out in the Amazon and it drove them just completely crazy because there are not charts. You just know where you can and cannot go.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

Okay, so it's it's experience then, experience based. I guess whoever is navigating, again, they get in the boat, they they know the area and they know the river.

A River That Moves 45 Feet;

SPEAKER_00 10:39

Well, and I say that it changes from day to day. The one thing that I did not know going in that affected absolutely everything that we saw was that the Amazon changes level over the course of the year. And, you know, that seems fairly normal. Uh rivers get deeper sometimes in the spring when the snow melt, and then they get, you know, they get lower at other times of the year, depending on where you are in the world and where they get rainfall and things like that. The Amazon, this Peruvian Amazon area changes level about 45 feet between the high water time of the sea of the year and the low water time of the year. And so we were there kind of in the middle. Um, and so we were there in the in, I was there in the summertime, our time, so winter time, your time, or or Peru. And the uh because you know, obviously southern hemisphere. And the deal there is that in the wintertime, there's a lot more people in the area than I expected, too. That was the other surprise. That we were not in an area that was unpopulated. There were a lot of different villages with people in them. Um that, you know, it wasn't like it was villages like huts. It was villages like rustic houses with not a lot of, you know, uh things inside them, uh, in terms of furniture and things like that, up on stilts. And in the high water season, for instance, the people who were there can't fish effectively. And the reason why they can't fish effectively is this we were in a reserve. We were in a nature reserve that is kind of the size of this the country of Costa Rica, so large nature reserve here in Peru. I don't remember how it compares in terms of size to Costa Rica, but it's big. In the high water season, 95% of it is underwater. Wow, that's crazy. And so everywhere we went in this kind of middle of the the in between the high water and the low water, we could see the where the water had been up on the banks, which were 20 feet above us, up on the trees 10 feet up. And the houses were up on the banks and they were up 10 feet up on stilts and they flooded last year. It was a particularly high water year. And so in the high water season, the fish hide in the trees. Well, there's not plenty of space to do it, it's not forest, and so it is not a good time for fishing. When we were there, all of that forest had had drained, and so there was a great time for fishing. There were these little rivers and inlets that would go out from the big rivers into the jungle, and we would spend most of our days going up those little rivers and inlets in a small boat. Uh basically 12 passengers in one boat, 12 passengers in another boat. And we would take these skiffs and we would go up these rivers and inlets into Blackwater lakes and other features. Uh Blackwater Lake, a lake where there is so much foliage that has died that there is very little oxygen, and the lake is kind of the color of tea. And you swam in one of those, Chris, which I we swam in a lake, and we also fished for piranha, not in the same spot. Yeah, but that wouldn't be a good idea. That there are piranha in these waters, but not so much in a black water area. And that's where we swam. Because most fish need to breathe oxygen, and they can't in that area. They they die. Um, now there are lungfish in the area, which one of the reasons why they survive there and they are relatively um extinct elsewhere in the world is these blackwater regions where the lungfish can pop its head out. These are very long fish, like six feet long and and uh and longer. And so they can pop their heads out and they can breathe in that area while regular fish die, including the piranha, fortunately for us.

SPEAKER_02 15:01

It's a good j it's actually a good job people can't see my face because I'm like, absolutely, it's it I you know, and I know I know you kind of say they have the same look on their face.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

That's okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

The thing is, it's I I know uh and you you kind of say, you know, you stop you when you go when you have adventures, you have troubles, so you have to sometimes put yourself out of your comfort zone. And that was your kind of thing. You you you said you had that trepidation.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Jumping into the water and swimming was uh out of my comfort zone a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 15:29

Yeah, I have to say hacks off to you, because that's what that's one of my major fears is is dark water not seeing what's in the water. So I definitely couldn't. I was like, hacks off to you. And especially when I read about those massive longfish, I was like, there's absolutely no chance. Or maybe dangle footage.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

Those are not dangerous. They're they're not gonna eat you or anything like that. They they eat other things. So it's all right.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

I'm scared goldfish, Chris. So you're fine. It's like I wouldn't even as goldfish in there were.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

