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Published: December 1st 2013
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Amazon monkey
He didn't give his name... After short 2hr flight from Lima we landed in Iquitos in Northern Peru. This is a unique city of over half million people which can only be reached by plane or river. It has a road connecting it with Nauta 70 km away by good road but all other roads are dirt tracks. Most transport is by tuctuc or m/c and the vast majority of houses are very basic wood and corrugated iron. The pop are mostly river / forest Indians who have moved to the city in search of education or a better life.. Having seen the native riverside villages, I think this was maybe a mistake for most, as the people who remain on the river appear to be very content with their lot. They do not use cash, but bring their produce to market by canoe to trade for essentials that they can't grow, fish, or make. A short trip to the boat dock and we were on our way up the Amazon....
Our transport and bed for the next 3 nights was the M/V Aqua...a purpose built boat to accommodate 24 guests in 12 cabins, each with a window the entire size of the cabin, facing
Michael Jackson monkey
That's the nickname the guide gives this monkey. Probably cos he's spaced out on coca leaves. out to the river. This trip exceeded all our expectations, in all respects. The cabin was fantastic with air con and a lovely en suite bathroom. The food was out of this world...all local produce, and all drink was inclusive!!. The crew were superb, and each day we split into 3 groups of about 8, and set out about 7.30 in motorized canoes with a guide, on a 3-4 hr expedition, and again after lunch.
Needless to say, these were the highlights of the trip. We saw every kind of wildlife, inc 5 types of monkeys, sloths, anteaters, turtles, river dolphins (pink & grey), anacondas...I held one! Tarantulas ( I neither held or ate one or them), fish bats (the size of pigeons), and countless amazing birds. I swam with dolphins in the middle of the river about an hour after catching 5 pyrannah on a hook baited with meat at the edge of the river. That are carrion scavengers and weren't interested in me....tho we didn't see the caimen until dusk, or I may have thought twice about the dip! The 'jungle symphony' at dusk was just amazing...listened to in silence on the canoe drifting on an amazonian
Floating market
Selling carvings & crafts made from nuts etc lake watching the sunset and distant lightning at the same time, whilst sipping a camocamo cocktail!
Another highlight was visiting a living jungle village and seeing the local kids being educated in their school hut. Their facilities were very basic by our standards, but they were clean, well dressed, polite and happy. We brought some novelty pens from a Lima market and they were chuffed to bits. It was curious to hear that many had been given European / american names, so among the many unpronounceable, their was a Tracy, Emma, Sandra, James, and a Willie! Weird.
All in all, it was an amazing few days with only a few mozzy bites, a close encounter with a nasty spider but no bite, and no lasting physical damage that we know of yet. It made us feel both very humble and very priveledged at the same time. A very hard act to follow, but we will keep trying!
The trip onward to NZ via Lima and Santiago, Chile was eventful and long, with the flight out of Iquitos canceled due to a bird strike on the incoming plane. We had to wait until the last minute to learn
that we had secured a seat on the last flight out that night, getting into Lima at 2am, in time to get our connection to Santiago that morning. That flight was delayed 3 hours but luckily our connection to Auckland was not until much later, so having spent all of 4 hrs in Chile ( enough for an empanada and a couple of beers), we boarded for NZ, and arrived in Auckland about 2 days after leaving the Amazon....3 if you factor in crossing the date line!
So arrived in Auckland tired ( well I did get woken on plane with the obligatory 'is there a doctor on the plane?' thing) at 04.30, but not too tired to notice the beautiful freshness of the city air, with such a contrast to the humidity and heat of the rainforest, and the grimy, smoggy bustle of Lima. But more of that next blog.......
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