The Amazon River is fed by a maze of tributaries that provide a massive amount of water. During the wet season, the mouth of the Amazon dumps a mind blowing 82,286,000 gal/s. Yes you read that right… Gallons per second!!

We will be headed up one of these tributaries, the Rio Nanay.

For more about this amazing river system and the ecosystem that centers around it, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_River

The Amazon River starts in the Andes Mountains in Peru, and flows about 4,000 miles east across South America.

Iquitos, Peru is 1,865 miles from the mouth of the river, and large freight vessels are able to reach this important port. As a result, Iquitos is the largest city in the world that is not reachable by road. This is where we will board the riverboat.

This is a map of Peru showing Iquitos, Machu Picchu, and Cusco.

On Saturday, August 11th, we will fly from Los Angeles to Lima, Peru.  We get into Lima around midnight, and have a flight up to Iquitos at around 6am.  Sunday morning we will go from the airport in Iquitos, and head out to the boat.  On the river boat we will hit various fish collecting spots and stop in at many of the local villages along the Rio Nanay.

The fish we catch will be housed on the boat in aerated tanks, so we can take them to an exporter at the end of the week.  After we get back the US, the exporter will ship all of the fish to an importer in Miami, who will then ship the fish back to Los Angeles for us to put them in our aquariums.

On Sunday, August 19th, we will fly from Iquitos to Lima, and then from Lima to Cusco (Cuzco).  Cusco is the departure point for expeditions to Machu Picchu.  To get to Machu Picchu you take a train to the village of Aguas Calientes, which is at the base of Machu Picchu.  We will stay over night in Cusco Sunday, and head up to Aguas Calientes the next morning (Monday 8/20).

Tuesday (8/21) will be be up before the crack of dawn to see the sun rise over Machu Picchu. Wednesday we plan to hike one the nearby peaks that overlook Machu Picchu.  There are two options, and the final decision is TBD.

Thursday (8/22) we will take the train from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytamo in the Sacred Valley.  Our train leaves around 5am, and we are hoping to make the local market that happens every Thursday.  We will spend Thursday and Friday touring the Sacred Valley and surrounding Inca ruins.

Saturday (8/25) we have transportation from Ollantaytambo back to Cusco, where we are staying near the Plaza de Armas.  We will look around Cusco on Saturday, and then head out to the airport early Sunday morning.