Want to learn more about Amazon Cruises? You are on the best web site to learn about your options. Amazon Cruises are our specialty. We customize cruises according to your schedule and interests.

I’ve published 27 articles about our cruises and destinations, and built a special page with links to show off all of the articles at; Amazon Tours and Cruises.

Another good link that is full of more specific details is to the Amazon Cruise page on my business web site;  Amazon Tours and Cruises With Dawn on the Amazon.

Dawn on the Amazon may be the only cruise company that does not have travel agencies funneling us passengers. Travel agents want us to have a set schedule, to one destination, and an hourly itinerary. I prefer independent travelers like you. We do not have pre-scheduled cruises, to prearranged destinations with a set itinerary. Our niche is for when you only have 4 or 5 days for a cruise and the other cruise companies only offer 7 day cruises. Let Dawn on the Amazon customize a special cruise for you built around your schedule.

Contact me at bill@dawnontheamazon.com and book a cruise with Dawn on the Amazon today.

Amazon Cruises from Iquitos Peru with Dawn on the Amazon.

Captain Bill Grimes

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My mother in the doorway

I longed to see my mother standing in the doorway, as she stood there years ago her boy to greet…and here she is, just like I remembered, only 89 years old and doing good. She has very little peer pressure, she has outlived most of her peers.

I was lucky to have been born and raised by this woman, on this farm, in rural Indiana near the banks of the Wabash River. This is where I was taught the values of honesty, honor, and hard work that have made me who I am today.

Bill on the tailgate of his truck, on the banks of the Wabash River

That doesn’t mean I’m the smartest guy though. For example, I still have this 2002 Chevy 4 wheel drive pickup with only 30,000 miles on it that sits out in the corn crib 11 months out of the year. It’s not getting any more valuable, but I like to have it when I come back to visit. Got to haul the watermelons in something…:-)

My brother Jim and son Matt, sorting the watermelons

It was a good year for melons…

Look at these giant watermelons

One of these was the best watermelon we ever ate.

A bend in the Wabash River

A lot of my best memories started where I was standing when I took this photo.

My son Matt painting a Wabash River Scene

We saw two eagles fly upstream along the far bank in front of us, then cut across the river and land in a tree half way around the bend.

I’m enjoying my family on the banks of the Wabash.

I long to see my mother in the doorway.

Bill Grimes, son of Alice and Jean Grimes; “Oh the moonlight’s fair tonight along the Wabash…”

On The Banks Of The Wabash Far Away;

Happy Mothers Day;

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I’m at the Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima at the sort of fancy restaurant, 4D, at the top of the escalator across from Starbucks. I’m using Starbucks wi-fi. I guess the two places have some arrangement, or maybe 4D pirates the signal. My waiter knows the password. The waiter says he will move me to a table where I can plug in to charge my battery. If that happens I will use this as my office for the rest of the afternoon.

I’ll be darned, he did it I’m plugged in, wired in, charging my battery, answering emails, writing to you, studying the menu. 4D just became my favorite place at the Lima Airport. Wi-fi makes me happy, plus I am sipping a delicious creamy coffee with a scoop of vanilla ice cream blended in. Could be a lot worse, and probably will be before I get back to my old farm house in Indiana, 27 hours travel time, half of it waiting in airports.

I redesigned my life style when I moved to Iquitos and it’s a pretty special style, but there is a trade off with everything we try to do and missing my family and long time friends is a downside to the ex-pat life. My grandson is growing up without much of grandpa’s lovin’ discipline, my mom isn’t getting any younger, I’m lonesome for my daughter Dawn and son Matt, and too many friends to mention here.

That is why I am on this journey back to visit good old Indiana On The Banks Of The Wabash far away.

I have always been a wand’rer
Over land and sea
Yet a moonbeam on the water
Casts a spell o’er me
A vision fair I see
Again I seem to be

Back home again in Indiana,
And it seems that I can see
The gleaming candlelight, still shining bright,
Through the sycamores for me.
The new-mown hay sends all its fragrance
From the fields I used to roam.
When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash,
Then I long for my Indiana home.

