Into the Amazon (Peru)

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(Day 201 on the road)I am back from an adventurous week in the Peruvian Amazon. It was a fascinating glimpse of life on and along the mighty river. But after a while I realised that this was not the life for me. Call me spoiled, but life there was very, very basic, the infrastructure was poor to non-existent, the heat and humidity were oppressive, as were the mosquitoes. It was great to experience it, but to be honest I was not too sad when I left after a good week.

I entered via Iquitos, on the banks of the Amazon. Fun fact: Iquitos is the largest city in the world that is not accessible by road. It has a whopping 500,000 inhabitants, but no road access. You can only get there by plane or boat. I thought this was an amazing number of people, considering the place is deep in the jungle. The town prospered during the rubber boom at the turn of the century, but there is not much industry to speak of these days. It is a hot, humid and very noisy city with terrible traffic (mostly tuktuks). Not very attractive, really, except for its Plaza de Armas and a great cultural museum - and of course its location as a springboard for journeys deeper into the jungle.

And that is what I came for. Many jungle lodges have offices in the city, and after talking to a few of them, I settled on a 3-day, 2-night package that included pretty much everything: Boat transport on the Amazon to and from the lodge, food, and lots of activities. The lodge itself was rustic but charming, with wooden rooms on stilts right on the banks of the Amazon (during the rainy season the Amazon easily floods a few kilometres along its banks). The bird concert was amazing, although it did make sleeping a bit difficult.

The best part of staying in the jungle, however, were the many tours that the lodge offered. My favourites were a jungle night walk where we spotted tarantulas, a sunrise cruise on the Amazon, piranha fishing, swimming in the Amazon and a visit to a wildlife rescue centre where our group of six (Peru, Argentina, Germany) enjoyed spending time with the very playful monkeys that had been rescued from private homes.

On some of the houses along the riverbank I discovered small solar panels. Come to think of it, this was only the second time I had seen alternative energy sources since arriving in South America some seven months ago. The only other time was on the Galapagos Islands, where I also saw three wind turbines (but they were rusty and appeared to be out of service).

I never realised it until I saw them, and then I thought it was quite strange: At a time when half the world is waking up to the need to become carbon neutral sooner rather than later, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru haven't even started. I understand that it is a question of economic wealth (and gas, oil and coal is cheap here), and that poorer countries face greater challenges than richer ones in financing the necessary changes. But I still wonder if not taking any initiatives to produce clean energy is the right way forward. No solar panels, no wind turbines in 2023 - really?

Anyway, back in Iquitos after my three days at the jungle lodge, I wondered how I could get "out" again, back to other parts of Peru. My guidebook had touted travelling upriver (to towns like Pucallpa or Yurimaguas) as a "great adventure". However, I saw the rusty, huge cargo boats that ply the rivers here. You basically buy a hammock and hang it on deck for the four or five days of the journey. I am not sure what the definition of "adventure" is these days (or maybe I am getting too old for it), but to me it looked like a very tedious, long and ultimately uncomfortable way to travel. So I ended up booking a flight to Trujillo, a city on the coast north of Lima. I think I made the right choice.

I had two days left before my flight and I spent them in the small village of Nauta, not far from Iquitos. I wanted to hire a boat and go to the place where the Amazon officially begins - at the confluence of the rivers Maranon and Ucayali. It was a two-hour boat ride from Nauta, and in the end it was a little less spectacular than I had hoped. Basically two rivers joining to form another. I did manage to see some river dolphins though, which was very nice.

And that marks the end of my time in the Amazon - for now. Interestingly, in Iquitos I was very close to the Colombian border, a small town called Leticia (3 days down on the Amazon by boat). I had contemplated going to Leticia a few months ago when I was in Colombia, but my 90-day visa was running out and I had to leave Colombia. So it was kind of cool to go to almost the exact same spot in the Amazon, just on the Peruvian part of the border. If I make it to the north of Brazil on this trip (probably not, as I am moving quite slowly), I might try it again from the other side.



My route in Peru (so far): Tumbes – Mancora – Lima – Cusco – Ollantaytambo – Machu Picchu – Aguas Calientes – Urubamba – Cusco – Lima - Iquitos - Amazon.

Next stop: Huanchaco (Peru).

To view my photos, have a look at pictures.beiske.com.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

The Amazon Speaks
I love hearing all the bird sounds at night.... well monkey's too! The jungle is so alive. Sounds like a great location.