You know, there were actual piranha, and they what the guides told us is so in the movies, right, a piranha can strip a cow in a minute and things like that. Well, that actually is true. It's just only in areas where they're in such high concentrations, and the fish that they feed on normally are in low concentrations that they look for other prey. Yeah. So when we did fish for piranha, we were putting little pieces of meat on on hooks and putting them in the water and very quickly getting piranhas relatively small uh compared to uh as large as they get. But if you were in one of those areas where there were a real high concentration of piranha and there was a low concentration of fish, it would be very, very dangerous. And and you wouldn't want to, you wouldn't want to get out of a boat there.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

No, no, for sure. No, I definitely wouldn't get a lot of things.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

And that's relatively rare, is our understanding.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Okay, that's good to that's good to know as well. So I'll rewind a little bit because you mentioned about going off on these skiffs, and you said you you'd you'd have 12 in a boat and there'd be two boats. So I'm guessing there's about 24 of you on the this adventure cruise that you went on. So give us a little bit of a of a kind of makeup of the group, and um, and then we'll go into kind of chatting, I suppose, about kind of what once you once it's always really nice when you meet people in a group, because you know what it's like to start with. Everybody's a bit, hi, I'm here, I'm I'm Tracy from wherever I'm so whatever. Um and the those first few days are a little bit awkward, and then after a couple of days, it's like you've known everybody for forever, and it's you're great friends, and and it's it was a great friend. It was a great group. Yeah, so tell so tell us where they're from.

Blackwater Lakes, Piranha, And Swimming;

SPEAKER_00 17:30

One person on the group who happened to be my roommate who was ex knew it wasn't going to be a luxury cruise, but really does luxury cruises, and and I think let that ruin it for him, unfortunately. Um, but we also had a a woman who had survived a was 80 years old, had survived in aortic aneurysm the year before, and told her family, anybody who wants to come with me, I'm going to the Amazon. Wow. And so she brought two of her daughters and two of her granddaughters with her. And so we had just a, you know, she was fearless, um, just amazing. And it was a great group. We had people from Australia and England and US. There was one family who had booked directly with the ship that were Peruvian. Uh, they did not speak as much English, so we didn't have as as much conversation with them, and they were only there for part of the trip. Uh, so this is a one-week long trip, and it's about five days, uh, five days, five nights on the river, as I recall. Maybe it's five days, four nights on the river, uh, and then you have to get to and from.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

And I guess some of those people as well would have kind of booked this this part of the their uh the trip into their longer trip, if that makes sense. So um I'm guessing.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

Absolutely. Yeah, that was even more true with the other uh crews that I did in uh South out South America recently, but it was definitely true with this that there were people, you know, I was in and out for just this. Yeah um, but that was probably more rare. I would say most people were doing at least two, three weeks, and they were also doing either more in the Amazon or they were doing Machu Pichu or they had done Bolivia or you know, whatever, uh, but they had added it on to a longer trip. Yeah. It just depends on how much time and money you have.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

Yeah, absolutely. Well, uh, I definitely have have got it on my sets for next year. So talk me about talk me through uh a regular day. What was it like uh, you know, waking up on the boat, what did you do during the day? What was the kind of regular activities?

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Yeah, so each each day was a little different, but a typical day would be going out uh either just after breakfast or some days even before breakfast uh to see some of the wildlife as it was waking up. Uh and so the wildlife you'd be looking for would be monkeys and sloths and and then lots and lots of birds. Um, I would say if you're not a birder, you will be, at least for those five days, because when there are macaws flying overhead or toucans or egrets, it is that is the wildlife that's always there. That's the wildlife that always shows up, right? You you may or may not find monkeys today, you may or may not find slaws, or we although we did, uh, of multiple types of monkeys, including like the world's smallest primate. And uh the guides had, I I asked the guides, I said, you can't have, couldn't have seen that from the boat. You must have heard it. And he said, Yeah, he heard he heard the cry, and then we we got off on, you know, got off on the shore and and clambered up the the muddy uh shore to get to where he thought he was, and we and we saw this, you know, very, very tiny monkey uh basically. You could hold it in your hand. Um so the guys were amazing in terms of their ability to spot and identify and such. And they were they were native, they had grown up here.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

Yeah, and I know actually you you you do say that you know when you listen to that kind of cacophony of the noise from the forest, to us, it you know, we can't, we we kind of don't know, we're just hearing a lot of noise. But but I love the the quote that you I'm gonna I am gonna quote you here where you say to them it was a language that told them exactly where to look. And I you know, I love that. It's just Oh, I like that.

unknown 21:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:24

It's a great quote, Chris. Great Chris.

