Dawn on the Amazon Captains Log

Friends, I am in Iquitos Peru again. I have not posted in a while, but now I am back and ready to write. I have done a lot since my last post, but not for the Captains Log.

The Amazon riverboat Dawn on the Amazon I, has been redesigned, longer and wider, with better balance. A large aluminum gas tank was added to the bow for better balance and efficiency. One of the best boats in Iquitos Peru has been improved. The Dawn on the Amazon crew have been busy.

I have been enjoying a visit from my son. Matt has guided a day trip and helped on two Amazon cruises. We cruised to Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve, and later we went to Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. This was his second visit to Iquitos Peru, and we enjoyed each others company a lot.

Do you know about the Amazon Golf Course in Iquitos Peru?

The Amazon Golf Course is the only golf course in the upper Amazon in Peru. It has been under construction off and on over the last 4 years. I have been working on the web site. That has taken a lot of my time that I could have used posting here. I will tell you about the details in a later post.

My fiancée Marmelita and I work too much. We took the afternoon off in the middle of the week to go swimming and relax. The pool at La Casa Fitzcarraldo is one of the best swimming pools in Iquitos Peru. The house is historically significant as the place the director, executive producer, the actors and crew that filmed the movie Fitzcarraldo used as their base of operations. Marmelita and I lived there for several months. I will post some of that story later here in the Captains Log.

It is a pleasure to be in Iquitos Peru.

Thanks for your attention.

Bill Grimes

Iquitos Peru

Dawn on the Amazon

Hello my fellow travellers. I am sure many of you are looking for a new travel experience. Let me share this adventure story about an Amazon cruise from Iquitos, down the Amazon River to Santa Rosa Peru, last stop before crossing over into Columbia and Brazil.

Fortunately for me, a family of Polish adventurers chose Dawn on the Amazon III to carry them on an Amazon cruise for one segment of their "Amazon Challenge". Their adventure began in the Andes Mountains of Peru, at a place considered by some, including the Geographic Society of Lima, to be the source of the Amazon River, and ended at the Atlantic Ocean, over 4,000 miles down stream.

They hired me to guide them to interesting, photogenic locations along our Amazon cruise to Santa Rosa. They were documenting the Amazon Challenge with professional quality photography and semi professional video equipment, with the idea of recording and promoting them selves, possibly for a book titled, you guessed it, The Amazon Challenge. They each bought two Dawn on the Amazon T-shirts to go with their several Amazon Challenge T-shirts. I hope at least one photo with my T-shirts makes it into the book.

We had a good time at a little place I know called Los Boas, photographing them holding a twenty foot anaconda, and a spectacular red-tailed boa, with a macaw on their shoulders. I am smiling thinking about that photo in their book.

Another good photo scene was Monkey Island, where semi-wild pet monkeys swing down out of the trees to get their pictures taken, and to smear fruit pulp on the cameras.

We saw fresh water pink river dolphins, fishermen casting nets, a beautiful dawn on the Amazon, and sunsets. They captured dozens of photos of tropical birds. An Amazon cruise presents countless opportunities to practice the photographer's art.

One of my favorite stops was the village of Pevas at the confluence of the Ampiyacu and Amazon Rivers. Our famous Amazon artist Francisco Grippa lives and works in Pevas. Francisco is a charming host, and entertained with great conversation while touring his gallery and studio. He has built an observation tower with an inspirational view of the surrounding jungle, river, and village.

A little farther downstream the Ocaina indigenous performed their traditional dances in costume, and showed us some of how they preserve their culture.

We entered a small river to stop at a ribereño village. Our guests enjoyed jumping from the observation deck into the river for a swim. The youngest boy must have jumped twenty five times.

Then we caught several small piranhas in the very same place we swam.

Then we set out for Santa Rosa. We wanted to arrive in time to take part in the Fiesta de la Confraternidad. We lived on the boat for three days, at Santa Rosa, crossing back and forth to play at the fiesta. It is a spectacular annual festival that presents the best of each countries ethno-culture, including dug out canoe races and other sports, folk-lore, cuisine, a beauty contest, art, music, dancing. The Brazilian beauty won.

The day after the grand finale we escorted our guests to Tabatinga Brazil, where they made plans to continue the Amazon Challenge. We went shopping for a few duty free items, took on some supplies and cast off for the second half of our Amazon cruise back upstream to Iquitos. When we arrived three days later we had covered 1073 kilometers.

There is so much I have not told you about our Amazon cruise to Santa Rosa and back. If you would like to read a more complete account of this adventure story, please click this link, An Amazon Cruise from Iquitos Peru to a Festival at the Frontier.

