How to explore the rain forests of Amazonia !

                       The route taken by the Amatista

I am an ORIGINAL Amatista Indian. There has never been one before me as attested by the Captain of the ship and by the two guides. I was the first one they have ever seen… they were always amused when I would tell a local Amazon Indian that I too was an Indian, but from a few bus stops away - they had never heard of India anyway!  Regrettably, I have to admit that there was one more – my friend ABL. The other was a PIO (person of Indian origin) and not an Indian resident so she does not count. If this article creates a tribe of Amatista Indians, I shall be delighted – my article on the Tiger Temple near Kanchanapuri resulted in over 60 of my own friends with their families visiting it…. No idea how many more went who were unknown to me. So, lets not digress and more on the Amazon’s Amatista.

A prologue: Whilst I met many individuals and had personal chats, I have to restrict my comments to ensure their privacy. Hence you will get only snippets to give you an idea of each of these interesting personalities. This article is dedicated to three people - details at the end.

The other Amatistans  – I am not a groupie – this must be the 3^rd or 4^th time in six decades that I have gone with a group. My first experience was my Overland Expedition to India from London in 1967 which took 9 weeks. Great fun but taxing; one can never do it today. I shall get around to writing about it some day.

We were given a briefing by a local guide at Lima. About half the group was present at 5.30pm that evening. We were asked to be ready at 5.00 am. At breakfast at 4.30am, I had seen a few floating around. Though ready, I went down ten minutes after 5.00 am as I could not believe that people would be ready at that unearthly hour. I was really embarrassed as every person in the group was present – just waiting for me. I never realized that such travelers are so punctual. It was a lesson well learnt for the many excursions to follow.

The Crew – the ship has 11 crew members – the Captain, his #2 ( a very quiet man who spent a lot of time steering the ship), the Chef and his assistant, the two skiff drivers, the 3 stewards, and two others.

Capt John Rabarossi – has sailed on the river for 34 years. He knows it’s every whim and mood. He has 11 kids of whom #3 was one of the very competent skiff driver and general helper. The Capt has 31 grandchildren – so that’s why I presume he is such a happy man, always smiling. Unfortunately he spoke no English so our conversations were limited.

The Amatista is a warm friendly ship - It resembles a riverboat from the last century but that is a façade. It is entirely constructed in wood and painted in pleasant yellow, green and greyish colours. It has 15 impeccable dark varnished wooden cabins which can take 30 pax, excellent air conditioning, large windows (especially in the dining room) and an observation deck giving a 360 degree view all around you. The bedrooms are large and comfortable, the bed springs could be better (I like a hard bed) and there is enough storage space. Each room has its own good sized bathroom. The room steward made up the beds each day with a towel design varying daily. Clean sheets and towels replaced as needed. The ship has no anchor,  so at night, it just gently lands up ashore; it reverses each morning without any problem. The engines made no noise so one heard only the silent hum of the AC at night. We had two sessions of laundry, at no cost to us.The ship is owned by a Peruvian company and chartered out to various travel companies. We went through G Adventures, whom ABL had discovered.

We used this deck quite often

The group consisted of : Thomas, a Finance guy from NY and his lady friend Sonya; Justin from Toronto with his wife Li and his mom in law Mei - a Chinese family from Canada who kept mainly to themselves.  Melanie and Chris from Auckland, inveterate travelers, had decided to use their childrens’ inheritance seeing the world. I like that. They had just come from Galapagos and were doing a back to back tour with the same company. Brooke and her son Brady were from Abilene, Texas. It was Brady’s first foreign trip and I admire him – only 16 years old, in the pitch darkness of a night excursion, Brady volunteered when Huber asked someone to hold onto a 3 ft long cayman which had to be handed over to Robinson. No questions about how long and why. We all wondered as the skiff went full out (35 mph) trying to find Robinson. Time passed by. I am sure his mother must have had the same thought as all of us – where is that other skiff ? Eventually, after 15 minutes or so, they were sighted and the cayman handed over. Brady – not a sign of tension or being scared. A true Texan child. Philip from Frankfurt had just finished his studies and was taking a long break of three months, travelling thru other South American countries before arriving here and then moving onto the American west coast to drive from San Diego to Seattle. His very pretty friend Leonie had just finished her English studies and was accompanying him. 

