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Published: April 17th 2009
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Iquitos is far different from any other city I had yet encountered in Perú. There are the obvious differences, most of them revolving around the fact that it is set in a rainforest. It was hot and humid beyond belief, it was nestled on the Rio Marñón (part of the Amazon River watershed), and tropical rainforest-like plants were everywhere. However, other differences also really set it apart. I could probably count the number of cars I saw on one hand since motorcycles and moto-taxis are the main form of transportation. Literally hundreds of motorcycles fill the streets of Iquitos creating a constant hum of motors which is utterly annoying until it manages to simply numb your brain. There really isn’t much need for cars of great size since there really isn’t anywhere to go outside of the city. No roads lead to Iquitos from outside the rainforest, the only way to get there is via plane or boat.
Iquitos had an eerie feel about it. Ominous clouds often brought lighting storms without rain. I often felt very uncomfortable walking the streets and tried not to walk them alone whenever I could. Cat-calls are a common occurrence in this country but
Street in Iquitos
Note the motorcycles in Iquitos, it was overwhelming. Hardly a motorcycle would pass without a kissing sound or some type of explicit comment in either Spanish or occasionally broken English. The scariest part of all is that the police officers were often no better. We were advised not to go out to the clubs or walk alone at night and frankly I didn’t want to. There is a huge problem with sex traffic in Iquitos in which children are especially targeted. It is horrible but it is a reality.
One highlight of Iquitos was the interesting food. I ate quite a lot of alligator while I was there which really tastes no different than chicken, just sounds cooler to say. The best alligator burger I had was at a restaurant called The Yellow Rose of Texas. Somehow, a native Texan found himself in charge of tourism for the area and decided a restaurant that mixed the tastes of Perú and Texas was a good idea. I had to agree after I had my alligator burger with yucca fries. Other restaurants were not quite so good…..I was served one drink that smelled like hotdogs and tasted like mustard. Apparently, they said it was
a fruit juice but I’m not so sure.
We were all very happy to get on our way into the rainforest since our good feelings towards Iquitos were waning. The days were too hot to really do anything especially since we had already walked the boardwalk by the river a million times. Possibly the best feature of Iquitos was our air conditioned rooms. We took two small vans to the nearby town called Nauta to board the boats that would take us the 3 hrs up river to our first stop of Veinte de Enero. The boat ride was refreshing in the hot mid-day sun and we were content to just lie about on the small yet adequate boat as we took in the exotic nature. We even made a quick stop to get fresh coconuts straight from the tree. There is nothing better than a relaxing boat ride in the Amazon while drinking coconut juice directly out of the coconut.
Veinte de Enero was a lovely little community made up of about 30 mestizo families. There was a community house, a two room school, soccer/sports area, and a small Evangelical church. There were no roads, no cars,
and frankly, no industrial anything. All of the buildings, including our refuge, were up on stilts because when it rains, it really rains. You can never truly appreciate the term “Rainforest” until you have been in one during a torrential downpour. Our refuge was set up like a log cabin a little walk away from the main center. There were 8 bunk beds and 4 two person tents. I slept in a tent for the first two nights but opted for bunk beds complete with mosquito nets the other nights and here is why.
My doctor had warned me that my malaria pills could potentially give me nightmares and hallucinations, and they did. I would freak out in the middle of the night certain that a deadly venomous snake or a freaky looking spider were just waiting to sink their teeth in to me. It would take quite a while for me to calm down and realize that I really was ok and there were no creatures big or small in my tent. I decided to switch to bunk beds because I thought they would be more secure and calming to my mind. WRONG! The beds were worse, far
worse. Along with worrying about the insects that were potentially crawling into my bed through unseen holes, I was concerned with the giant rats running and fighting on the beams that were right above my head. I could also hear them on the floor, rooting through our stuff. They would scream so loudly every night I couldn’t believe that my roommates could sleep through the agony. Makes me wonder how much of that was in my head…..
While the nights were hell, the days were wonderful with plenty of nature hikes and animal sightings. We saw not one but two sloths, a baby anaconda (about 2 feet long), an equally long iguana, monkeys, alligators, tarantulas, the biggest ants I have ever seen (at least an inch), and river dolphins. The plant life was also unlike anything I have ever seen. I felt like I was in Jurassic Park more often then not and I was just waiting to see a T-Rex come out and eat me. We learned also how to climb trees the old fasion way with ropes so we could get the fresh friut at the top. I was a pro. When we weren’t wondering around the
forest we were playing cards in the community shelter or swimming in the river. We were restricted to only a small area just off the bank for swimming since it was piranha infested waters, not to mention all the other stuff lurking around. But we took our chances since there were no other means of showering and it was hotter than blazes most of the time.
We ended up leaving a day early because there was an apparent outbreak of mites in the area. You know the kind that borrows under your skin to lay its eggs. In reality, we think that we left early because our director was miserable. I mean we were all covered in mosquito bites from head to toe but she just couldn’t handle it anymore. I was sad to leave the jungle, after all it isn’t every day you go to the Amazon but the mosquitoes really were unbearable. This was a very difficult blog to write mainly because it truly is indescribable. The pictures are just going to have to do most of the talking.
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MOM
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still smiling!!
What an adventure!! Glad to see you're still smiling ~ something the world will never change, no matter the bugs, meds, climates, or sleeplessness . . . . I Love You ~ keep smiling Emmers ~ MOM :o)