Amazon in Peru; It Was Real, But Felt Magical

Magic Realism: chiefly Latin-American narrative strategy that is characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into seemingly realistic fiction. Sep 16, 2022 Britannica

Every day, with our 20 fellow passengers, we left the Delfin 2 and boarded small pangas to explore the upper amazon in Peru. Accompanied by a boat driver, and naturalist guide, we explored areas only accessible because the swollen Amazon River had created secret channels leading to lush oxbow lakes. We saw lily pads the size of dining tables, frogs the size of my thumbnail that looked like they were made of gold or painted like a giraffe, we swam with pink dolphins, saw night jar birds swooping and massing in trees, and discovered pie eyed mammals staring at us from holes in the flooded trees. One day after a shower a rainbow appeared and we were alone in the wilderness with colorful animals and lush green flora. It was truly one of the most “magical” environments we’ve ever visited, but it was entirely real!

Exploring in a panga

A tiny frog with giraffe coloring

A night jar

Flooded mangroves lead to secret lakes

A tiny river rat

a tiny frog

pink dolphin

Night Jars

As we floated through this magical environment, I found myself thinking about the Latin American authors and filmmakers who often use Magical Realism in their fictional tales. I could see very easily how this environment could inspire them! Much of what we saw felt like a fever dream, and this was before any of us had the actual fever from Covid. (In the end, nearly all the passengers on our trip had Covid before the trip ended, but we were fortunate to only miss our last day due to Covid.)

Supay Cano

In late spring we finally had the opportunity to visit the upper Amazon in Peru aboard the Delfin 2 after delaying the trip more than a year because of Covid. We had booked a trip aboard the Delfin 2, a small expedition ship that explores the upper Amazon in Peru with its own team of naturalist guides. The company chartering the ship was Lindblad/National Geographic who also provided two naturalist guides who also handled logistics.

Delfin 2 - approximately 28 passenger expedition vessel on the upper Amazon

Jonny at the bar

Dining room in the stern with river views

upper deck lounge

lighting in the dining area

dressed for adventure

Local residents share crafts with passengers

lounge and presentation area

daily schedule of activities

Spending some time in the mangroves looking closely, allowed us to see many beautiful insects and amphibians and lizards.

A frog that is camoflaged and looks like a giraffe!

During our twice daily explorations at dawn and at sunset, we saw many mammals in the canopy above the water.

Saddle Back Tamarin

3 toed sloth

Saddle Back Tamarin

Squirrel Monkey

Titi Monkey

Squirrel Monkey

Many people visit the Amazon to birdwatch and the birds are so plentiful and colorful!

Our journey into the upper Amazon was magical, from the flora to the birds, to bugs to mammals…everywhere you looked there was a vista unlike anything you can see anywhere else, and if you looked carefully, you could see the magical animals that live in this environment.

A note about the our experience with the travel providers of this adventure!

We had the most amazing experience exploring this area with the knowledgeable guides aboard the Delfin 2. The staff and crew of the Delfin2 made our exploration memorable and created an amazing trip. They were also responsible for our Covid quarantine and handled it beautifully, with excellent communication and providing everything we needed during our unexpected stay after disembarking.

We had some negative experiences, both on the journey and before and after the trip with the major travel brand company that chartered the Delfin 2. While we highly recommend the Delfin 2, next time, we’d book it through our trusted travel advisors and not travel with the major travel brand that chartered our cruise.

Thankfully, we didn’t allow our experiences with the company or with catching covid during our trip affect our opinion of the actual adventure on Delfin 2 in the Upper Amazon!

Hundreds of Gnomes and Thousands of Guitarists in Poland!? - A GoSeeIt People Interview

There are so many places in the world and I am constantly delighted to learn about them! I was delighted to learn that there is a city in Poland where there are hundreds of little gnome “dissidents” are appearing for visitors to discover and for locals to remember their recent history! My friend Anita, a retired grandmother who loves to travel, recently visited Poland April 25th to May 5th, and when she told me about the gnomes, but also about being lucky enough to come across an amazing local attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Records record for guitarists! I just knew it was the kind of story our readers would love! Read on to hear about Anita’s trip to Poland and why the city of Wroclaw has hundreds of gnomes and thousands of guitarists popping up around town!

(All photos courtesy of Anita)

Many of the bronze gnomes include little details that relate to their location, like sleeping gnomes at a hotel!

GSIT: Tell us about how you came to travel to Poland?

