Blogs from Amazon Rainforest, Iquitos, Loreto, Peru, South America - page 5

I´m well-rested and well-fed and ready to write more blog (at least until we head out for dinner). We last left our heroine feeling recovered and rejuvinated in the rainforest (well that´s a stretch...). The second day of clinic went much better than the first. I have to get the names of these villages. All I know is that we never made it to the actual Amazon river, but to the tributaries. But really, seen one rainforest village seen ´em all. I was actually hungry and able to eat breakfast. After a modest breakfast of a runny egg (that was AFTER asking them to cook it completely, you should have seen it before!)and the best white bread I´ve ever had (wonder bread tastes better in the amazon after 24hrs of not eating), we set off for ... read more

I´ll put this out in installments since I don´t seem to have time to sit down and write it all out at once... Written yesterday but published today: What an interesting 4 days... Just got back today to Iquitos -- still in the Amazon, but it´s a pretty developed city (especially compared to what we just came from). At my last writing, I was sitting in an internet cafe much like this one (a little seedier and without air conditioning) on the other side of town. I met the guys out for some drinks and had a nice relaxing night in the square by the river. The next morning we took a bus about 2 hours outside the "city" to Nauta -- the farthest major city that you can drive to towards where we were going. ... read more

Just made it to Yurimaguas after leaving Iquitos 4 days ago. Whew... such a relief. I have really enjoyed the landscape and local culture, but traveling alone and speaking as little spanish as I do has beentrying. In the past 4 days, I have only come across 3 people who speak English, often going days at a time speaking only spanish! I have found myself having the same conversation with all the locals, as my spanish is very limited. It has been extremely humbling, although frustrating at times. People speak so quickly, that it is almost fruitless to attempt to understand them at my level of understanding. My initial plan was to take a cargo ship from Iquitos, get off in Lagunas for a few days and then proceed all the way to Yurimaguas... which is ... read more

The Amazon - Planning Ahead and Looking Back April, 2008 It is late April and I am in full countdown mode. Twenty-five more commuting days until retirement. Less than two months from today I’ll step off a plane in Puerto Ayacucho, the capital of the Venezuelan state of Amazonas, to start a two-month river trip. Anxious, I click onto Weatherunderground, check the weather in Puerto Ayacucho (hot and wet) then follow the satellite photos from Puerto Ayacucho up the Orinoco, through the Casiquiare to the Rio Negro, down the Rio Negro to Manaus, down the Amazon to Santarém, up the Tapajós to Fordlândia - my basic trip plan. A money question intrudes into my thoughts and I jump to the Lonely Planet forum to post a question about parallel market exchange rates in the Caracas airport. ... read more

Day 9 - Lesmahagow to Peru For the past few days we have been pretty much been on a high. The opening of the centre at Ica; participation in extreme sports; wildlife spotting; singing and dancing at Kusi and meeting people and boys whose lives have been changed for the better. We have been witnessing the successes and the results of many years of hard work and dedication. And then we came to today. This morning we were taken to a place in Iquitos called Belen. Belen is Spanish for Bethlehem. But Belen is not a place with any hope, any joy, any spirit. Belen, quite simply, is a place which should not exist. At all. It is poverty, squlaor, deprivation and tragedy of the highest order. It is a place where vultures live and circle ... read more