Announcer: Welcome to "Joseph Rosendo's Travelscope," Whoo-hoo!

Where you join us as we accept the world's invitation to visit.

Both: Santé!

[Cheering] Rosendo, voice-over: Today on "Travelscope," I explore the Peruvian Amazon.

From river towns and villages to jungles and rainforests.

In celebration of culture and nature.

Announcer: "Joseph Rosendo's Travelscope" is made possible by... Emerald Waterways.

It's been said that if experience is the best teacher, then travel is the best experience.

River cruising seeks to immerse travelers deep within a culture while moving gently through it.

With Emerald Plus, in-depth cultural experiences are included on every European cruise.

Emerald Waterways.

And No-Jet-Lag-- jet lag prevention.

Rosendo, voice-over: The Amazon.

The name alone is synonymous with adventure.

The river is more than 4,000 miles, and one of the world's longest, and the river basin stretches into 8 countries.

I began my Amazon adventure in the port town of Iquitos, Peru, the world's largest city unreachable by road.

One of Iquitos's 4 neighborhoods, Belen has been called the Venice of Latin America, because of the watery streets that run between the people's homes, which are either built on stilts over, or on rafts that float on, the Rio Itaya, which is one of the tributaries of the Amazon River.

More than 70,000 people live here, most without electricity, clean water, or modern sanitation.

And yet in spite of their hard times and trials and tribulations, they continue to maintain a great spirit and a joy of life.

Aah!

[Speaking Spanish] [Woman laughs] [Both speaking Spanish] Rosendo: There's so many different kinds of fish here.

I understand there's thousands of species of fish in the river here.

That's what they tell me.

[Laughter] The raucous 20-block-long Belen Market is the center of life, not just for Iquitos, but for the hundreds of nearby river communities.

For these people, if you can't find it here, you don't need it.

In the many, many stalls here, you'll find not only the bounty of the Amazon but stuff from all over Peru.

It is a true super market.

These are called suris.

Larvae from the beetles.

Like everything, like everything here in the Belen market, this is food, and here it is roasted, ready to eat.

You know, my grandfather was a cigar maker, and this looks like cigars or cigarettes to me.

Cien.

100 cigars.

Two bucks.

[Speaking Spanish] [Man speaking Spanish] 3,000.

He rolls 3,000 a day.

My grandfather would've loved him.

[Playing traditional music] [People chanting] [Laughter] [Crowd cheering] Gracias.

Rosendo: There must be 25,000 motor taxis or motor cars in the city of Iquitos.

And from the Belen Market to the Plaza de Armas to the airport, they can get you wherever you want to go very inexpensively, and although your safety is only somewhat guaranteed, they're certainly a lot of fun.

Founded in 1757 by the Spanish Jesuits, Iquitos has had its economic ups and downs.

During the rubber booms of the 19th and 20th centuries, Iquitos was the center of Amazon rubber exportation.

A substance, by the way, that was discovered by the indigenous people in the 17th century B.C.

Many of Iquitos's historic buildings, designated part of the cultural heritage of the nation, are from those boom times, such as the cathedral, the old Hotel Palace, and Casa de Fierro, the Iron House, said to be designed by Gustav Eiffel for the Paris Exposition of 1889, transported by natives sheet by sheet through the Amazon and assembled here.

Rosendo, voice-over: Although lunch is served at the Belen Market, the less adventurous might rather choose one of Iquitos's many restaurants, such as Al Frio y Al Fuego, an upscale eatery literally on the Amazon.

In the Amazon, there are hundreds of possibilities of fish from the river.

Here are two of the most popular ones-- corvina and paiche, classically prepared at a floating restaurant in the Iquitos.

Buen provecho.

Mm.

Rosendo, voice-over: After decades of bust, today, Iquitos is a gateway for tours and cruises into the jungle, where travelers can experience the natural riches of the Amazon and its peoples.

Excursions include early-morning bird watching expeditions into the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve.

Almost 8,000 square miles, it's the largest in Peru and contains a rich diversity of flora and fauna.

Rosendo: What kind of birds are those?

Man: These birds are called oropendola.

Russet--actually, russet-backed oropendola.

Those are the nests?

Those are the nests, yes.

Those are the nests.

They build the nest in a tree.

You know, to trying to get protection.

That's pretty smart.

Oh, yeah.

Look at that.

How many bird species are there in Peru?

In Peru, we have about 1,800 species of birds.

About 50%, they live here in the Peruvian rainforest.

