It was 8am when we arrived in Iquitos, and we were determined not to
waste the day. We quickly found a cheapie hostel (Mad Mick's Bunk House,
$4!), and started planning the days excursions.
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Our dorm room. Simple. Cheap, but incredibly hot, with only 2 worthless fans to go around! |
We decided to hire a boat for 5 hours to take us around. First we went
to the butterfly reserve, where we got more than we bargained for. The
reserve had gained quite a reputation, and had started to accept all
kinds of animals. We came face-to-face with red-faced monkeys, that
seemed to enjoy checking Abra's hair for parasites. We also met Junior, a
clever little guy who has learned to steal shoelaces. We were warned,
and came prepared. We also saw lots of parrots, a leopard named Pedro,
and got to pet a baby sloath named Alejandro.
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The son of our boat driver. We were also accompanied by his wife, and baby daughter. |
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A baby birdie we found who had fallen into the water. Our boat driver saved him. |
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Baby sloth, Alejandro. |
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Checking for parasites. Guess she's clean. |
Next, out boat took us to see the indigenous people of the Boras and Yagua tribes. Each group had their own language, and around 50 members.
They put on their traditional reed skirts and clothing for the tourists,
and performed a little song and dance. The whole thing was far too
touristy, and a bit sickening. We were happy to get back to Iquitos, and
explore the city.
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The Boras Tribe. |
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Trying desperately to sell anything and everything... |
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When we arrived to the Yagua Tribe, we skipped the "dance routine" and asked to see the town instead. |
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Just before he pooped on Abra. Twice. |
The city was really like any other, except that it's cut off from the rest of
the world. The streets were packed with motocarros, ice cream shops and
tour agencies. After some research, we chose an overnight trip to the jungle, leaving the
next day.
The next morning, before out tour was to leave, we decided to check out
Iquitos' famous floating Belen district. We navigated through the Belen
market, and hired a canoe to take us around. The water was at midlevel
this time of year, so we were able to go almost everywhere with the
boat. We rowed down streets lined with houses on stilts, we passed under
churches, and across the schools soccer field, now flooded with a foot
of water. But our time was short, and by 9am we were back at the hotel
awaiting our car to the rain forest.
And then, for our ride back from the Belen district to our hostel...
The car drove us to Nauta, the only town connected to Iquitos. From
there it was another 2.5 hours by boat up the Amazon River to camp.
Our lodge was in the middle of nowhere, 15 minutes by boat away from
even the semblance of civilization, that being the native village of
Libertad.
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The niece of our guide, who we were bringing back to her small town of Libertad. |
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Currently, the river is the shower, but soon, they'll have some real showers! |
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Our room, with some nice, tight mosquito nets! |
Immediately after stepping foot on land we were swarmed by mosquitos,
"this is nothing," our guide, Falcon, warned. We didn't believe him, but
would find out soon enough the truth of his words.
After lunch and some quick catfish fishing (no luck), we were back on
the boat, riding further up river. Here, we saw why it's called a black
river, as the brown water was turned black by decaying leaves. We also
stopped off at a huge, centuries-old tree, though I forget the type.
Next, we rode back down river to see enormous lilypads, and to stop off
at Libertad.
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Our boat was named the Titanic II! |
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The massive mosquitoes! |
Libertad is a small village of 40 families, living in stilted houses,
and descendents of the Cocoman indigenous people. They get very few
tourist visitors, and as such don't wear traditional clothing, or put on
a show as did the Yagua and Boras. They're just a neat, tight-knit
little community cut off from civilization, living a very simple
fishing-village life. They were happy to show us their homes. And I came
very close to buying my own rambler for the amazing price of $300!
Though it was a bit of a fixer-upper.
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My house. |
As it started to get dark, we headed back to our lodge for dinner. Then, after dinner,
we were back on the boat for a night safari in hopes of finding cayman
and snakes. After fighting our way through a mangrove forest, and a
water-lettuce (water plant) covered lake, our safari offered up few
animals besides tons of mosquitoes. Having seen tons of cayman in Venezuela, we weren't too disappointed. The scenery itself was enough to aw us.
