The Rest of the Peru Trip

---

So the volunteer portion concluded with a trip to Cusco and Machu Picchu. In Lima we had volunteered in maternity wards, schools, constructing that schoolhouse, the physiotherapy clinic, etc. To get to Machu Picchu we flew into Cusco, took a train to Aquas Calientes, and a bus up to the ruins. Wish I had the time to do the full hike up. Spent the full day at the ruins. Hiked up Machu Picchu mountain -I highly recommend it. Quite the journey though for someone not used to the altitude.
Returned to Lima and the rest of the volunteers went home. I remained and went on a road trip down to Ica, Paracas, Huacachina, and Lunahuana. The Paracas Islands were interesting - took a boatride out to check out the wide range of species living there... seals, sealions, penguins, birds of all sorts etc. They call it the Poor Mans Galapagos. Huacachina is a little hippie/backpacker oasis town in the middle of the desert - lots of sand boarding and dune buggy riding. Lunahuana is more mountainous known for its river rafting. Also checked out a couple Pisco Distilleries in the area.

After a week long road trip, we returned the car to Lima and I set off for Tarapoto, Peru. A city on the edge of the Jungle from where I was supposed to carry on to Yurimaguas and catch a launcha (public transportation river boat) down the Amazon River to Iquitos. Unfortunately, however the day after I arrived, the locals started protests and the indigenous population of the jungle emerged to stage roadblocks and protests. I was out visiting the Ahuashiyacu waterfall at the time and just barely was able to make it back into town - my driver pulled a mad ditch-swerve-and-dash manoeuvre to get around the road block. So public transportation was on strike, all the shops and restaurants closed down in support of the strike, and nobody could come or go from the city by road. So I stayed there for a week hoping that things would open up and I could carry on with my plan. Since everything was closed (including restaurants) the woman who owned the guesthouse I stayed at (Alojamento July) was kind enough to cook meals for me as well. I made friends with her daughter Rosio (from Lima, but lived in the US for a while as well) who took me out motorcycling, to the pool at a nearby hotel, out for a night on the town, and explained alot of the issues the locals were having. The locals were upset about unfair taxing, corruption, and government officials taking advantage. The indigenous population came to protest the governments decision to sell land to the US for clear cutting and oil drilling. Rosio explained that it was quite rare for the indigenous to come out at all never mind in such extreme numbers, since they live nomadically in tiny groups. While I never felt in danger during the experience, I also didn't approach the rallying at town square. I did, however, have a good view of it from a hammock on the roof of the guest house.

After a week, they went back to normal operations, but by then it was too late to do the launcha to Iquitos with my timeline. So I flew instead ($100). Arrived at the Hobo Hideout in Iquitos and immediately agreed to go on a jungle trip ($200 US) with three English boys and Gerson (a local guide who I had previously read about online). If you can, contact Gerson directly for a quote - the hostel gets a fairly large cut of the money. So we spent a few nights in a stilted building (or several buildings connected by boardwalks) after taking a boat ride for a couple hours from Nauta from where we went out in canoes to catch caimen, looking for animals & reptiles etc. Saw lots of parrots, chameleons, sloths, tarantulas, birds, monkeys, and tons of other creatures. We then went camping in the forest on what seemed like the only spot of unsubmerged land in the whole jungle (it was rainy season and it floods... thats why they build everything on stilts). Gerson took us to an ancient tree as thick as a house with a tree-fort in it for looking across above the jungle canopy. With the time of year though, we had to trudge through neck deep jungle water to get to it, which was somewhat unnerving as he mentioned anacondas, electric eels, and those pee-hole-fish were common in the area. The last night we stayed in Gerson's home village where his uncle was carving a boat, kids paddled between buildings on hollowed logs, his cousins came to sell us jewelry, he took us to the local pub, and everything had a much more homey feel. He even took us to a local shamen where we had the opportunity to try Ayahuasca. Interestingly the locals all had huge fears of the jungle - mostly of snakes. They say every year someone goes in and never comes back which is why they usually trek in pairs with their machetes ready.
Back in Iquitos I went down to the waterfront near the hostel where there was quite the view and some tourist shops with interesting knick-knacks. My last day there I went down to the floating market town of Belen. The huge town is built to float with the changing waters. A motor boat ride through Belen showed buildings on stilts sunk under high waters, laundry lines between floating buildings, floating bars, and churches etc. The packed marketplace was also worth the visit. Gerson also took me to a zoo just outside of town (by boat). I felt a little mislead at one point because the price he quoted me was only to get to the zoo, and didn't include the return boat price. It could have been a miscommunication, but I arrived at the dock to head out and was confused to find them asking for more money than I had anticipated. After balking and hesitating to this new price, they lowered it significantly. So haggle! Show hesitation! They'll probably lower the asking price. But the zoo was pretty cool. Animals seemed treated well - for a zoo. And I got to hold the sloths and anaconda and play with the monkeys.

Flew back to Lima, stayed a night at the volunteer retreat house, went out for a day with the next group, then flew back home. Transportation is difficult to the airport - many taxi drivers charge through the roof if you are any distance from the airport.

---