Dawn on the Amazon

Hello my fellow travellers. I know many of you are wondering what your next travel adventure will be. Let me share this news with you about the Great River Amazon Raft Race. It may be your next big adventure that you did not even know about until now. This sounds like the equivalent of a tropical Iditarad. The longest raft race in the world on the largest river in the world got my attention, but wait till you hear this. The rafts are made of balsa logs that you build yourself, tying the logs together with jungle vines like the Amazon natives have done for a thousand years. The paddles are carved with machetes from a Remo Caspi tree, which means paddle tree, because the wood is strong but light, the best wood for paddles, the same wood the Amazon natives have used for 1000 years.

The Great River Amazon Raft Race is like going back in time to a way of life that no longer exists in the civilized world. Sixty teams of four persons will be taken upstream beyond the headwaters of the Amazon River and dumped off at a small, ribereño village on the Marañon River to construct their rafts. Sounds like Survivor, only better. If you think things are too civilized and you want to disconnect and unplug for a week, this could be for you.

The length of the race will depend on water levels. High water opens up the possibility of more short cuts, if the water is lower the rafts will have to stay in the channel more. If the water is lower the race could be 133 miles, if it is higher the race could be 118 miles. Either way it is the longest raft race in the world. The race is divided into three days with the total time of all three days to determine placement. The finish line is in Iquitos Peru.

Iquitos is famous for having no roads connecting it to any other city, and as the jumping off point for Amazon adventures. The Great River Amazon Raft Race is one of the biggest adventures available for you to choose.

The 10th annual Great River Amazon Raft Race is organized by the Amazon Rafting Club, in Iquitos Peru and will be held September 20th to September 22nd 2008. You must be in Iquitos on September 19th for the orientation meeting. The motto of the Great River Amazon Raft Race is, "The faint of heart need not apply", which I think describes the degree of difficulty very well.

The official blog site of the Amazon Rafting Club is The Great River Amazon Raft Race Blog

If you would like more information about this great raft race either leave a comment below or on the raft race blog site above. It can be difficult to get a 4 person crew together but the Amazon Rafting Club always has one or two persons wanting to join a team so they can probably hook you up with other people wanting to participate.

Several teams have already signed up, including the Brotherhood and Sisterhood from the UK. They are groups of adventurous young men and women that use exotic adventurous settings to promote sponsors into donating large amounts of money to their favorite charitable foundations, usually to help disadvantaged children. They recently paddled dragon boats across the English Channel for publicity and charity. Every year this race gets bigger and better. I hope you will decide to be part of this 10th year anniversary.

The photo above is of The Over the Hill Gang, led by 74 years old Mort Caplan, seen celebrating being the oldest person to finish the Great River Amazon Raft Race by enthusiastically chugging a large Iquiteñan beer.

If the Great River Amazon Raft Race seems interesting to you, please tell your friends and use the social bookmark icons below this article. A StumbleUpon, a del.icio.us, a Reddit, a Digg can bring hundreds of new readers to Travellerspoint, and to this article, The Great River Amazon Raft Race, Your Next Big Adventure.

I hope you will check back with me. I will be writing more on the Great River Amazon Raft Race, and articles about my other adventures on the Amazon River and the rainforest. Thank you for your consideration, Bill

Dawn on the Amazon

Digital art by my son Matt Grimes

My favorite place to enjoy a great steak in Iquitos Peru is La Querencia Parrillada, located on the first block of Napo # 138, a half block towards the river from the Plaza de Armas. The phone number is 225785. English menus are available on request.

I always order the small (250 gr.) Lomo Fino, (beef tenderloin), with perfect french fries and a heart of palm with tomatoes and cucumber salad, for S/20 (less than $6.75). I prefer my steaks medium rare, but here I order medium and it comes out perfect for me.

They serve an excellent half bottle of Peruvian reserve red wine (vino tinto) for another S/20, or a house wine by the glass for S/6.

La Querencia offers a choice of four of the best homemade table sauces in Iquitos. My favorite sauce for the steak is the fresh basil, fresh oregano, sweet pepper and garlic in a small amount of olive oil. On the French fries I enjoy the tomato, chive, spicy pepper sauce. The sauce that looks like it might be homemade mustard is hot, be careful.

The last time I ate at La Querencia, I was the only gringo among 18 customers, the time before that I was the only gringo among 25 customers. After my meal I always go to the kitchen counter and tip the chef one or two soles. He seems to appreciate the compliment.

Most people would consider the steak, French fries, and sauces at La Querencia to be excellent in any city or country. I am pleased to give it my highest recommendation.

What is your favorite restaurant to eat steak in Iquitos Peru?

Dawn on the Amazon