It's great to be able to come and have the Amazon still be a little bit wild.

Vamonos.

OK. Adelante.

[Birds chirping] Rosendo: You know, Reni, when you come into the reserve to go bird watching and you're a little bit anxious to see things, what I think sometimes people might miss is that it's so wonderful just to listen.

Yeah, that's right.

They're animal that we don't see, but we can hear it.

[Monkey chattering] This is a monkey, the [pss pss pss pss].

The small monkey.

Parrots again.

[Bird calling] Woodpecker.

[Different bird calling] Not that one.

That's [indistinct].

Rosendo: Your eyes and your ears are so much better than mine.

Wow.

The funny whistle, [pss pss pss], that's a monkey.

You're attuned to the-- to the Amazon.

Rosendo: Coming to the Amazon, one of the creatures you want to meet, maybe you don't want to meet it, but you will meet is the piranha.

What are we using to catch piranha here, Reni?

This is beef.

OK. Let's try it.

Let's try it.

How do you do-- just drop it in...?

Yeah, drop it.

When you feel the bites, jerk it hard.

OK. Ahh!

Now-- That's a small piranha.

[Laughs] That's a small piranha.

That one was pretty small, but there are specimens that have been as large as 17 inches, so, think of that-- a 17-inch piranha.

You wouldn't want that nibbling on your toes.

Piranha, by the way, have the-- a stronger bite than a great white shark, and 3 times as strong a bite as an alligator.

They have serrated teeth, so, they're really good at grabbing it--ripping!

And--and here's a piranha!

Welcome.

Reni: Don't get close to.

Oh, don't worry.

Don't worry.

Don't worry.

We're gonna--we're gonna pull him off of there because we use catch and release here.

Ooh, look at that.

Yikes.

It looks like a shark, but its bite is stronger than a great white shark.

No, thank you.

OK, let's send it on.

[splash] It's getting dark, and although there's nothing to be afraid of as far as the piranha is concerned, and how badly it bites, there are things in the Amazon that bite worse, such as mosquitoes.

So, it's a--ooh.

Oh!

Any day you fish for piranha and they don't eat you is a good day.

Rosendo, voice-over: Early morning finds my fellow travelers and I paddling across two lakes to breakfast.

Reni: Look at this beautiful palm tree there.

See the fronds?

OK?

Rosendo: Uh-huh.

This is a tree we call ungurahui and produces small fruits.

The flesh of the fruit is purple.

Most of the flower don't-- don't have bright colors because bright color means spending lots of energy for the plant, but in here we have so many pollinator, they don't have to work hard.

Bees and birds and flies and butterflies and many animals for pollinating.

Rosendo: Look at the beautiful butterfly.

Butterfly?

That's a blue morpho butterfly.

Beautiful butterfly.

It's coming to greet us.

[Indistinct] I'm gonna put in my finger.

Ahh!

[Laughs] That's beautiful.

Rosendo, voice-over: Our boatmen grab fresh skiffs and propel us across another tranquil lagoon, where brunch awaits.

Rosendo: Welcome to the River Cafe.

Rosendo, voice-over: The Amazon supplies our table with a diversity of fruit while a colony of bats keeps bothersome insects away.

Properly fortified, I join Reni on an extraordinary rainforest nature walk.

Rosendo: This is a very old part of the rainforest, isn't it, Reni?

Reni: Yeah, it is.

This is a primary forest.

I understand that the Amazon rainforest is one of our first forests of the world and that it's 50 million years old.

And then man comes and in a relative instant, much of it is gone.

Yeah, destroyed.

Yeah.

Let me show this rubber tree.

This rubber tree.

I think you've heard a lot about--we had a rubber boom in the Amazon, actually started in 1880.

So, this is one of the few exploitations of trees in the Amazon that didn't actually kill the trees.

Right.

The other ones, you know, they were just cutting down the trees, but not this one.

That's why this is still [indistinct].

Fabulous.

Hey, look at that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Great.

Come around here.

Also, this is a host tree for a type of moth, because this is the caterpillar of them.

In the night time, they go to the top of the tree to eat the leaves.

In the daytime, come close to the ground looking for protection.

That's extraordinary.

Look at that.

Would've probably put my hand right on it.

No, this is not good.

They have a-- you know, defense mechanism.

It's--burn your skin.

Yeah, that wouldn't have been a good thing, but look how beautiful.

What a beautiful design.

That's--beauty of nature, huh?

Wow.

This our local guide, then?

[All speaking Spanish] Rosendo: This work done by the local people?

