18 August: Llanalpa and Dorado River – Piranha and Cayman

Forest hike in Llanalpa trail (did I skip that for a sleep-in?)

Steamed off for the Dorado River.

Had a cooking class by the ship’s chef: preparation of the local dish “juanes”, which was a mixture of rice and spices with a peeled, boiled egg, wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed (or perhaps baked, I can’t remember).  Had them (prepared by the chef, not us!) for lunch.

Deniz gave a good talk about the people of the vilages along the amazon, in particular how the programs that support the women’s crafts were helping to bring in hard currency and cut down on domestic violence.

Then we skiffed up the Dorado river, where we met some locals who were dealing with a haul of piranha that had died in an algal bloom (we supposed).

As night fell, we spotlighted for Cayman (and anything else).

Back at the boat we discovered that the crew had decorated our cabin for my birthday, and had baked me a birthday cake.  Thanks Delfin-2 guys!