The road to Guacamaya took us through some of the most spectacular jungle we have ever driven through. The wide valley below us was cultivated, every inch covered in a different colour of green. Above us the cliffs became almost vertical but were dripping with an astounding variety of vegetation…palms, vines, plants with leaves the size of beach umbrellas… At one point I looked below us to see a scarlet macaw soaring, silhouetted against the vibrant green of the valley below. It was breath taking. And we only have theses pictures, as we had an epic dash cam fail that day…very disappointed. I didn’t take photos in the most pristine places we drove through, foolishly relying on the dash cam, so these photos really do not do it justice, but it gives you a bit of an idea of what we were seeing.
Near Guacamaya there is a scarlet macaw reserve, and you can take a river cruise in the mornings to spot macaws and other wildlife (we didn’t because we had a river cruise to the ruins at Yaxchilan coming up). It was at the campsite here that we heard our first howler monkeys of the trip…be sure to have your volume turned up.
We visited a nearby resort for a beer in their gardens by the river, and then, on the advice of one of the workers, went to see some macaws that they have in a large caged enclosure. When we got there, we could see 5 or 6 wild howler monkeys in the branches of a nearby tree. I had been waiting for the moment when Piper would first see monkeys on this trip. What would be her reaction to these small, thumbed creatures. Well, turns out she was more interested in the jungle venados (small deer from the region) that were in another nearby enclosure. Some of the monkeys broke off small branches from the tree and threw them down at Piper, but even that didn’t tear her attention away from the one buck that was having a stare off with her. Eventually the deer wandered away, and Piper did glance up a few times at the monkeys, and she even chewed on one of the sticks they threw to her, but for the most part she was pretty non-plussed by their presence.
Toucan
A group of howler monkeys I saw on a morning walk.
The rainforest across the river from our camp.
Wild scarlet macaws that were making quite a ruckus.
We heard howlers all throughout the day and night, saw scarlet macaws and toucans and a variety of other birds. We didn’t do the river cruise, but I had read that someone on a past cruise had seen a jaguar….welcome to the jungle (and yes, the song by Guns and Roses has gone through our heads a few times already on this trip)!