I had always wanted to visit the Amazon and this was the perfect way to do it. It is an excellent ship, great guides and wonderful flora and fauna. We also visited villages and learned about life on the Amazon. The most amazing thing was seeing the river at just under high water and being able to explore the area by skiff. It was hard to imagine that it all be dry land in a few months. The bird life was plentiful and we saw monkeys, sloths, bats, snakes, lizards dolphins. We had daily skin explorations, swam in the Amazon, kayaked on some of the tributaries, went on several hikes in the jungle, visited a Shaman and a village where we learned about interesting enrichment project to empower women. Many of our guides were from the area and brought their knowledge and affection for the area to all of us. Each evening we had a talk on the history and culture of the area as well as its natural history.

The food was plentiful and reflected local cuisine. We had a fun pre boarding lunch in Iquitos on a floating restaurant - yummy food - and visited a manatee rescue facility on the way back to the plane to Lima.

It was a great experience.