Fancy paints on mem’ry’s canvas
Scenes that we hold dear
We recall them in days after
Clearly they appear
And often times I see
A scene that’s dear to me

Back home again in Indiana,
And it seems that I can see
The gleaming candlelight, still shining bright,
Through the sycamores for me.
The new-mown hay sends all its fragrance
From the fields I used to roam.
When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash,
Then I long for my Indiana home.

Round my Indiana homestead wave the cornfields,
In the distance loom the woodlands clear and cool.
Oftentimes my thoughts revert to scenes of childhood,
Where I first received my lessons, nature’s school.
But one thing there is missing from the picture,
Without her face it seems so incomplete.
I long to see my mother in the doorway,
As she stood there years ago, her boy to greet.

Oh, the moonlight’s fair tonight along the Wabash,
From the fields there comes the breath of newmown hay.
Through the sycamores the candle lights are gleaming,
On the banks of the Wabash, far away.

Not to mention sweet corn, ripe tomatoes, and watermelon out of the garden, corn fed beef steaks on the charcoal grill, 12 grain whole wheat bread in the oven, and a big glass of whole milk. Mom, I’ll be back home on the farm tomorrow, where the breeze carries the breath of new mown hay, and the candlelight flickers through the sycamores, and I long to see my Mother standing in the door like so long ago, on the banks of the Wabash faarrrrr aawaaaayyyyy.

On The Banks Of The Wabash Far Away

Bill Grimes is traveling back to the farm and the banks of the Wabash River in Indiana, far away.

I Long To See My Mother In The Doorway;

Happy Mother Day;

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July 28th of each year starts one of the biggest holidays of the year commemorating Peru’s independence from Spain followed on July 29th honoring the armed forces and it turns into a long weekend of celebration known as Fiestas Patrias Peruanas.

I’m hanging out with half a dozen of my ex-pat buddies on the corner of the boulevard and Nauta, at the Dawn on the Amazon Café. They are drinking beer. I just enjoyed a delicious lunch of cecina fajita, with a glass of white wine. We have our Peruvian Flags flying.

Some other interesting gringos are eating and drinking at the next tables. Amy is a linguist working on the Bora Indigenous dictionary, Dr. Dennis McKenna, an ethno-botanist, has a three year grant to catalog all of the species of medicinal plants at the Iquitos Herbarium. The conversation is interesting, there is no trouble, the neighborhood is quiet, I feel fine.

Two of our guests just arrived in Iquitos today for a four day cruise into Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve, day after tomorrow. They are staying at La Casa Fitzcarraldo. They are joining our day trip tomorrow to the Belen Market and the Butterfly Farm. Marmelita spent most of this morning at the market purchasing supplies for the cruise. Now she is going to visit her mom and family for a few hours.

We aren’t taking the day off to celebrate, but we are enjoying Independence Day in our own way.

Peru Independence Day July 28th

Bill Grimes

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I don’t want to bore you with my health problems so this will be brief. I’m not complaining or feeling sorry for myself. Just reporting in to let you know. I am much better today. Remember last year I came down with that unnamed, poorly understood virus, and was sick for months; Here Is What Happened To Me. I had a relapse for the last couple of weeks. I’m lucky. So many people in the world are in pain and misery. My symptoms were to sleep 20 hours per day, pain free. Sleeping is not the worst way to spend time, although at some point it becomes a waste of time. I have so much to do and so little time to do it in.

I’m not completely up to speed but today is the first day in three weeks I’ve felt this good. My glass is half full. I’m very proud of how Marmelita and our crew kept our businesses going. They did a great job. The biggest left over problem is my email correspondence is way behind and must be dealt with today and tomorrow. Now you know why you haven’t heard from me lately.

Relapse Into Poor Health And My Recent Recovery

Bill Grimes

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