Most of my trips as an older adult I would label as pilgrimages. I have a friend who is a parish priest who also likes to travel.

Three years ago a group of 30 or so individuals from this priest's parish signed up for a trip to Poland. But as luck would have it Covid struck and so this trip got re-scheduled several times, spring, fall, spring, fall etc. until this year when travel restrictions were lifted. It was this priest's desire to go to Poland since he has some Polish ancestry. So, I figured why not?

I have a wonderful traveling companion (Callie) who is young enough to be my daughter. She has travelled all over the world, first as an army brat, and then going to places she wants to explore, usually with her mother, when she is not organizing a group trip.

Wilanow Palace

GSIT: How did you plan your trip?

My travel companion is travel-wise and she has organized several of my most recent group trips. For several of our trips we have used Gate 1 Travel. We had one travel agent who was with us the whole time but like most trips abroad we also had various travel guides for a particular city join the tour.

GSIT: What did you do while on this trip?

Day 1 & 2- Of course, the first day was travel to Warsaw (Varshava) Poland's capital and cultural center on the Vistula River. which then becomes day 2 when we landed. Check in etc and welcome dinner were part of that day. We stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Warsaw.

Day 3- We toured beautiful Lazienki Park (jewel of Warsaw) where we viewed the Chopin monument; stopped at the Memorial commemorating the Warsaw Ghetto uprising walked through the Old Town to Market Square (most of the Warsaw streets are cobble stoned) ; viewed the Cathedral of St. John and the Royal castle (residence of King Jan III) and the royal gardens.

Day 4- Travel to Gdansk. On the way we stopped to tour Marienburg (Malbork) Castle, which is one of the largest Gothic castles and medieval fortresses in the world. It was founded in 1274 by the Knights of the Teutonic Order. I was amazed at how magnificent and well preserved this was.

Malbork Castle

We continued on to Gdansk, Poland's principal seaport. This is the home of the Solidarity worker's movement which started the breakaway of the country from the Soviet Union. This city is also the amber capital of the world. One street is lined with jewelry shops that mainly sell amber. Fr. Riley celebrated Mass for us at St. Bridget Church which has some WWII damage from bombings but has been renovated since then. The reredos (backdrop of the altar with tabernacle) is in the process of finishing its construction built entirely from donated amber from individuals' jewelry and artifacts. It is breathtaking. Much of old town Gdansk has been reconstructed since WWII looking much like it looked before the war. During our free time in the afternoon we took a pirate ship ride up and down the a branch of the Vistula River. A talented guitarist/singer entertained during our voyage. I recognized some Irish songs sung in Polish.

Gardens at Winalow Palace

Day 5- More Gdansk touring buildings and churches and learning about shipping and trading.

Day 6- Traveled to the enchanting town of Torun which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, and is considered one of the best-preserved medieval towns in all of Europe. We saw the house where astronomer Copernicus was born. This is also the town where pierniki (gingerbread) was first made. There was a festival going on while we toured, so we saw acrobats, jugglers, singers etc. in the streets. We then traveled to Wroclaw (pronounced vrowt.swaaf), a city with a turbulent history with Bohemian, Austrian and Prussian influences.

GSIT: So tell us about the gnomes and guitars in Wroclaw- that sounds unexpected!!

Day 7

This city has a gorgeous very large Market Square where, coincidentally, there was a gathering of guitarists that gathered (over 7,676 of them) to break the Guinness Book of World Records playing Jimi Hendrix's song "Hey Joe" at the same time. AMAZING.

Thousands of guitarists gathered to break a Guinness World Record!

While in Wroclaw we were introduced to bronze gnomes that are the hallmark of the city. In response to the communist regime in 1980 people gathered wearing orange hats mimicking dwarfs and shouting "No freedom without dwarfs". After many years in part to memorialize the event the first bronze gnome appeared in the city in 2005. Since then they have grown in number and appear in front of many businesses and other buildings in Wroclaw. They now number over 350.

We also toured the cycloramic depiction of the Battle of Raclawice during the Kosciuszko uprising.

On one of the evenings there we walked to Tumski island to see the Lamplighter (dressed with a top hat and cape) who walks the streets of this island to light the gas lamps in the area.

Day 8- Travel to Czestochowa for the monastery of Jasna Gora to view the daily unveiling of the Black Madonna painting( a shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary).