 Carolla, from New Jersey but originally from Berlin, is an amazing lady. Another world traveller, with her son Gregory, she may look as if she may need some help but I never saw it. She was gutsy – she walked in the jungle and even swam in the Amazon with a small group of us. She runs an ice skating rink in New Jersey and I was surprised to learn that many Koreans and Indians are her customers.  Gregory is an entrepreneur and builder in Colorado area and I learnt some very useful insights on how the American building industry works. Audrey and Michelle, a mother – daughter team, were from San Jose. The mother, a teacher, was on her first trip abroad and the daughter is a computer geek. They were going on to Machu Pichu with the same company after this trip. Sylvia is an American teacher now living in Equador - a very quiet type who listened rather than spoke about herself. Then we had the two extraordinary ladies, Deepti and Ting – a pair of conjoined twins – one Chinese and one Indian origin – both living in Canada. They had never met before but got on so well, at times they had to be told to stop talking / giggling as the wildlife was getting disturbed and we could not see anything…. The guides and co-pax were far too polite so I was the fall guy. I had no qualms telling them the rules of the game as after all we were there for an Amazon experience.

Finally, there was Commodore A B L Gupta, Indian Navy (Retd.) who has already undertaken 5 trips this year to various jungle camps in India and surrounds. He is fitter than me, insists on doing everything himself including lifting his own bag. Oh, did I forget to tell you – he is 79 years young. If I can be as fit as him, at that age, it will surely be a miracle.  

The kitchen    It was a team of two, officially at least, who created the considerable amount of food for us and the crew. Going on excursions and when returning, we could see them busy at work in the kitchen. I went for a quick look see between meals and was really surprised at how clean it was. The chefs were busy preparing a meal, yet again.

The dining room – always impeccable with starched white table cloths and cloth napkins. Cutlery laid out, always clean and spotless.  Here and elsewhere, the ship served coffee and tea and water - available 24 hours free of cost.

This is where the CEO’s would give us our daily briefing after each meal. Every meal was filling but not necessarily as per Indian taste buds. I understood this as they cater to Americans. They gave me a Peruvian chilli which looks like a small yellow cherry to try out. It was a killer…luckily I just took a rub of it on my fork and not a piece.  ABL, a strict veggie, was given a veg dish each meal. He ate more than I did! Each meal would have bread, a starter, soup, fruits, salad, one meat, one fish , one vegetable, rice or noodles. Dessert was varied each time but often ice cream with something… fruit, jelly etc. They had tabasco but I really missed the chilly flakes (used with pizzas) or my garlic chilly paste!The first two days I was last in the queue for the meals and found the food cold as the AC made the chafing dishes cool. Then on, I learnt and was always first to ensure a hot meal

Robinson and Huber had a very good routine. They were the teachers and we were the students. Each session, they would greet us in Spanish and we would reply in Spanish. Then they would ask ‘How are you’, in Spanish and we would reply, in chorus ‘Muy Bien’. Then we would be told the briefing for the morning, afternoon or evening/next day, as the case may be. Then we would thank each other again in Spanish. We could not be told the routine in advance for two reasons – one was the weather conditions which dictated whether we could do an excursion or not. The other, I guess, was that this way, they kept the group together and had no absentees or repeat questions on the excursion.    

The Guides or CEO’s – our Chief Experience Officers.

This is a photo only

Robinson – age around 43 years, married. He is from the Cloud Forest country, from the high Andes mountain area. I don’t know whether Robinson is his real name or a nom-de-plume for his English clients. He is around 5’5”. Huber often cracked jokes about him but Robinson has a wonderful sense of humour. His motto is Never say No -  important especially when dealing with the Indians on the river who want him to bring groups to their villages to encourage purchases from the locals. He has to be careful as they can be negative and stop the groups from going upriver. He has to tackle clients too, as they may want to do something which can endanger them so he has to be firm. Most important, he has to ensure that the group moves on time every time to keep to the schedules. That in itself is difficult but admirably achieved thru humour and stressing the jungle experience which no one wants to miss.  

Huber holding a  catfish caught by him 

Huber – 
pronounced with stress on second syllable. He is a Yagua tribesman around 35 years old and his village, Diamante Azul or Blue Diamond, is 3 ½ days from Iquitos on the River Napo. His family still uses blow guns and darts to catch animals. He came to Iquitos age 11 and joined the Air force at age 16  to get an education. His University educated wife teaches literature at a school in Iquitos. He has 2 boys and a girl. Huber is very knowledgeable about jungle life and his eyesight and reflexes are extraordinary. I will write about his catching, in total darkness, a Cayman with his hands in my next article. Travelling in the moving skiff, he would instantly see a bird, a sloth or something of interest for us. He was patient. He explained, repeatedly if needed. He had his handbook of birds to show us the zoological name and photograph of what we were seeing. He took photographs for us from our cameras when needed. Unlike Robinson, who was always talking about the Amazon, Huber was a silent sort. He stayed at the top of the skiff, scanning the horizon. That’s my memory of him… always alert. At the end of the trip, on the last afternoon, he did a wonderful recap for us of where we had been, what we had seen, listed every bird and animal seen, and related in depth the history of the area, its peoples, its customs, its traditions and its future.
The daily regime -
This was meant to be a holiday – slight correction – it did not mean one slept late! Our  excursion were early as we were to catch the animals at their convenience. This often meant a 6 am departure, breakfast on return! Usually there was an excursion in the mornings, after breakfast, then lunch followed by a much needed siesta. Timings varied but generally by 4.30 pm, we were out for another excursion. Music performed by our fantastically talented stewards was at 6.30pm for an hour followed by dinner. Then we were free. However, we also had a night excursion and Huber’s super geography lesson. 