Back at the lodge again, we left on our walking night jungle safari, mainly in search
of insects. And while we did see several tarantulas, we also found lots
more mosquitoes. I was brilliant enough to have forgotten my flashlight,
so I wandered around a pitch black jungle, with only the faintest of
light coming from Abra behind me. We were back at the lodge and in bed
by 10:30pm, since we had an early morning bird watching expedition the next day.
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Spiders on the ceiling of the bathroom. |
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Baby tarantula. |
We were out of bed by 6am, and before we could even have breakfast, we
were back in the boat, this time looking for birds. While we did see the
occasional avian, it was mostly a bird-listening safari, and we got to
test Falcons knowledge on all the different mating calls. We did manage
to spot a sloth hanging high in the trees.
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That's a sloth there in the middle. See it?! |
After breakfast (a big delicious pancake!) we went back into the jungle on our main safari. We were
looking mainly for monkeys, but once again, mostly found mosquitos, and tons of
them. Abra and I had each applied 2 kinds of repellents, which did
nothing to stave off the swarms of mosquitos behind each of us. I walked
behind Abra and would see at least a dozen of them land on her back
at any one time, not to mention the hundreds swarming around.
They seemed to really like my elbows, and I found myself constantly
doing some sick variation of the "heads, and shoulders, knees and toes,
knees and toes" routine. But figting them was useless. I could slap my
elbows every 20 seconds and consistently come up with 2 or 3 dead ones.
Falcon introduced us to natural repellents, including a tree called
white garlic, whose bark smelled exactly like garlic, which you wipe all
over yourself. Also, apparently crushing termites on your skin is supposed to deter
mosquitos as well.
In the end, nothing worked, and we ended up smelling like a terrible
combination of mosquito repellent, garlic, sweat, and were covered in dead
termites. We weren't sad when the safari ended 3 hours after it began.
In fact, we were pushing to end it earlier but Falcon seemed to have
gotten lost on the way back.
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TARZAN! |
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Letting all the termites crawl onto her hand to repel the mosquitoes... Real excited... |
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Water from a tree. Who woulda thought! |
When we did arrive back, we were happy to share our stories, and bites with the fresh group of tourists who had just arrived.
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Blurry.... but you get the point. Her butt was covered in them too, but wasn't quite appropriate for the blog! |
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The photos don't do them justice. |
After lunch we were back on the boat doing the whole trip in reverse. We
arrived back in Iquitos at 6pm, had more fried rice for dinner, and
took a much needed cold water shower.
Unfortunately, the coolness did not last, and within minutes of getting
out, we were covered in sweat again. We sought relief on the balcony, as
our room was stifling, without any ventilation, and 2 worthless fans.
We tried to sleep, but found ourselves swimming in out own perspiration.
Throughout the muggy night we each took periodic reliefs to the
bathroom, to look for inspiration on the graffiti-infested walls. The
best I could find was:
"The difference between a tourist and a traveler is that a tourist knows
not where he has been, while a traveler knows not where he will go."
Nevertheless we had to sleep, as our flight the next morning needed us at the airport at 7:30am. That would bring us to Lima, where we
boarded a 21 hour luxury bus to Cusco in southern Peru.
Gotta love traveling!
Posted by Hans, Photos by Abra.
This might be the a repeat, but the computer said it didn't post....
ReplyDeleteNow that was real traveling. At least, it is the way that I most enjoy it, other then the mosquitoes. I'm considering changing my plans and going to Peru, but I think that I'll bring mosquito nets to wear. I'll still get bitten, but it should be less. Plus, how about timing it for better times in the year that the weather is better.
Your photos remind me very much of Laos and Cambodia. Interesting. Even the prices seem comparable. nice
Abs, you look like you're developing a nervous disorder of constantly patting yourself down in the video that Hans took.
I wished for more stories behind the pictures, but they were still great. I loved seeing how the people live and some people too.
Hans, you missed the deal of your life. A house of your own that you can easily own free and clear. And I bet the villagers would have helped you find a lady, so that you too can have one of those cute babies, very very soon.
Its 2:30, I'm at the Crisis Clinic, and tired.
I loved this blog, but I am really enjoying your experiences you two travelers of mine, but I still prefer to think of you as vagabonds. I just like the word.
love you, dad