Group Dynamics And Who This Suits;

A Day In The Amazon: Outings And Nights;

SPEAKER_00 21:26

And and and I think and that, you know, having, as you say, you've got guys who grew up there, so they they can interpret that the language for you and and they have seen this area change a lot um as more Western culture has come in and more conveniences and things like that. But the people who live there, I mean, they dress like us, their houses are more um rustic, but they you know, they look like a house. Uh you know, and some of them had solar projects, and some of them had you know a butterfly project that. That they're working on to make money, but it's relatively tough going in terms of making a living here because so what happens is most of them they're farming and fishing. Well, farming, you can only farm when the land is there, right? And so literally, when the sandbanks uncover as the water drains, they have about five months to plant their crops. And and then that's that will be their harvest. And so they plant their bananas and their rice and you know all of the different plants that they're growing. And it's wonderful rich soil because it just washed down from the Andes and it's renewed every year. But then basically they have five months before it it covers back up again with water. Um, so interesting place. And then they'll dry the yucca and the fish and and salt it, and and that's what what they're going to be eating during the high water season. And we went into uh back to the port town Nantes to go to the market and to look around at that town as well. And when we're in the market, they were telling us, you know, it's still the case that a lot of people there, the day they work is the day they eat. Um, that they're, you know, they don't have sort of they're doing more day labor in in some sense. Um, and if they're not one of the farmers, you know, growing their crops and keeping their crops, then they're, you know, buying what they can in the market with what they made today. So it's it's a tough place to make a living. Um, but very verdant, very green, obviously, water everywhere. Even the terra firma, that that other 5% that doesn't get inundated with water. We went, we did two different hikes where we went up into the jungle. So you said, what do you do during your day? Basically, you'll have, say, two different excursions a day, maybe three. So you might go out early in the morning, and then you'd come back for lunch. Uh, there were a couple of times we ate out on the boats if we did something longer, but generally you came back for lunch and then you might go out uh later in the afternoon. And there were a couple night uh cruises where we went out at night with with lights, and we were listening for and watching for the Caymans in the water or or the monkeys of the sloths or the birds or whatever uh in that. But I would say two to three outings a day. And then the rest of the time you're back on the boat, and those outings would be, I'd say two, three hours. Um you know, there's there's somewhat limitations. The the restroom facilities, as you can imagine, if you're just going out wildlife hunting, are if someone needs to stop, you have to find a tree. Yeah, yeah. So that that part is is relatively um basic. It's basically uh but we might be, you know, we did at least two or three stops in villages where we went and saw what they were, you know, what projects were going on in the village, met the villagers, talked about life there. We we had a a meeting with a shaman, a woman who is a shaman, which is unusual, who talked to us about practicing natural medicine and how she'd learned it from her grandfather. And she was required to basically go off into the jungle, I think it was for five five years, and survive and and learn, you know, from her grandfather what various things could be used for what. Um, so it was a fascinating experience. And then, of course, when you're meeting with the locals, they'll also have some artwork that they have created out of the local materials that they they want to sell you that uh, you know, honestly, that a lot of us were interested in in buying. There was there was a fair amount of shopping that went on, but it was it was all native stuff. It was all things that they had created. There were no no crafts from the indigenous people of China uh available there.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

I was gonna say that's a great way as well to support the local people when you're when you're traveling those areas.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

And one of our visits, we had lunch in the village. And the they do that to help support the village, obviously, but also they you know make sure that the what you're drinking, for instance, has come from filtered water. You know, there's some things that they need to do because the people there they probably drink the water that we shouldn't uh and and have immunities that we don't. And so they have worked with the people to make sure that it's a safe meal, but it's a typical meal. You know, this is the kind of things you you can find there. Uh, and you know, this is cooked in banana leaves, and this is cooked on the fire, and this is chicken, and this is, you know, whatever fish. And it was an interesting experience, but they you know, they were telling us you you could eat everything here, you know, you could drink everything we're giving you, but we've taken some care to make sure you can.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

Yeah, no, that that sounds that sounds good though. That sounds having the opportunity to do that as well, and and uh try some of the the local food. Did you enjoy it? Didn't it was the food good?

