Three Weeks to the Amazon: What We’re Most Excited to See on Our Riverboat Journey
Discover what we’re most excited to experience on our Amazon Riverboat Adventure — Lima sights, Amazon wildlife, Indigenous culture, and the wonders of Pacaya Samiria.
Talitha Soldera
8/26/20264 min read
Photo by Mandy Choi through Unsplash
Our Amazon adventure is just three weeks away and the anticipation is building. In this post I’m sharing what we expect to see, experience and learn during our upcoming Amazon Riverboat Adventure in Peru – from Lima’s highlights to wildlife encounters deep in the Pacaya Samiria Reserve.
What You’ll Discover in This Post
How to get to the Peruvian Amazon from Canada
Highlights of Lima
The Amatista Riverboat
Local culture and community visits
Wildlife of the Amazon (birds, land animals, water animals, plants)
Getting to the Peruvian Amazon from Canada
Our adventure begins in Lima and getting there from the west coast of Canada is a journey in itself. There are a few different routes you can take. I always generate a list of available flights and then choose the option that offers me the best balance of duration and price. I don’t want it to take too long, but I also don’t want to pay too much.
For this trip, we’ll travel:
Vancouver to Montreal
Montreal to Bogota
Bogota to Lima.
It’s about 14 hours of flying time, broken into three relatively short flights with relatively short layovers; perfect for stretching our legs between segments.
Avoiding Jetlag
I am not great at sleeping on airplanes, so I always plan for a gentle landing day. Once we arrive, my routine is simple: hotel, nap, shower, meal, explore.
We arrive in Lima late in the morning, so after a rest and some lunch we’ll go for a stroll, enjoy dinner and head to bed early. By the next morning we’ll be fully adjusted to Lima time – no jet lag required.
Exploring Lima: One Day in Peru’s Capital
Lima, home to nearly 10 million people, is a vibrant mix of history, culture, and coastal beauty. With only one day to explore, we’ve chosen a guided city tour to make the most of our time.
Highlights include:
· Milaflores District –Lima’s historic centre
· Plaza San Martin – early 20th‑century square honouring José de San Martín
· Plaza de Armas – featuring a beautiful bronze fountain
· Basiilica of San Francisco –famous for its bone-lined catacombs
· Barranco – a bohemian neighbourhood with an eclectic mesh of past and present.
And of course, I’m excited to try the regional specialty; a Butifarra sandwich made from ground beef and pork mixed with spices. Sounds yummy!
Off to Iquitos and Boarding the Amatista Riverboat
After our day in Lima we fly to Iquitos, the gateway to the Peruvian Amazon. Iquitos is the largest city in the world that is not an island but also cannot be reached by road. There are approximately 450,000 people who call Iquitos home.
From there, we board our home for the week: G Adventures' Amatista Riverboat.
Capacity: 28 passengers
7 upper deck cabins + 7 lower deck cabins
Crew: 15
Naturalist guides: 2
This intimate riverboat will be our base as we explore the Amazon’s waterways, wildlife, and communities.
Local Communities of the Peruvian Amazon
Adventure travel to me is about more than landscapes — it’s about people. Over the week, we’ll visit several communities to learn about their traditions, daily life, and cultural heritage.
Our plans include:
Day 1: Visit a local community to learn about their traditions
Day 2: Explore Nauta, browse the market, and ride local motorcars
Later in the week: Share a midday meal with an Indigenous family
Cultural highlight: Meet a practicing shaman and learn about Amazonian plant‑based healing
I’ve always been fascinated by the role of medicinal plants in Amazonian culture, and hearing directly from a shaman will be a rare opportunity.
Wildlife of the Amazon: What We Hope to See
From our first day aboard the Amatista we will head out on motorized skiffs with expert naturalist guides. We will explore by day and even by night, taking night-time excursions to spot nocturnal wildlife.
Birds of the Amazon
On each excursion we will be on the lookout and listening for a wide variety of birds. With over 200 bird species in the Amazon we will be watching and listening for:
Parrots and macaws
Cocoi and striated herons
Kingfishers
Swallows and martins
Falcons
Black collared hawks
Cormorants
Wattled jacana
Land Animals
I’m secretly hoping to spot the glowing yellow eyes of a jaguar. Other possible sightings include:
Bats
Iguanas and other reptiles
Capybaras
Squirrel monkeys
Wooly monkeys
Sloths
There are 10 primate species in the Pacaya Samiria reserve, perhaps we will see them all!
Water Animals
The waterways are home to incredible aquatic life. We will be scanning the water to spot:
Turtles
Giant arapaima
Pink dolphins
Giant otters
Black caiman
Amazonian manatee.
We’ll even try piranha fishing, though I’m not sure I want to take one of those off the line.
One of the experiences I’m especially excited about is visiting the Amazonian Manatee Rescue Centre, which rehabilitates orphaned manatees and reintroduces them into the wild.
Cool Plants of the Amazon
The Amazon contains some of the world’s rarest and most unique plants. I am especially excited to see the Victoria regia water lily – a gigantic aquatic plant with leaves that measure up to 3 metres in diameter.
A Week Immersed in the Amazon
From day to night, water to land, lectures to community visits — every day will bring new discoveries. We’ll explore multiple areas of the Amazon, scanning the shoreline for wildlife and soaking in the sights, sounds, and scents of the rainforest.
Will a week be enough? I suspect it will leave us wanting more.
Next Stop: Machu Picchu
After our Amazon journey, we head to Machu Picchu. In upcoming posts, I’ll share why we chose to add this iconic landmark to our adventure and what we hope to see while we’re there.