Amazon Adventure

Classes for the semester finished up last week, so we all had a little over a week of free time here in Peru. Earlier this week six of my friends and I went to an isolated city in the northeast part of Peru named Iquitos. It has a population of over 400,000 people, but is inaccessible by road. So on Monday we boarded our plane and took off for the rainforest.

We had actually made very few plans for the trip before we flew there. We had looked at a few hostels online and a few river tour options, but we decided just to wait until we got there before we booked anything. We had been warned that some online hostels don't actually exist and they just steal your credit card information. The trip at the beginning was a shot in the dark more or less, but we hit the bullseye.

Emily with her rolling luggage. Hilarious.

When we got out of the airport we were swarmed by taxi drivers. We ended up going with one driver who had two cars for us. This man was the nicest driver I have had in Peru. As a matter of fact, the people of Iquitos as a whole were extremely kind. As we made our way to central plaza of the city, our driver explained to us that most tourists just go strait to the jungle. There isn't really much to see in the city. It is a very poor place, but at the same time it held a happy atmosphere. Our driver took us to a few jungle tour places. Within two hours of arriving in Iquitos and after a couple short presentations on what they had to offer, we decided to go to a lodge about an hour downstream. We grabbed our bags and left right away.

Iquitos is currently experiencing high floods. The Amazon River there is the highest that it has been in forty years. To get to the dock we had to walk along 100 yards of floating planks. Once at the dock, we boarded a little boat and headed down the river.

To get to the lodge our boat driver had to wind his way through many trees and it was impressive to watch him work. The lodge was nice. Everything had palm roofs and mosquito screens. All the meals were included and didn't taste bad at all. There was running water, beds, hammocks and from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. we had electricity.








The first afternoon we got back into the boat and headed to a place where there were a lot of monkeys and parrots. The monkeys and parrots aren't technically pets or in captivity, but they are very used to people. When we first got there, we struggled to get some good views of them and take some pictures. However, when we got to the trees our guide broke out some bananas, and the monkeys were in our boat, climbing over everything and everyone looking for food. They were extremely cute. A man brought us a parrot and a snake as well. Most of us held the boa and bird.

Nicki freaking out.

As the sun went down we chilled on the boat and watched a beautiful sunset. Before it got dark we went back to the lodge and ate supper. That night we went out with our rubber boots, flashlights and bug spray, and explored the jungle in the dark. The trees were enormous and the vegetation was overwhelming. Our guide led us with his machete and we saw tons of different bugs, frogs, and even a little snake. The army ants were impressive to watch. The spiders were very interesting and we even saw a couple of tarantulas. The night hike was a blast.

Little snake at night. She's less freaked out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mean looking poisonous Demon Spider

Tarantula at the lodge.

The second day we went out to see some indigenous jungle people of the Yahua tribe. The little camp they had set up was as far as they let tourists go into their territory. These people seemed much more indigenous to me than the people I met in La Merced. The women didn't wear any tops, the children were naked, and the men wore grass skirts and feather hats. They spoke very little Spanish. After introducing themselves and telling their story, first in Yahua then in broken Spanish, they showed us their blowguns. These were actually very accurate and the could stick a wooden needle over an eighth of an inch into a wooden doll. They let us all take a few shots with the guns. They were so accurate that even we were able to hit the doll dead center from over twenty feet away. After that we danced a few dances and the we bought some things that they had made themselves. With that money they can buy things such as soap and medicine. It was an enjoyable and interesting part of the trip.

 After lunch we went out in the boat and looked for more wildlife. We spotted a few iguanas and birds. We even saw a famous pink dolphin of the amazon. The dolphin swam around the boat at a distance and would pop up every once in a while to breath.

That night we went into the jungle with our flashlights again. After that we lounged around in the hammocks, listened to the rain, and played cards.

The third and final day we went fishing for piranha. We went to a spot where they are known to swim. We baited our little hooks and put them in the water. We immediately felt something biting at our bait, but when we pulled up the hook was stripped clean without any piranha. We fished for about an hour and only accomplished feeding the piranha. It was a little disappointing because whatever we caught we were going to take back and cook. I really wanted to eat some piranha. Even though we returned empty handed, it was still fun.

After lunch we went to a place where alligators, piranha, and giant catfish are held in reservoirs. When we threw the food into the piranha pond the water would exploded in their feeding frenzy. The alligators in the amazon are smaller than in Florida, but still fun to see none the less. Some giant catfish swam in a pond with enormous lily pads more than 5 feet in diameter. The fish themselves were huge, six feet long and 180 lbs. of solid meat. The wildlife in the Amazon is amazing.        

After that we returned to Iquitos, got a hotel, and walked around the tourist part of town. After seeing some shops and a good meal, we were all tired and headed for bed. The next morning everyone else headed out early, but I stayed in town because I had a later flight back to Lima. So I walked down a street that followed the river. I found a little floating bar and enjoyed an Inca Cola and a Pisco sour on the Amazon. That afternoon I caught a taxi to the airport and flew back to Lima. This may have been the best trip that I have taken in my time here. Iquitos and Cuzco are neck for the tittle of best trip. At any rate, my time in the jungle was amazing and I will never forget it.