Día 7

---

Ok, I know you have all been anxiously awaiting entries from day 7 and 8. We left Lima yesterday and I am actually at an internet cafe near our hotel in Iquitos. The computers in the hotel aren´t so hot.

Anyway, we got to sleep in Saturday! Woohoo! That was a first in a long time. Had to pack up everything because the bus came at 11:30 and we were off to lunch and then the airport. Our tour guide gave us the complete menu for the lunch buffet at Puro Perú on the bus, so we weren´t allowed to ask any questions once we got to the restaurant. Yeah right, me not asking questions? Who is she kidding? 😊 Well the food was good, as usual, but the desserts! Wow, they had a chocolate fountain, crepes, and ice cream. The ice cream here is incredible. I had a little scoop of coconut, strawberry, and mint chocolate chip. As Ace Ventura says, "yuuuummmmmyyyyyy!"

Off to the airport, where I almost didn´t get on the plane. Since I am traveling as Alyssa Katz because of my passport, my airline tickets are under Alyssa Katz. Because I changed my name on the ticket, the internal flights we are taking in Perú have me listed as Alyssa Schwartz. Luckily they just looked at my driver´s license and all was okay. (phew!) I was still baffled by the fact that my luggage weight was UNDER, yes, UNDER the limit. I was expecting to shell out some soles (currency here) for the extra weight.

Our flight was delayed, of course, so we hung out in the airport for a little while. Flying internally in Perú you have to pay airport taxes, which cost about $7 each time we fly. So as we were sitting in the airport, one of my group members was reading about the hotel we were staying at in Iquitos, Hotel El Dorado. A five star hotel with a pool, hot tub, exercise facilities, and a whole lot more. We were all getting excited, until Marguerite, our group leader from ACEER told us that there are TWO Hotel El Dorados in Iquitos, and we would be staying at the one down the street from the five star.... LOL. But, as it turns out, ours has a pool as well, and we are permitted to use all of the facilities at the other hotel.

Arrived in Iquitos at about 6:10pm and descended the plane into a wave of hot humid air. Actually a nice change from the cold, damp weather in Lima. Brought our bags to the van, and couldn´t believe that we all fit!! All of the suitcases were secured to the top, and thankfully none fell off during the ride. Before boarding the bus, a little barefooted boy named Jack approached us begging for money. I said that for a picture, I would give him some money. I gave him 3 soles, and told him he should get some shoes with the money he collected from our group. We were told we would see a lot more poverty here than in Lima.

The ride from the airport to the hotel got me thinking and missing my family in Nicaragua. The area we are in now is much more like Managua than Lima was. The broken down homes, children without shoes, very few cars on the road (they travel by small motorcycles and their taxis are like the buggies on the boardwalk in AC, except pulled by motorcycle.)

Dinner at the hotel, not so great this time, but delicious fresh passion fruit juice. I was a little sick tonight so no time to go exploring. Tomorrow, defintely. Big day of exploring tomorrow, heading to the botanical gardens and ACEER´s school for education on environment.

Hasta mañana!
Alyssa

---