We were taken on the skiffs – I never understood how the drivers could navigate at night, without any light or equipment through the river’s tributaries, through dense undergrowth often 5ft high. Twice in driving rain, wearing the green thick capes which made us look like a brotherhood of monks, with bent necks to avoid the rain, we would go at speed homeward. The drivers knew the way, each time. It was awesome, especially when they traced fauna in darkness or way up on top of some tree, a few hundred feet away. But we were safe as the guides had radio walkie talkie sets.  
I quote someone “As the boats go into the reserve the landscape begins to unfold as if it were designed by brilliant and restless landscapers. Gigantic thousand year old trees, aquatic plants, flowers and vines, they coexist in perfect and beautiful balance with the diverse local fauna. The perception of that balance produced a constant and intense emotion”. I could not have expressed it better.
I would write my notes in the dining room after dinner and see the stewards laying out the tables well past 10.30pm as they had lots to do. As I said, it was a tight ship – the crew were multi-taskers.

The three stewards - 

Edgar: a Cocama Indian, 41 years, he has worked on this ship since 1999. Learnt his English interacting with passengers and even now, whenever he did not know a word, he would make us repeat and thus learn. From Iquitos where his wife works in tourism. He is Bar tender and waiter on board.

Luis: of Brazilian extraction, 28 years. Has secondary education and knows computers. Lives in Iquitos. Unmarried. A practicing Catholic. Just began on the ship a few months ago.

Herbert: 31 years old, of Equadorian – Ucayali parentage. Catholic. Married with a girl of 8 and a boy of 4. he studied music  in university and plays 5 instruments. Used to play professionally in local bands but prefers a steady job.  

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So the trip progressed. Details of what we saw, the excursion to feed / touch manatees, catch piranhas and escaping a rain storm, my swim with pink dolphins and the exciting jungle walk – that I’m afraid will have to wait for the articles on the Amazon River itself, as this is about the Amatistans – crew and participants. The map at the very beginning is only to show you the path the Amatista took us down the river.

We had berthed just outside Iquitos the previous evening, I presume to avoid dock fees etc, and came into the port well in time next morning. The last evening, ended with a grand finale when the CEO’s introduced the whole crew, and each of them gave us our Certificate of Participation – a proud moment for each of us, crew and participant. Singing Auld Lang Sine and other songs, Robinson had us all caught in a sentimental moment of time. Next day, it was all business as usual – by 6.30am bags to the loading deck and exit from ship by 8.00am, bidding goodbyes to the crew. Back to our daily humdrum routine….. ABL and I went to Lima for a 2 days to explore Miraflores and then the Everglades and Kennedy Space Centre … but that, as they say, is another story.

               Our Certificate of Participation 

       An evening sky over the Amazon river - the cloud formations were awesome!

                                                  Fare thee well, my friend.

This article is dedicated to Cmde A B L Gupta, Robinson and Huber for making my trip an amazing adventure.
I would never have gone to the Amazon were it not for ABL who agreed to have me as a travelling companion - sharing a cabin too.  A bold decision considering that we had met only once before in May 2014 at Tadoba Tiger Reserve, near Nagpur. He was the epitome of courtesy and politeness – in Florida, after an hour of listening to my favourite CD of Quarr Abbey’s Gregorian chants, he “suggested” that perhaps we could change the music!  In return, as he was adamant on seeing the Everglades and Kennedy Space Centre, I joined him, driving 1,290 miles across Florida, thereby spending 14 days together. He deserves praise. As a vegetarian not once did he complain; whilst I was often hungry and grumpy as the food was simply bland or oily. I am sure that he accepted my idiosyncrasies without due thought as a means to survive.
Robinson and Huber – Ying and Yang - who wonderfully complement each other. They were patient, attentive to the slightest need and requirement of each member of the group. They are true native Indians, proud of their heritage. They love the forest and ensure that they spread their knowledge on looking after the Amazon rain forest and its species amongst the tribes, the children and various communities. May they always be successful and happy in their lives. 
Thank you for making it a trip of a lifetime for me. 

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