We've turned on the afterburners these past couple of days--two days of paddling, to be precise--and we've made it 72 miles down the river in that short time. The heat and sun have been brutal and unrelenting, and our Peruvian guides must be wondering why the white folks in our group seem to wilt and turn funny shades of pink and brown in the afternoon rays.

There are a number of reasons for the sudden change of pace. Every day, the Samiria River becomes wider, deeper and faster-moving as it marches toward its confluence with the Maranon River and eventually the Amazon River itself. The Samiria now carries more silt and is more difficult for us to purify into drinking water. Also, animal sightings are less frequent than they were a week ago. Most animals seem to prefer narrow river channels and secluded backwater areas of flooded forest to the main river channel, where human traffic increases with every passing day.

Finally, you (the students) decided last week that we should skip some of the local villages we'll be passing soon and keep looking for animals. Although we were all a little disappointed that we wouldn't be able to stop at these villages and meet the local people, we're still excited to hunt for more animals, especially ones we haven't seen yet (the anaconda, tapir, crocodile, ocelot and jaguar, to mention a few on my list).

Because of these factors, we've decided to finish up the Samiria River as fast as we can and head up to Lake El Dorado--the headwaters of the Yanayacu River and the starting point of the second leg of our trip. Lake El Dorado is said to be teeming with all kinds of wildlife and fish, including the mighty arapaima fish, which can grow to be 10 feet long and weigh 330 pounds! Everyone in the group, except Ruben, is excited see Lake El Dorado. (Ruben suffered a bout of typhoid fever last time he was there after eating a tainted salad.)

Anyway, the past two days have amounted to lots of paddling and sunburn, but there were a few highlights:

Warren identified a leafy vine he saw at the side of the river as cat's claw (of the Uncaria genus), a medicinal plant used as an anti-inflammatory agent. He said you can peel the bark from the tree, boil it in water for a few minutes and then drink the resulting elixir. Ruben said cat's claw is also available at the GNC in Lima and possibly in the US as well!

Perhaps as a result of the hot sun, we spotted a large lizard (from the Teiidae family), a Project Peru first. The lizard was extremely well camouflaged, but we could see its tail dangling off the side of a brown log. We watched the lizard and snapped photos for almost 20 minutes, but we never saw it move an inch the whole time.

We also checked in on an old man who was constructing three dugout canoes. Check out this update's People of Peru and Video Clip for more details!

High temperature - 94 F

Miles traveled in the past two days - 72 miles

Inches of rain in the past two days - trace