The bridges and things here?

Reni: Yeah.

Rosendo: Oh, this is cool.

Now for a different perspective on the forest.

See life a little bit into the trees.

Reni: Right.

Rosendo: Looks like Jorge has something for us.

Reni: Oh, look at that.

Look, Jorge found this.

This is a little frog called poison dart frog.

In the orange part of that, there's toxic secretions.

The natives in the Amazon use this to get the poison to mix with the tip of the dart they use for hunting.

Toxic, you know, but they wouldn't kill us.

[All speaking Spanish] Rosendo: He's gonna find something else for us.

This an ant that lives in the base of this tree, it's called a bullet, because when it stings you, it's painful.

It's like being shot.

If we disturb them, you can see when they come out.

[Indistinct] sizes and how they get mad when they-- look at that.

Ooh.

That's pretty quick.

Oh, yeah, look at that, look at that.

They don't look very friendly.

You're right.

No, they are not friendly.

We better leave alone, OK?

Let's go out of here.

Whoa.

Rosendo: Reni, it looks like Jorge's found something.

Reni: Oh, yes.

Rosendo: Oh, Jorge, que bueno.

¿Que es?

What is it?

This is a boa constrictor, also called red-tailed boa.

It's a non-poisonous snake.

Lives on the ground, but sometimes, they can climb up to the trees to get some birds.

Yeah, this is a-- Are there lots of poisonous snakes in the Amazon?

Yeah, we have many poisonous snakes around here.

Yes, but-- This isn't one.

This is not poisonous snake.

But it could hurt but not kill you.

Can scare you.

Ha ha ha!

That's beautiful.

This is the thrill of being in the Amazon, that you can see animals like this and plants and birds, all in the wild?

All in the wild, yeah.

If we just take care of them, they'll be here for generations to come.

That's beautiful.

Why don't we just leave him alone, huh?

OK. We're gonna leave.

Jorge, gracias.

Now, that's a tree.

This is a--a ficus tree.

A ficus.

Ficus.

This is one of the biggest trees we have in the Amazon.

I have a ficus in my front yard.

Oh!

But I don't think it's that--this big.

No.

not hardly.

How many species of trees do they have in the rainforest?

We might have about 60,000 variety of plants in the Amazon.

And I read that trees from the Amazon rainforest supply 20% of the world's oxygen.

We need these trees.

In Iquitos, in the Plaza de Armas, I saw a sign that read, [speaking Spanish] "The tree you cut today is the air you'll be missing tomorrow."

That's correct.

We need these trees.

Gracias, Jorge.

Walk through the forest.

You're welcome.

This is the moment in the show where Joseph isn't sleeping with the fishes, he's swimming with them.

Well, actually, bufeo colorado, the pink dolphin, is not a fish, it's a mammal, and legend has it it can change from being a dolphin into a handsome young man who seduces the young maidens of the river communities.

And then, having a brain capacity 40% larger than the average human male, they avoid all obligations by turning back into a dolphin and swimming away!

At least that's the story.

Here are some things that are true: Their pink hue is said to come because of the close proximity of their blood system to their skin, and when they're excited or surprised, they become pinker, they actually blush.

Unlike other dolphins, they have an unfused cervical spine, so, they can turn their head up to 180 degrees, which really helps them when they swim into the forest in high water, and they can hunt for food in all directions.

They're certainly a part of the Amazon that needs to be protected.

What I've discovered is it's a lot easier to see pink dolphins than to film pink dolphins.

But you know what's very strange?

We've ended up with more human beings than we started out with.

Who are you guys?

There he is.

Right there.

Beautiful.

Wow, that's the best view we've had of the pink dolphin.

That's right here.

Maybe that was the key.

We should've just come here and stayed.

Rosendo: Ah, this is somebody's home here.

Reni: The natives in this area, sir, are called Cocama.

Rosendo: How many indigenous people are there between here and Iquitos, for instance?

Oh, I think there's about 5 Indian tribes live in this area.

Has life changed for them over the years?

Yeah, it's changing very fast.

They're getting civilized.

I mean that they're living in the city, changing their lifestyle.

Some of these tribes are not called Indians anymore.

We call just river people--riberenos.

Riberenos.

The way things are in the cities, I would think they're probably more civilized than the city people are... Maybe--maybe, yes, yes, yeah.

I think that's true.

Ha ha!

Here they can still live in peace.

Hola.

Ahh.

Rosendo: Aqui esta.

Here's one.

He's got it.

