Our group this week arrived yesterday in the afternoon after traveling from Lima to join a once in a lifetime expedition in the Upper Peruvian Amazon. Our adventure started after breakfast with an introductory walk in the rainforest. We visited a “terra firme” place known as “Casual.” “Terra firme” is a term used in tropical ecology to describe a terrain that never gets flooded. In the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve, the largest flooded protected area in South America, most of the surface area is under water the whole year around therefore this kind of relatively dry ecosystem is of great interest for our expedition. Along the trail our talented naturalists explained some aspects of the enthralling ecology of the rainforest.  Three native scouts from a nearby village came with us as well to help us to spot creatures. Colorful poison arrow frogs, tarantulas, a red-tailed boa, a juvenile bicolor-spined Porcupine, and insects were admired and photographed. In the afternoon, we visited a dynamic human settlement, Amazonas Community. We witnessed firsthand how people live nowadays in the region.  We listened to some locals speaking about “Minga Peru” as well. The latter is a nonprofit organization founded in 1998 with the mission to promote social justice and human dignity, primarily for women and families in rural communities of the Peruvian Amazon. Leadership training, radio programming, and natural resources management are some of their main projects in the area. After dinner, we went for a night walk to enjoy the feeling and thrill of being out in the forest at that time of the evening. It was an extraordinary first day of our expedition on the enigmatic Upper Amazon in Peru.