Screamer – which, according to our guides, “sounds like a donkey, walks like a duck and tastes like a chicken” – before we saw it. We spied on a pair of affectionate parakeets and
watched a black-collared hawk survey its terrain. Languid white egrets perched immobile on tree stumps, while blue and yellow macaws took um- brage at our intrusion and burst noisily into the air in a flash of colour, long tails streaming behind them. But it wasn’t just about birds. Our guides – all locals – had a knack of seeing the unseeable and were adept at spotting elusive mammals. Some of them were sons of hunters and – unlike their guests – could survive in the jungle with just a machete, a mosquito net, matches and salt.
One morning, we had barely left the boat when we were greeted by a pod of curious pink river dolphin. They surfaced briefly, showing a burst of pale pink skin, before disappearing back into the murky depths by the time everyone had grabbed their cameras.
shadow was in fact a somnolent three-toed sloth ly- ing supine on its twig bed, drunk on alkaloids from the secropia tree. Squirrel monkeys swung deftly from tree to tree along branches festooned with weaver bird’s pendulous nests. One morning we went piranha fishing, tempting them with chunks of chicken. We examined the sharp teeth of the strangely beautiful yellow-orange fish, holding them at arm’s length for the obligatory
I
ridescent blue morpho flitted and darted around us as we disturbed fresh-water turtles basking on a log. I was amazed when, what I thought was a
photo before throwing them back into the river. Each foray from the ship brought new delights but, between excursions, the naturalist guides gave informative and entertaining talks on everything from wildlife to conservation. We learned there are a staggering 200 fish species, 500 bird species and 150 different reptiles and amphibians in the Amazon. There was time for a restorative siesta, too. I even discovered how to make that Peruvian
staple ceviche – raw fish ‘cooked’ in lime juice and served in a tangy sauce known as tiger’s milk – and a Pisco Sour, the country’s favourite
PERU’S SUPER-FOODS Much of the produce we take for granted today, including potatoes, tomatoes, chillis and the Incan super-food, quinoa, are native to Peru. The country is blessed with a geographical mix of mountains, rivers, coast and jungle and a multitude of microclimates that have given its cuisine a diversity few countries can match. Some 623 fruits have been catalogued in Peru, of which 507 are found in the Amazon.
Endemic fruits include scarlet camu camu (a cherry-sized fruit that, by weight, contains 30 times more vitamin C than an orange), cocona (a citrus fruit related to the tomato), plantains and aguaje (an edible fruit from a native palm with high levels of Vitamin A). Common fish include paiche, which can weigh up to 450lbs and is known as ‘the king of the Amazon’; catfish, which appears in ceviche and chowder; and miniscule river shrimp. Other typical dishes include heart of palm salad, juanes (rice dough and chicken wrapped and steamed in banana leaves), tacacho (mashed green, roasted bananas with fried pork rinds) and cecina (dry salted pork).
Autumn 2013 I WORLD OF CRUISING 61
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