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Published: August 14th 2014
Today was a day of huge contrast....city to jungle. We woke early in our hotel in Lima for breakfast and to get a taxi back to the airport. Lima traffic is notoriously bad and the trip that took us well over an hour last night was only 30 minutes this morning. Apparently morning rush hour doesn't get going here until after 8am.
Our flight out to the northern town of Iquitos took about 90 minutes and it was obvious from the moment we dropped through the clouds that we were in a very different world. Iquitos has somewhere around 500,000 inhabitants and it claims to be the worlds largest town that cannot be reached by road. Everything that is here arrives by boat or plane. From the air it is obvious how isolated it is....there is jungle everywhere and then beside the confluence of the Amazon and a tributary lies this big town. The airport was small but pretty modern and we were greeted in the baggage claim area by our Explorama guide for the trip, Armando. After we got our bags we jumped into a van with Armando who gave us a quick tour of Iquitos. It's a bustling
town that reminded me of aspects of Vietnam and Thailand. There were thousands of motorbikes and tuk-tuks everywhere you looked. Driving rules here seem optional. Drive on the right....unless you'd like to try the left!
The ride to the Explorama dock took maybe 30 minutes. Since we only have three days we booked into their closest lodge called Ceiba Tops which is about 25 miles down stream from Iquitos. The fast boat ride took 45 minutes and once we were out of town it was just what you'd expect. The Amazon is huge and muddy. There are shacks along the heavily wooded banks and there were kids playing in the river here and there. The water level has recently dropped 20 feet and the banks were strewn with debris, so it's hard to call it beautiful but it is astounding.
On arrival at the lodge we had a half hour to get changed before our first walk into the jungle with Armando. Just five minutes from the lodge we came across a group of small capuchin monkeys. And the rest of the hour long walk was the same....one after another of unusual animals and plants. We are not
really deep in the wild here so I have to imagine that the "real" jungle is even more impressive. Perhaps the most interesting animal we saw was a poison dart frog....a tiny frog that tribes used to create a poison called curare that they'd use on darts in blow pipes!
Our lodge is relatively luxurious with air conditioned rooms, hot water, a pool and wifi in the bar. Not exactly slumming it, but this is also no luxury resort. The kids jumped in the pool after our walk, and things got interesting quickly when a group of 60 American doctors and med students from Michigan State University arrived and took over the pool . They're on a medical mission offering free treatment to locals. Ben and Carys found themselves playing dodgeball with a pool of 25 year olds and loved every minute of it.
Supper was a basic buffet of fish and pork washed down with a couple of Cusquena beers. Armando gave us the plan for tomorrow that starts with a 730am breakfast before we go out on the Amazon to fish for piranhas! Sounds like fun. Tonight the challenge might be sleeping through the animal noises
outside our window.
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Michael Summers
non-member comment
Jungle
Great and how exciting. Keep the pics and updates flowing. I look forward to the latest news each morning. Have fun. Never been to Peru, but as you know Dan And Lizzie were there several years ago. Love to you all. D/M/FF