SPEAKER_00 27:21

Uh both the food on on the boat um as well as the food, the local food experience that we did have uh was enjoyable. But uh in fact, I think the boat, I think they did a wonderful job. They also just every time you walked into the dining room, there was some new decoration that was probably purchased from one of the local villages that was woven animals and things like that uh from the local plants and things like that was the kind of things they were using for decorating the dining room. So it was great fun.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

So um obviously you said this was this was about a week this trip. So did you did you travel far? I'm just thinking like you were traveling during the day, but I'm sure you weren't going very fast in the boat, but you don't go very fast and you don't go very far.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

Okay, no. Yeah. Basically, it's all taking place sort of in and around Nantes, which is that that port town. And Nantes is just up river from the Amazon. And so we went to the Peruvian Amazon. That was one of our first stops was there. And but then most of the rest of the time we're actually in between those two rivers that form the Amazon there in that portion of that reserve, natural reserve.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

Okay, okay. Just gonna ask a practical question because it it it crossed my mind. Yes. Um, so obviously when you're purchasing uh some of these these goods that the local people have made, um, cash, obviously. Uh yes. So where did you get the cash? Because this is the sort of practical question that you know people will be like, so so where did you get the cash from?

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Yeah, we we came in with the cash.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

Okay, so you got that in Lima from an ATM.

SPEAKER_00 28:56

And I think they were I think they were taking dollars, as I recall, or or potentially Euros, but um, but yeah, people had had changed, exchanged money in mostly in Lima.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

Okay, cool. That's good to know. It's like those little practical things that you know you you go and you think, oh so so so how did Chris do that?

SPEAKER_00 29:12

No, nobody, nobody broke out a credit card machine.

SPEAKER_02 29:15

No, I didn't expect that.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

So I guess connectivity Although there were a couple places though we they did have solar power. Um, and so you know it's it's theoretically possible that next time you go down, they would, you know, bring out their uh credit card machine, but probably not.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

So I guess this is also an adventure where you get a chance to unplug a bit because you're not gonna have that connectivity that we have. We just used to 24-7.

Village Visits And Daily Realities;

SPEAKER_00 29:42

Yeah, so they did have Wi-Fi on the boat. It was cellular powered. Um, it wouldn't be something that I would have been uploading my photos or my videos or things like that. But it was sometimes enough that I was able to check email and not be completely out of touch. But it uh but yeah, you should plan on being mostly out of touch. We weren't quite as out of touch as I thought we would be. Um, so that was one surprise. The other surprise is how much cultural interactions. I mean, it said it in the tour description, but I just wasn't expecting that many people there, you know. It it wasn't completely undiscovered. There were there were lots of people living in this neighborhood, basically. Um, and and had no clue what the impact of you know rivers coming, getting lower and higher and lower, and what that would mean for them. And then the other thing I said is it wasn't as challenging. So I expected, you know, I've read about Teddy Roosevelt who nearly died going up the Amazon, and you know, I expected that there would be lots and lots of mosquitoes, and there would that it would be hot and humid. And both of those were true. In the evening, there were a lot of mosquitoes, just like that one hour right around dusk, which we just went inside, and there was a a place in the back of the boat and the stern of the boat, which was an enclosed room where the the band from the crew members would play and and people would dance, and did that sometimes in the evenings, uh, where the rest of that top deck was open, and it was lovely during the day, it was great in the morning. You'd get up in the morning, there'd be mist on the on the water and pink dolphins jumping and you know, just amazing. And I wasn't expecting when you were in the small boats and when you were in the big boat, most of the time there was a lovely breeze, and so even though you were in the jungle, it really wasn't that hot and sticky. Now, when you went for hikes, the two times we went for hikes, then you know, I was uh so sweaty you could have hosed me off and I wouldn't have been any wetter. Uh, but we also hiked up in one place where they had there'd been a failed resort and they still had these suspension bridges that the community was keeping up. And so you're you're hiking out and going with a local guide who's pointing out the tarantula, or that this is a curare tree where they used to get the poison from for the poison darts, and and you know, all of the different trees along the way, including some of the hardwoods, which are still which are very rare. They've forested a lot of the mahogany trees and things like that, but there's still some that are preserved here in this place, in this reserve. And so they would point those out along the way, and then you got further in, and we got to go on these suspension bridges and you know, two or two at a time crossing so that you didn't put too much strength on them. And it that was great fun. But but that part was hot and sticky and with and with lots of bugs.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

Yeah, so take plenty of water, I guess, is the uh is the tip for that one.

