An hour and half later, we arrived at the Explorama Lodge, on the north bank of the Amazon, opposite Isla Yanamono. This facility is only 50 miles above Iquitos, thus reducing by half the time needed to make our 10:30 AM flight the next morning. It is very similar to ACEER and ExplorNapo in construction, but is at least twice as large as the latter. Not only is there a bar in the Dining Hall, but another one in a separate building above the docks. In the latter building, a large number of souvenirs - blowguns, spears, canoe paddles, toucans and macaws carved of wood, etc. - are offered for sale. Although we were nearly the sole visitors at the other two facilities, here there were a fair number of other guests.
Our luggage arrived about lunch time. At 2 PM, Hardy, Jim and I took a large group hiking on the Bushmaster Trail. Here, we saw the only member of the Lobelioideae encountered on this trip, the Star-of-Bethlehem (Hippobroma longiflora), with its white tobacco-like flowers, which I had previously seen on Kaua'i and in the botanical garden at Berlin. Other plants of interest included Eucharis, a member of the Amaryllis Family (Amaryllidaceae) with white daffodil-like flowers; a Psychotria (Rubiaceae) in which each flower cluster was surrounded by huge bracts that looked like a pair of waxy red lips; a species of Melastomataceae with swollen leafstalks, in which lived colonies of very aggressive ants; Carpotroche, a member of the Flacourtiaceae with pale spiny fruits hanging on the trunk; a species of Gustavia (Lecythidaceae) with large bowl-like fruits; and a species of Gesneriaceae with bright orange "pregnant" flowers. Larry also captured a Red Dart Frog (Dendrobates reticulatus). We completed the loop and were back at the lodge by 4:30 PM.
Dinner at 7:30 PM featured beef stroganoff or a reasonable facsimile. Afterwards, a tapir (Tapirus terrestris) wandered out of the forest near the Dining Hall. The large pig-like quadruped attracted quite a crowd of onlookers. That evening, most of us hung out at the bar near the dock. There was a little band playing, and quite a number of people were dancing. It was about 10:30 PM when I turned in for the night.
It rained hard most of the night, but had largely quit by the time I awoke at 4:45 AM Saturday morning, 14 March. We had apple-cakes for breakfast, and departed by 5:50 AM. It took us over two hours to make the 50 miles upriver to Iquitos. The other boat developed mechanical difficulties and had to be succored by another boat; it was 9:15 AM before they arrived.
It took 20 minutes to drive out to the airport in the old wood-bodied Explorama Tours bus. Fortunately, the aircraft was late in arriving from Lima. We checked in at the Aeroperu counter, where I learned we would not be upgraded to first class on the return. Too bad! It would have really been appreciated after a week in the rainforest! I passed through Customs and Immigration with no problem, and was at the departure gate by 10:30 AM. While waiting, I purchased a decorative bottle of pisco (my souvenir) from a small shop there. It was 12:45 PM before we were airborne.
We were two hours behind schedule when we arrived back in the USA at Miami International Airport at 5:05 PM, which put a number of our group in a bind with connecting flights. Luckily, I was able to clear Immigration and Customs very quickly. I checked in with American Airlines just 40 minutes after arrival, and made it to the gate in plenty of time. When I got there, I telephoned Diane to let her know I was back.
The flight to Chicago took off at 6:50 PM, and arrived at O'Hare International Airport three hours later. Diane and Michael were there to meet me. They told me that I'd missed the biggest snowfall of the season: 10 inches had fallen on Monday, closing school. It looked as though I'd picked a very good time to spend a week in the rainforest!