I’ve traveled to a lot of places and I didn’t expect the Peru to feel that different, but it did. We’re just back from exploring a small section of the Amazon River near Iquitos.
What struck me was how visible the cycle of life is. Millions upon millions of birds, fish, monkeys, lizards, and other creatures, each living out their lives in their small section of this vast rainforest. Each facing life-and-death struggles every moment. Multiple things around them want to eat them. Multiple things they need to eat to survive.
We humans generally don’t live like that. We’ve figured out how to stay safe from other animals and live comfortably. We have air travel, AI and medicine. We think we’re different.
Here’s what’s strange: despite all that life-and-death intensity happening constantly, the Amazon is both deadly and serene at the same time!
The moments that stuck with me most weren’t even the dramatic wildlife encounters or the photos of amazing animals — even though I love photography. They were the quiet ones – drifting down the tributaries on glassy water, the forest thick on both sides, everything happening just out of sight.
We’re not that different. We’re just another species in the same cycle – here for a short time, part of something larger than ourselves. The animals seem to understand this better than we do. They don’t overthink their place in things. They just live.
The Amazon strips away the illusion that we’re separate. Despite our technology and advantages, we’re all creatures of this planet, same as everything else. We just forget it most of the time.
The rainforest doesn’t let you forget.
Update 1/24/26, added video of smaller tributary
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