SPEAKER_00 32:51

Yeah, I think the first the first one I did not take enough water. Um, that was when I really used my long sleeve shirts too. Uh so you know it sounds strange to go into the jungle and wear long sleeve shirts, but you're wearing them because of bugs.

SPEAKER_02 33:04

Yeah, yeah. Well, that that that you kind of mentioned a tarantula, so that segues so nicely into me asking you all about the wildlife that you saw. So obviously you saw some things that I probably wouldn't be so keen on seeing, but uh then again I'd I still would want to see a tarantula, even though I'd be like, ugh. Tell me what you saw. What were the highlights of the animals that you saw? Because I know you saw quite a lot.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

Well, sloths are sloths are always amazing, uh, and monkeys are always great. But but again, the bird life, uh, my favorite pictures that I took were of some of the birds, and I ended up doing a whole beginner's guide to bird watching in the Amazon post just because I came back with photos that I just loved from some of the birds that we were seeing. You know, the colorful macaws and the toucans and the the raptors. So the fish hawk, for instance, and and other uh hawks and vultures, and it was just very interesting. And then, you know, you get weird birds like the horned screamer that sounds like a car alarm.

SPEAKER_02 34:05

I read that.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

So, or the one that sounds like a donkey, and I'm forgetting off the top of my head which one that was. But so the bird life was was surprised, I shouldn't say surprisingly interesting because I've been on African Safari too, and it's amazing how much time you spend looking at birds there as well, because there's such variety and so interesting looking.

SPEAKER_02 34:26

Well, I've just come back from Antarctica, Chris, and I I got totally into to I can now name five different types of penguin. I can tell you all about uh quite a number of the different birds that we saw, the different albatross, and then uh yeah, the skewers. It was just amazing. So actually, I I didn't think that I was that interested in in birds, but I came back with a far more of an appreciation of it, I have to say, uh, and interest. And and the sloths, I mean, they just look so cute.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

So some people want to keep sloths as pets, which they very much discourage. One of the reasons why people like them as pets. In the wild, a sloth will poop once a week. So it will climb down its tree so that it doesn't just drop its poop from the tree and and go some distance away and poop and bury it, and then climb back up its tree, and be and because sloths move so slowly, it takes about a week. And um, so they are adorable. They're one of the kids did have a pet sloth in one of the villages we went to, and they had pet parakeets and things like that, uh, which is more common in the villages, but what they you know certainly discouraged is poachers coming in and trying to sell those as pets to us.

SPEAKER_02 35:38

Yeah, I can imagine that that's a problem. So um, as well as some of the kind of cute uh I know you saw pink dolphins as well, which which sound amazing.

SPEAKER_00 35:45

Great dolphins also.

Food, Markets, And Connectivity;

SPEAKER_02 35:46

Yeah, uh, which is fantastic. But I'm also kind of always a bit fascinated by the the smaller insects as well. So I know that you saw and this this fascinated me, bullet ants. I because I I don't like ants, right? I have a thing I get terrible, I'm terrible with fish and I'm terrible with ants, but I was reading in your article about these bullet ants that eat the seed of the philodendron and then it grows and it germinates inside the ant and kills it. How spectacular is nature. I mean, incredible. I mean it had no idea. So I'm guessing obviously your guides are the people who have a font of knowledge of this, yes. Yeah, so they're they they they're pointing out all these these these animals, these insects. I know you saw a snake as well that when you were going around. So so you you're like you have a look in it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So not small.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

And then it jumped. And I one of the young gals just ran right into me trying to get away from it. It uh quite startled us.