Day 9- We toured the Jewish district with its ancient synagogues and ancient main square of the former ghetto and the memorial called "The Lonely Chairs". Then drove to the historic 16th century Wawel Royal Castle district for a tour of medieval Krakow. Then a somber visit to Oswiecim where the Nazis built Auschwitz and Bierkenau Extermination Camps.There are no words to describe these sites adequately.

A reconstructed Synagogue

Day 10- We travelled to Wadowice, the town where pope St. John Paul II was born We visited his family home that is now a beautiful museum and parish church. We then drove on to the St. Sister Faustina Sanctuary and participated in the Divine Mercy Chaplet that was being televised that day.

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising monument

My name is Anita. I am a 75 year old widow (5 and 1/2 years) with three wonderful children (all married) and 6 adorable grandchildren in ages from one year to 17 years old.

I have always loved to travel first as a single person and then, when my children were older and on their own, with my husband (44yrs married when he died).

I have travelled to Ireland (twice), England, Scotland, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Israel, Portugal, Southern France (Lourdes), and various places on this continent including two cruises.

My Travel Advisors and Suppliers Let Me Down!

No one is bigger travel evangelist than I am. Part of what I hope to do here is help regular people find travel resources and tips to help people make their trips the best. I felt confident that I’d found a variety of trustworthy travel advisors and providers who could help me put together a seamless trip on my budget, so I could relax with my family and friends and enjoy the trip. Sadly, Covid and recent economic pressures have changed all that. Its unfortunate that as desperately as the travel industry wants us to get back to traveling, at the same time, many of them are struggling to provide the services and products they promise.

I’m still traveling , but recent travel experiences have led me to drastically reconsider how I travel and who I have help me do that. Here are some new rules I’ve adopted for my own travels.

I Don’t Trust The Airlines

I have taken over a dozen flights since November, and not one single one of those flights have gotten off on time without some sort of problem. It’s frustrating as a citizen to see an industry that our tax dollars have bailed out several times over the last few decades; pandemic, financial crisis, 9/11 groundings, and when business picks up, the airlines are never held to account to provide even basic improvements in customer service. Delays, cancellations, changing schedules, broken equipment , lost bags; the list goes on. I can’t imagine any business plan is written that suggests every time your business communicates with it’s customers that the conversation begins with “We’re sorry” or worse, “Thank you for your patience”

I’m losing my patience and a lot of travelers are, some of them behave badly, taking out their anger on customer facing employees who have little control and no authority to change things. Instead of losing my cool, I’m trying to change my behavior to make the miserable experience of flying a little less miserable.

Have a strategy for your flights…be loyal for extra access to basics, pack carefully, build in extra travel time, and be patient!

What I’m Doing Now>>>

• I’m buying access to loyalty programs or lounges. This can be done with points, or credit cards or cash, but often the cost of buying “status” with an airline can get you dedicated phone lines for rearranging travel. The airlines should provide good service to everyone, but the reality is they don’t and while it’s no guarantee of better treatment, having status might elevate your problem to someone who can help and private lounges may be a more comfortable spot to wait out lengthy delays.

• I’m adding in the cost of pre night hotel stays in my destination prior to important trips with embarkation dates, like cruises, or important events, like weddings. I don’t count on the airlines getting me to my destination on time, so I build in extra time before a trip to buffer the airlines poor service. Usually, an airport hotel can be an economical choice for a “pre night” stay.

• I’ll take a train or a bus instead if I can. I used to think that would take “too much time” until I waited 8 hours to take a 45 minute flight from Boston to NYC ( and waited another 6 hours to get back) I nearly missed a Broadway show because I couldn’t count on the airlines to deliver me to my destination.

• I carry on my bags or keep enough clothes and any essentials in my carry on to live without checked bags should they not arrive at my destination. By using only a carry on, I’ll have flexibility to make changes in flight if there are cancellations or delays.

• I bring lots of nutritious snacks with me. Planned time for airport meals can disappear with flight delays. Most airlines no longer serve food, and I could be stuck on the tarmac for hours without food or food service even if the airline does serve a meal.

