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early morning sky
on our departure from Santa Rosa.. VERY early in the morning! After waking at 3.30am on the 10th May for a taxi ride across the border again to Tabatinga, Brazil, we boarded a canoe at 4am for the short trip to Santa Rosa, Peru for the passport check and stamps and the departure of the fast boat to Iquitos, Peru for the 10 hour journey even further upstream as we both had flights out on the 12th of May.
Arrived the 10th of May..
Iquitos is a cool little town. With a main central square and an eclectic mix of people we found that we were back on the tourist loop for sure now and it is great to be able to talk to people using a more extensive english vocabulary... i feel educated once again!.. In the middle of town there is a main Plaza de Armas which is the central hub of all action and is surrounded by busy streets buzzing with the motocars and lined with tourist shop after shop.. and in between there are a few cool little places to eat.
The markets in Iquitos were massive and absolutley for the locals!.... however among all the normal streets of meat sitting out amongst the humidity
and heat and rows of fruit ect.. we did a spot of shopping in a hardware store where they had heaps of wood carvings and practical things. We both came out with 2 remos (paddles that are used for the canoes all up and down the Amazon) each for a bargain price and crossed our fingers upon the transaction that they will actually make it all the way home with us!.. Owens were nearly 6 ft tall and made it back to Honolulu.. although i still have to wait and see with mine.. they only stand about 3 and 4 ft tall.
We headed down to the water to watch the sun go down over the river and were suprised to see a figure swimming to shore. Initially spotting him about 50m off and the local crowd growing it was obvious that the word through town had got out that someone was gradually making it to shore. He got a round of applause when on solid land and a warm welcome by the local crowd.
We stumbled across a little place called the Yellow Rose of Texas.. owned and managed by a very friendly Texan man!.. after a
hee hee... Owen asleep
For someone that doesnt sleep when travelling... he looks pretty sound to me! short conversation while pondering over the dinner menu and the discovery that i was Australian the decision was made to return at breakfast the following morning also.. this was due to the fact that he had Vegemite!.. and after further conversation it was discovered that my mate from Perth Zoo, Antony was the donator of it!.. so a HUGE thanks to Ant!.. a good little craving was fixed right there!..
As well as the warm welcome at the Yellow Rose that brought us back it was also the regular American expats patronizing the restaurant that set the vibes with hilarious conversations.. !.. and the fact that apparently all the worlds issues are solved between the hours of 6.30am and 10am.
An essential excursion for me while in Iquitos was a visit to Quistococha. A Zoo that Antony is heavily involved in and to check out where the team from home worked for a while at the beginning of this year and what they got up too.. I was very proud to see the name of Perth Zoo dotted around the place on enclosures. . Quistococha is set on a beautiful landscape, with very well established vegetation and a lake
night sky
over the river creating a boundary on one side which i imagine is very welcoming to anyone in the humidity that the Amazon experiences! It was awesome to see such a different aray of animal species that what we have back in Oz!.. i gotta say that my favourite is the same species we saw when in the village on the jungle tour.. the Achuni.. (nasua nasua) a little carnivous cute fella..
With the plan for flights to Lima on the morning of the 12th, we headed for the airport... bad news though, with the fog that had settled both in Iquitos and Lima our flight was cancelled. This caused a slight level of stress as we both had connecting flights from Lima.. Owen heading home to the States that night and me to Cusco for Machu Pichu within an hour or two of the scheduled landing. Thinking that we would be out of pocket (Owen substantially more than me!) our stress may have been quite evident to the girls behind the counter and we were lucky enough grab the last couple of seats on the afternoon flight. As well as sorting out our flights, arranging a flight for me the next
morning from Lima to Cusco and guaranteeing that Owen would make his connecting international flights we were hooked up with a hotel room for the day to chill. Thinking far ahead of me and the extra expense i would be out, having to spend a night in Lima they sorted accomodation, meals and taxi money!.. and i was stoked to see that the hotel i was to stay in was for the 5 star Sheraton Hotel!!.. with buffet dinner and breakfast!!!.. So a MASSIVE thanks to Lan Peru and have flown with them for every other flight i´ve needed. This was a little bit of luxury for me and in my excitement i took a few photos too!..
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Polly
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love it!
Thanks for sharing bec! The blog and pictures are fantastic