SPEAKER_02 36:55

So I think you know, you you on this on this trip, you get the kind of exposure to the culture of the of the Peruvian Amazon, you get an exposure to the the wildlife in in that area as well. And I guess they are you those are I guess the two main themes that make up that kind of pivotal to this trip. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:13

Yeah, I think you also do get some appreciation for the tensions in development in this kind of areas. Um, you know, this is not an area where you were seeing a lot of the deforestation as you'd see in some parts of Brazil, but you do get a sense for you got people here trying to make a living, and you also have these natural resources, and there is a tension.

SPEAKER_02 37:40

And I guess that there must be an impact from climate change as well. I'm guessing they they will be they'll be seeing that.

SPEAKER_00 37:46

Probably we I would say I almost said that, and but I don't know that we saw it quite as much here as uh for instance, I was just on a you were down in Antarctica, I was down in Patagonia, and there you'd absolutely see that sort of impact.

SPEAKER_02 38:03

Okay. Okay, so central to it, the wildlife, central to it is a culture, and also kind of, I guess, you know, going into a country that that many of us have probably not been to before, or not been exposed to that that kind of culture, or seeing that wildlife outside of potentially going to it to a zoo. So you you know you you come away, I guess, with a uh an appreciation, as always, when we travel of of you know a different area, different culture.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

Um well and you were also are going through Lima, so we did not take extra day to see Lima on this trip, but I went through Lima again on the way down to Chile and Patagonia, and we did get a chance to go down into the UNESCO World Heritage Site in the the main downtown and and see that and appreciate that as well. And you probably should, even though I didn't, just because you do have to get there, you know, go through there. So yeah, it is a it behooves you to see more if you can.

SPEAKER_02 39:02

Oh yes, uh well, I'll definitely be uh be stopping off in Lima for sure, but I'm very interested in in doing this trip. So um I obviously you mentioned you had a wide range of ages on this trip. So um you you call it adventurous, but not quite as kind of on that kind of more extreme side of adventurous that you you wouldn't describe, but they say it more gentle.

Heat, Bugs, And Forest Hikes;

SPEAKER_00 39:22

So the the things where um you need to be aware is you know, we had people from I would say mid-20s up to 80. Um the person who was 80, who again was fearless, uh, her granddaughters and her daughters were helping her get in and out of the boats. Uh well, the guides help everybody get in and out of the boats. That's you know the thing they do. But also, you have to get up into some of these villages. And so we had a couple people on the cruise who were uh more overweight than me. And that was more difficult because if you think about it, so where we were, I said it was in the middle of the high and the low water, some of the creeks we went up, or that were rivers today, we you know, the day we're going up them, and our guides were saying two weeks from now we won't be able to go up this river. Um, this river will be a creek. And so if you think about it, when you're going to a village, they have to rebuild whatever steps you're going up to at least every yeah. And so their um ramshackle would be probably the right term. And so you're sometimes a little more concerned about, you know, are you going to get, are you gonna fall in the mud as you're trying to go up this, you know, 20-foot bank or whatever, is a place where some of the people were definitely less comfortable if they had less mobility and you know, just that that issue. Um, so mobility is something that would be helpful to have. There's also no elevator on the boat. I mean, it's not a it's not a big boat, it's a three-story boat. Um, but you know, you have to be able to do stairs, get in and out of a boat, and then more importantly, get up these, you know, a little bit uh improvisational stairs and steps and and uh things like that to get up into the villages or to get up to do the hike that you're gonna do or whatever. So some people just did the boat excursions. Okay. You know, they they basically opted out after a while. They were like, I'm not comfortable doing those. I'm just gonna do the and and there's so much of it that is just boat-based that you could still have a decent trip, but I think you really ought to, you know, do it when you have the mobility. Yeah, hit the gym.

SPEAKER_02 41:43

Hit the gym, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:44

Hit the gym. But you know, I am not in the you you've seen me. Uh, you know, I'm a I'm more of an advertisement for a man who loves food than than an athlete. Uh so you don't need to be athletic by any shape or form. But it'd good to have some mobility.

SPEAKER_02 42:00

What about uh footwear? I'm just thinking about packing, because obviously I if I'm gonna be away for eight months traveling around South America, I need to be really conscious about what I'm taking. But is there anything in particular you say you you know, footwear-wise or clothing? I know you mentioned obviously long sleeves.