Que bueno.

Un brave pescador.

Oh, look at that.

Wow.

Oh--ahh.

Ha ha ha!

The whole river has fish.

Well, muchas gracias, senor.

[Speaking Spanish] [Birds chirping] Rosendo, voice-over: Back on board, the lunch menu features a river-to-table sampling of the Amazon's bounty, prepared in traditional Peruvian style and celebrated with Argentine wine.

Salut.

[Rain falling] When you speak of the Amazon rainforest, the operative word is "rain," and sooner or later, it's going to rain.

And the best thing you can do is enjoy it, and count on the fact that sooner or later, it's going to clear up.

[Bird chirps] Ahh.

This is pretty sweet-- not necessarily roughing it in the Amazon.

Rosendo, voice-over: Contrary to popular belief, the Amazon is anything but uninhabited.

Millions of people, a majority in cities but many in river villages, inhabit the Amazon River basin.

Traditionally, the life of the riberenos follows a pattern of subsistence farming, hunting, and fishing.

I visit the village of San Francisco.

Reni, I see they have electricity.

The government supplied them a generator, a small generator and all the cables on the--on the poles, but the village have to find a way to get money to buy the fuel.

[Laughs] In some cases, we can see villages without--more than a month without electricity until they can get some money to buy the fuel.

These people want to go to town, they take some product to sell, like chickens, some salt fish, some bananas, some yucca.

They're getting money.

If they have electricity, they usually have from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Rosendo: Hola.

Como esta, senor?

What she's doing is husking the rice.

Rice?

Rice.

They grow rice along the bank of the--the rivers.

Arroz.

Arroz, and they put in this and she beats with that.

This is how the husk comes out.

Rosendo: This takes the husks out.

Oh, yes.

And--can I-- can I do this?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You can do it.

So, there's the rice.

Yeah, there's the kernels and there's all the husk and-- The husk coming off.

Then she filters it through a sieve or something?

Ah, no.

No, no, no.

They put in this tray and they do this.

[Rosendo speaking Spanish] Un hora.

Un hora.

Un hora.

OK. Well, she does that for an hour, and she gets enough rice that is husked, be able to feed her family.

Wow.

[Laughter] She doesn't seem to mind.

OK. Gracias.

[Children shouting] Buenos dias!

[Rosendo speaking Spanish] Juegos.

Juegos.

She wants games for the Christmas.

OK. [Speaking Spanish] Muneca.

A muneca.

A little doll.

OK. [Speaking Spanish] Look at these wonderful things that they have here at the crafts fair here in the village, and this is through all of the river communities, and this is one of the ways, obviously, that tourism benefits a community, and if we can help benefit the community, then the community will take care of the Amazon River, take care of the forest, and take care of the animals that live in it.

One thing you can't take home from the Amazon.

Thank you for joining me on my Peruvian Amazon adventure.

The Amazon rainforest is a world wonder.

1/5 of the world's fresh water and oxygen is produced here.

Thousands of species of birds, fish, reptiles, mammals, and plants thrive here, as well as hundreds of thousands of people.

After centuries of exploitation, it's also a wonder that it still exists.

Yet thanks to the efforts of individuals, groups, and countries, it persists, and continues to enrich us, not only with its natural resources but as a reminder of from whence we've come, how much we've lost, and the need to protect and preserve what's left.

Being here was a thrill.

Knowing it's here is a real comfort.

Until next time, this is Joseph Rosendo, reminding you of the words of Mark Twain: "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."

Happy traveling.

Announcer: "Joseph Rosendo's Travelscope" is made possible by... Emerald Waterways.

It's been said that if experience is the best teacher, then travel is the best experience.

River cruising seeks to immerse travelers deep within a culture while moving gently through it.

With Emerald Plus, in-depth cultural experiences are included on every European cruise.

Emerald Waterways.

And No-Jet-Lag-- jet lag prevention.

For a DVD of today's show or any of Joseph's "Travelscope" adventures, call 888-876-3399 or order online at Travelscope.net.

You can also email us at TV@Travelscope.net or write us at the address on your screen.

Rosendo: Now that we've explored the Peruvian Amazon together, learn more at travelscope.net, where you can follow my worldwide adventures through my e-magazine, blog, podcast, and on Facebook.

Stay in touch--888-876-3399 or TV@Travelscope.net.

[Indistinct chatter] Goal!

Gracias.

Mm.

Rosendo: There are these little fish, though, that are nibbling at me, and I know that this is the land of the piranha.