Our travel advisors and the major brand tour company we traveled with to Peru let us down in many ways

Rethink Your Partnerships with Travel Advisors

I booked my travel advisor from one of the premier listings of travel advisors. I booked with them because they and the publishers of vaunted “listing” suggested that when you use a top travel advisor you can count on them to be proactive, to help you untangle problems when you run into trouble. Then Covid hit and the group I booked my recent trip (not my first trip booked with them!) to Peru with before the pandemic became a “fee for service” travel advisory, and I stopped hearing from them. I didn’t get updates from them when I needed to know if our trip would be run as planned during covid times, I couldn’t reach the same advisor, getting passed along from person to person depending on who wasn’t traveling themselves, I recieved documents late and panicky emails telling me to provide information I know they had to travel suppliers at the last minute. This once well organized Travel Consultancy had let me down before I even started my trip. When I got Covid during my trip, they were an even bigger disappointment. It took hours to reach an emergency person, who then asked me to provide them with phone numbers of the travel provider and were unhelpful in acting as an “intermediary” as promised.

What I’m Doing Now>>>

• More than ever, I’ll rely on a RECENT recommendation from a recent traveler before I trust a travel advisor or famous list of travel agents

• Trusting my gut…I knew the “top rated” consultancy wasn’t giving me what they promised, but I kept moving forward despite my misgivings, having booked, I was kind of stuck. Most interesting, is I formed a personal relationship with a travel agent who works for a large online travel agency. For a long time I was reluctant to trust that a generalist could help me with a specialized trips, but I learned his professionalism even during the worst of the pandemic travel issues led me to trust that he will be there when I need him. During my Peru trip, which he had no part in planning and made no profit, he saw on Face Book that I was isolated in Peru and reached out to ask how he could help out. I was grateful for that kind of high touch customer care, and I know now that I need to trust my instincts, not reputation, because times change and so will reputations, a personal relationship is more important.

On the road again after a 5 day quarantine in Peru for Covid 19

Im Rethinking Brand Names in Travel

For our trip to Peru we chose a major brand I had long admired despite the high price tags because they had an itinerary that worked for us. This a world recognized travel and photography brand.

The disappointments started before we traveled. We received conflicting information pre trip on everything from itineraries, Covid policies to luggage weight limits. Our pre trip documents were sent to someone else’s address in our town and we only received them because a kind neighbor found us on a town FB page and delivered them to us personally!

The covid policies were nonsensical, and didn’t follow CDC guidelines and caused us a lot of pre trip stress. And they WERE ineffective because by the end of our cruise all but 2 or 3 of 21 passengers had contracted covid and were forced to quarantine for part or all of the trip.

Despite the pre trip troubles, we decided to set aside any negativity and try to embrace the trip itself with a positive attitude. Within minutes of arriving to meet the group, covid procedures were confusing, or ignored and testing was perfunctionary, with the nurse barely touching our nostrils and seemed ineffective (and it turned out to be!)

Once on board our Amazon cruise, we learned our “expert” guides were pulled out of retirement, one of them was physically unable to do many of the excursions. The photography “expert” had taken a 3 day course with the “brand” and was not more knowledgeable than most of the amateur photographers on board with a DSLR camera. The amateurs on board found her unhelpful and she gave lots of tips for using your iphone for photos, while most of the images of wildlife would be impossible to capture with an iphone.

But most disappointing was the expected evening programs with experts consisted mostly of showing documentaries on TV or were shortened presentations so the guides could post the days adventures on social media for the brand’s marketing purposes. This was promoted to us as our guides creating a permanent record of our journey, but the result was that while we were told not use our phones for social media or calls and to be “present” for the trip, our guides were unavailable to us in the moment because THEY were posting content for prospective travelers on social media!

The “brand’s” communication with and treatment of us once I contracted covid was also handled poorly. We were grateful that the Delfin 2, the company that ran the cruise, was in charge of our covid care and handled everything from Dr notes to meals beautifully. But communication from the “brand” was poor including a lack of advance information about rescheduled travel plans.

What Im doing now>>>

• Just like with travel advisors, “post covid” I’m reevaluating who I can trust to travel with. We traveled with Natural Habitat Adventures during covid and things were handled beautifully with top guides, good communication about changes in itineraries or covid policies. I need to use recent information and trust my instincts if a brand is flailing, and bail out.

• Document everything that happens so I have the information I need for travel insurance and to make claims with companies that fail to deliver on what I pay for.

• Letting folks I know about my experiences so they can avoid paying top dollar for experiences that don’t measure up.

The moral of my horror story is plan ahead, be patient, and don’t rely on the “old” brands and rules, things have changed and having a personal relationship with a trusted travel advisor who can help you manage the challenges is more important than reputation or slick marketing. We are in a period of great disruption in travel and we get to vote with our dollars! Good luck out there!