SPEAKER_00 42:13

Well, for the for the hikes close-toed, close-toed shoes, um, but I think I did wear um, I also brought my water shoes uh for sometimes that I, you know, didn't think I would need. You know, it's like you're you're gonna be in the boat the whole time. Um, but for the hikes close toed close toed shoes, uh, didn't they have to be hiking boots? I didn't bring my my hiking boots. Okay. Um they did have rubber boots that we could occasionally borrow for when we were doing, like when I was doing the uh, you know, up in quote unquote terra firma, uh which I think I put in the article as more more terra than firma. It did. It was very, very muddy. Uh it was helpful to have boots on some of those trips, but they did provide those.

SPEAKER_02 42:57

And uh your long sleeved shirts for the mosquitoes, and don't forget your binoculars. I guess that's another one if you want to.

SPEAKER_00 43:02

Don't forget the binoculars. Uh for for photography, you really are you can take pictures with your your cell phone, but you're really going to, if you're a photographer, want to have a zoom lens. But remember you're also shooting from a moving boat.

SPEAKER_02 43:18

Yes. Well, you've got some remarkably good photos considering there, Chris.

SPEAKER_00 43:22

Yes, but you should you know how you become twice as good a photographer?

SPEAKER_02 43:25

You take twice as many photos.

SPEAKER_00 43:27

Oh, because you take twice throw away half your photos before you show them to anybody.

SPEAKER_02 43:31

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 43:32

So in this case, I probably threw away 80% of the photos because I'm I'm zoomed way out at a bird in flight.

SPEAKER_02 43:40

Right.

SPEAKER_00 43:41

And so, you know, a lot of those photos didn't come out, and some of those photos are the best photos that I've ever taken. And it's in its range. Um but it was I was glad I had a uh camera with a good zoom lens. So I don't have a I didn't bring my SLR camera. Yeah, I actually have a sub SLR. LR with a built-in 60x uh auto video, sorry, um analog zoom. Um, so that's that was useful enough. But again, then you get into burst mode, you take a lot of pictures and you throw them away.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

Yeah, choose which one you want, absolutely. Well, I I always end the uh podcast with the the the same question, whether it's the UK podcast or whether it's a global travel podcaster. What is the one tip uh Chris you'd share with someone thinking about visiting the Peruvian Amazon for the first time?

Wildlife Highlights And Birding;

SPEAKER_00 44:28

It's it's easier than you think. That was the thing that I said on my podcast at the end, and I had somebody who wrote in who we decided she was there the same week that I was, and she was in that group in the the uh Radisson Red in Lima in Miraflores, going out on the Net Geo one. So we were there at the same time, and she said, I I had exactly the same impression. It was it was not as challenging as I thought it would be, and and great fun. I I thought it was I certainly highly recommend it for the for the right person.

SPEAKER_02 45:03

Well, it sounds exciting. I can't wait. I'll have to uh I'll have to come on. I can't come on your podcast and talk about it because you've already talked about it on your podcast, Chris. So um, but I will link to your podcast and I'll link to your article in the in the show notes. But as always, it's great to catch up with you, Chris. Yeah. Thanks for coming on and sharing your experience in the Peruvian Amazon.

SPEAKER_00 45:22

Well, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 45:25

Thanks again to Chris Christensen for joining me on the podcast and for sharing such a fascinating insight into the Peruvian Amazon. Now, if the Peruvian Amazon has been sitting in your one day maybe category for you, I hope this episode has shown just how achievable and rewarded it can be. So it's definitely somewhere I am uh hoping to get to next year. Now you'll find links to Chris's detailed article about the Peruvian Amazon and his amateur traveler podcast in the show notes at globaltravelplanning.com forward slash episode 89. So you can explore this destination further and dive into more of his travel stories. I've also shared some of his amazing photos from that trip as well in the show notes. Now, if you've enjoyed this episode, please make sure you're following the podcast and consider leaving us a review, please, in your favourite podcast app. It really does help more people find the show. And who knows, one day I might be as famous as Chris. Now, as always, thanks so much for listening and until next time, happy global travel planning! Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Global Travel Planning Podcast. For more details and links to everything we discussed today, check out the show notes at globaltravelplanning.com. Remember if you enjoyed the show, please consider leaving us a review on your favourite podcast app because your feedback helps us reach more travel enthusiasts just like you. Anyway, that leaves me to say, as always, happy global travel planning!