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Published: March 30th 2010
Iquitos Market
Many fruits filled the tables.Any easy comparison between Kansas and Peru is this: in Kansas, I see worms, I see birds, I see spiders, and I am generally interested. But in the Peruvian Amazon, I see worms! Spiders! Birds! Amazing!
I spent a week in the Amazon rainforest in the Loreto department of Peru, along the Tahuayo River, a branch of the Amazon. I was on a biodiversity tour of the region with the best people to do so: the Benedictine College Biology department. We flew from Lima to Iquitos, a town in the middle of the jungle. Iquitos has no incoming or outgoing roads; unless, as any tourist soon realizes, the river is defined as a road. I soon learned by observing the guides that the many waterways were as entirely navigable, landmarks and all, as any gravel road I would have known near Scranton, Kansas. Other than by boat, plane is the only means of arriving at Iquitos.
Iquitos began as a rubber tree harvest boom town. I compare it to what Dodge City might have been like in the Wild West. Many structures of this era remain in Iquitos today, though much of the population has tried to erase those
Iquitos Market
Dried frish, fresh fish, fruits... ugly years. Iquitos is electrified, though from a source overland; the Amazon River has no dams. Of all rivers, the Amazon would be the most successful at destroying any human attempt to control its water flow.
We toured the Iquitos market while we awaited the boat that would transport us upriver to the lodge. The market was full of the river basin’s bounty, most notably fish. I saw piranhas, barracudas, and various perch and catfish. One woman’s stand consisted solely of a 6-8 foot butchered caiman. Wild pig, called peccary, chicken and other meat were available as well. Fruits, usually citrus varieties, varied in shape, size, color, and smell, and filled the tables. Carrots, peas, and the locally abundant heart-of-palm, from the acaï palm tree, were plentiful. The sights, smells and activity pleased me immensely, reminding me of the liveliness of Benin’s markets.
From Iquitos, we took a two-hour motor boat ride to our lodge. After an hour on the Amazon River, we took the Tahuayo River branch. The fork of these two rivers had been re-structured during the most recent flood; the Amazon had eroded nearly 500 meters of land between the two rivers in about ten
Iquitos Market
A table full of caiman for sale! days’ time. The people who had inhabited this patch of land had seen the event as imminent, and had moved within the last couple of years. I learned that the river people don’t own land, but follow the community leaders who decide where to live and how much land is necessary for the community.
The lodge is built on stilts of about ten feet. In the past, the river has come within a foot of the elevated walk way, but the river was low during our stay and we could walk on dry land beneath the lodge.
We first stayed in the lodge known as the research center. This center is on the edge of the Tamshiyaco-Tahuayo Reserve, well respected for the diversity in primates living in the region. Known as a Pleistocene forest, it is supposed that during the ice age this area remained forested while the surroundings were simple grasslands. Thus the forest harbored many species which today creates a unique fauna. I saw a troupe of about twenty Common Squirrel monkeys swinging through the trees on the river bank, agile Pygmy Marmosets, about the size of a small cat, climbing trees not 15 feet away from
Iquitos Market
To the left is a species of piranha, the center (with a black dot on its tail fin) is a barracuda. me in a canoe, and Titi and Saki monkeys lounging in the Vs of tree branches. I spotted many birds- the Collared Trogon, Great Putoo, Parvonine Quetzal, and the White-eared Jacamar, among many others. Everywhere I looked, there was something new to see- a bird, a monkey, a bat, and even a sloth!
In the bay of this lodge lives Pépé, a four-foot caiman who comes when called. He ate pieces of chicken we fed him from the kitchen. After a long, hot, humid walk along the trails on the research grid behind the center, I relished the tweny minutes or so before dinner spent sharing Pépé's habitat in the cool waters of the Amazon. Pépé never made an appearance while we were swimming, but a Piculet (bird) did. The nights were cool enough for a light sheet and blanket, and with a good rain, I slept as well as a monkey in a tree.
After three days at the research center, most of our group experienced a 'survival campout.' Supposedly, the campers are to learn how to survive using the jungle's resources; what really happened was that the guides survived us. As a group, we seemed to antagonize
Iquitos Market
More fish- yum. every effort the guides made to find food or shelter. However, the guides seemed prepared for their own survival- there was a structure already built of stout sticks, upon which we layered plastic tarps above and below for a roof and a floor. We hung mosquito nets and shoved sheets beneath before hiking off to our lunch spot. Along the way, one of the guides spotted Howler monkeys in some trees a ways off the trail. As soon as the monkeys heard us, though, they were quiet and still. Christain, our lead guide, sent Segundo up a tree to chase the monkeys out (a tourist just can't fail with guides like these!). Segundo climbed, pulling and shaking vines and branches along the way. The rest of us stood dumbly beneath the trees until the monkeys started to move again. Soon there were Howler monkeys, right above us! So close, in fact, that one of them pooped on a girl in our group.
We hiked on, stopping for about thirty minutes to chop down three acaï palm trees for their edible heart-of-palm fruit. The guides humored us for a while by allowing us to attempt to chop the trees with
Iquitos Market
Inner building, where many spices and vegetables were sold. Also meat- really, everything. their machettes; after some time of no evident work being done, Edson and Segundo took over. The trees were down in about fifteen minutes, heart-of-palm and all.
