Bienvenidos a la Selva

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Floating down the amazon

There are two ways to get to the northern amazon in Peru - flying or by boat because the city Iquitos is surrounded by water. The cheaper route is by boat so that was our obvious choice. However, it is not as glamorous as one may think. It was not a river boat cruise - it was a cargo ship packed to the brim with cows, pigs, chickens, tons of bananas, motorcycles, hundreds of Peruvians who live in villages along the river and 10 crazy tourists. After an intense 23 hours of traveling by bus and combi, we arrived to Yurimaguas, the port town that the cargo ships leave from. We arrived with an hour before departure, which also happened to be smack in the middle of the siesta. We quickly ran around to different little shops to buy the necessities - toilet paper, water, mug, bowl, spoon, hammock, crackers, chocolate and rum. Looking back now, we definitely should have bought more rum. We thought the boat adventure was one and half days, but it turned out to be 2 and half days. At first, we were so excited. It truly felt like the river cruise ride at Disneyland. I couldn't believe that we were actually floating between the amazon jungle. We saw pink river dolphins and caymans. And to sit in your hammock and watch the jungle go by was incredible! However, with every stop we made along the river more people and cargo loaded on. It slowly became more and more intense to be on the boat, but oh so entertaining. People started to steal space from others - we were definite and obvious victims. One man decided to set up a complete sound system about five yards from our hammocks that constantly blared the same reggatone hits. This same man also had the talent to open beer bottles and walnuts with his teeth. Another favorite passenger of mine was a man that constantly walked around in itty bitty shorts with a radio in his fanny pack, also blaring repeat songs. It was amazing to just watch the jungle go by and the passengers entertain themselves. You also had to pay attention to the time in order to make sure you got in line early enough to get food. They served bread and rice water for breakfast. Rice, fried banana and some type of meat for lunch. For dinner, a broth soup with oats, a fried banana and if you were a lucky a piece of carrot. On the second day, there was a lot of commotion in the breakfast line. There were about 20 people gathered around a man on the floor. Apparently, the man had died. The crowd parted as two men lifted up the mans hammock and carried him off as the boat stopped. And that was that. Luckily, that was the biggest drama that our boat faced along the voyage. Once we arrived to Iquitos and we pushed ourselves through the livestock and crowds of people to get off the boat, a shower never sounded so good!

Iquitos

This is where most people leave to explore the jungle. It is a town completely dominated about motos (no cars) and lots of popsicle stands, which are well needed since it was insanely hot and humid. There is actually fruit that when frozen has a similar taste to a fudgiscle - loved it! Before heading into the wild, we went to see a cover band called Explosion that drew huge crowds of Iquitienos. I have never seen so many motos in one parking lot. Luckily two local girls that we made friends brought us there as passengers on their motos - we never would have found it! It was a place definitely not on the tourist path.

The Jungle - Lago Anaconda

We spent three days and two nights at a lodge about 140 kilometers down the river from Iquitos, basically in the middle of no where. No electricity, no people, just two wilderness guides, a dog named Piranha, Emily and I, a huge amount of birds, animals and even more insects. It was amazing. The first day, we went on a jungle hike where we spotted squirrel monkeys and howler monkeys. Emily and I also canoed around the lagoon area, where the lodge was located and got stuck in a down pour. We got even more soaked because we were laughing so hard that our canoe got stuck in the lilies that covered the lagoon, leaving us completely soaked after being out in the jungle for less than 3 hours! We cruised down another river where we had about 10 pink river dolphins following our boat because they are intrigued/annoyed by the sound of the motor. On this trip we also saw an anaconda, which wasn't as scary as I expected. The next day we went bird watching early in the morning. My absolute favorite is locally called tuky tuky - it is a deep maroon with light yellow wings and long legs. Instead of tucking its legs under when it flies, it just lets them stretch out as it awkwardly flies low above the lily pads. We also went fishing for piranhas. I only caught one really small one and a sardine...😞 We went in search of cayman, which turned out to be a three out adventure in a small canoe in complete darkness along the river. The guide ended up catching a baby one and we got to hold it before letting the freaked out creature loose. Poor baby! On our last day in the jungle, which happened to be my birthday, we went on a hike and spotted a boa constrictor. Rather than letting the thing be, the guides decided it was a good idea to chop down the tree with a machete so that we could hold it, even though Emily and I protested. The snake ended up grabbing a nearby tree as it home feel to the ground, bringing down a large branch that came inches away from falling on the guide's head. It turned out to be 6 feet long and way to strong for Emily and I to hold, but touching it was quite risky enough for me.

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