Finally arrived at the lunch spot, the guides showed us how to chop coconut seeds to extract the grubs within. Some of us tasted the grubs, checking the quality, before using them as fish bait. Contrary to popular belief and the movie 'The Lion King', grubs taste like grubs, not chicken. All of the guides- Christian, Edson, Segundo, and Samuel (or Gato, for his innate sense of finding fish), then peaced out. They were expecting our inability to feed ourselves, and so left us on our own while they fished. By the time we had extracted five grubs, put them on the hook, tossed the hook in the line, discovered a fish had eaten the grub from the hook, and replaced the bait, the guides returned with about 15 fish. I had previously proved my worth by cleaning fish, and so was requested to clean these, too.
I started with the biggest, fattest fish. I wasn't supposed to scale them since we were going to roast them over open coals; I
Research Center lodge
Pepe, the resident caiman. just needed to remove the guts and gills, and rinse them off in the stream. I cleaned the big fish, then went to the stream to rinse it off. I thought that I had knocked its head enough to kill it, but no- when I placed it in the water, hardly holding it, the fish gave a final death-twitch and swam away. No guts, no gills, absolutely dead, yet the fish disappeared into a low-flow, shallow pool, from where the combined efforts of me, Edson, and Gato could not recover it. Grr. I am still in shock.
Fortunately, there was still plenty of fish for everyone. We feasted on roasted fish and plantains, finished with heart-of-palm salad, all seasoned with fresh lemon and a good pinch of salt. It might have been the best meal there. Our water source was the river, flavored with a very citrus-y lemon. I drank my share, but many others didn't trust it, and went thirsty. (No repercussions in my bowels, either!)
Overnight it rained. Of course it would, it's a rainforest. The rain continued throughout the night, nearly breaking our tarps. When the water was poured off, it spilled directly onto our
Research center lodge
I proved my worth by cleaning fish- this one did not get away while alive or dead! floor. I curled up in a puddle, while the girl sleeping next to me was above it. The rain continued throughout the day. We ate mosquitoes for breakfast. I sat in my mosquito net until it was absolutely time to go. I gave a large, involuntary donation to the European-ancestry blood bank contained in 2-3 centimenter long bodies with syringe-like beaks. The rain continued through the morning, during the boat ride back to the research center, and then farther downriver to the main lodge, where the remainder of our group had stayed the previous night, and where we would stay for the rest of our vacation.
The second lodge was as comfortable as the first, with more sleeping quarters and a larger kitchen and lounge rooms. Behind this lodge, on my way to climb a tree to do a zip-course above the canopy, I saw Wire-tailed mannakins, a pretty little red breasted bird on a branch about head high. It's tail was wirey. There was an excursion to a lake overgrown with floating vegetation to see the Hoatzin bird. The Hoatzin bird ressembles the dinosaur archeopteryx, and its juvenile form has claws used to climb trees when it falls
Survival campout
The fish we would later roast over the hot coals of the fire. The largest fish in this photo is the one that slipped away... out of the nest. I saw it very close, thanks to Gato's skill with a machette and a canoe oar. Gato also took me to an observation point, where we climbed out of the boat, above the lake. I could see the thick vegetation that held a nest of two eggs for the Horned screamer; the parents were in trees on the opposite side. Gato told me that this lake was ideal caiman habitat, but we did not see any.
Our meals were excellent. Salads of carrots, beets, heart-of-palm, cucumber, and other veggies, with rice, potatoes, and noodles as starches with beef, pork, chicken, or fish sauces typically filled the table. Fruit such as mango, melon, or apples were dessert. Cold beer was in the freezer, as well as other drinks (I only noticed the beer). The beer was coldest when shared.
After dinner, the guides took us on boat rides in the dark, a spot light at the bow to catch the glint of a creatue’s eye. I held a caiman the length of my forearm, and took pictures of an Amazon tree boa and a Ladder-tailed nightjar (bird). The most magnificent moment in the boat at
On a boat
Sometimes we had to dry out. night, though, was lying peacefully, soaking up the night sky filled with pinpoints of stars, so much more detailed than any American night sky. Christain pointed out the Southern Cross for us.
The return to 'civilization' was best described by a fellow traveller: 'Everything's moving!' And this was just upon our arrival in Iquitos on the return trip. Culture shock was worse this time than when I returned from Benin, maybe because I wasn't expecting it. Why can't America have open air markets with fresh produce, a sense-stimulating experience? Thus the return to perpetual movement, perfectly-orange oranges, and climate-controlled, sterile grocery shopping. Ouf.
The Amazon is a fascinating place. I need to go again- perhaps speaking Spanish, volunteering in a school? Anything is possible.
***Did you like stories about Benin? Buy my travel guide book to Benin and read more about the country: http://www.amazon.com/Benin-Other-Places-Travel-Guide/dp/0982261918/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269923114&sr=8-1***
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Nancy
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AWESOME!
I am so jealous. When are we going on our next adventure? Let's call your sugar daddy:)! hahahahahahahahahahaha