Iquitos

Disembarking from the small aeroplane was a little like walking into a steam room.  It was raining heavily as we drove from the airport into Iquitos. Iquitos is the largest city in The Northern Peruvian Amazon jungle and is only accessible by air or water.  It reminded me more of Asia than South America. Rickshaws and motorbikes buzzed around us on the badly maintained rain slick roads. It was so humid, even with all the windows in the taxi open. Jungle plants, palms and trees creeping through the cracks in the pavements and low rise buildings.

Once installed in my hostel I ventured out briefly to go to the bank and also to do a recce for a restaurant for the evening. I can’t put my finger on it but I feel a little unsettled by Iquitos.  The people look different, the atmosphere is different. Perhaps it’s the heat and the rain, but everything seems a little more frenzied, a bit aggressive.

One thing I notice is people wear a lot less clothes. Many of the women are provocatively dressed regardless of their shape, age or size and the men stroll around topless and in some cases shoeless. I can’t decide whether this is down to choice or poverty.

I am met the next day by Osmar who is to be my jungle guide for the next 5 days. Our first stop is the infamous district of Belen.  It is a floating shanty town, consisting of hundreds of huts built on rafts which rise and fall according to the water level of the river.  Approximately 10 thousand people live there and in the morning people arrive in their canoes from nearby villages to sell their produce from hut to hut or in the Belen market.

The Belen market is raucous and crowded.  All kinds of strange and exotic products are sold here. There were many stalls selling Amazon herbal medicine, bottles of “dragons blood” and dolphin fat as well as numerous forms of natural Viagra. The food part of the market was also astonishing and shocking in equal measure. The stalls were so crowded together they seemed to be on top of each other. There were people and animals everywhere. So many exotic fruits and vegetable mingled with stalls sadly selling turtle eggs and chopped up turtles as well as alligator and lots of other types of fish.  There were snakes heads for good luck charms and blocks of brown sugar cane with flies all over it as well as rolls of dried meat and fish. It was quite overwhelming. It was almost mediaeval. I had been told not to take my camera or to wear a watch as theft is all too common even with a guide.

After the market visit, we had a fantastic ceviche in a local restaurant made from fresh water tiger cat fish and served with boiled yucca and sweet potato.  We then went to get our boat to take us to the lodge. The dirty, little port was called Huequito and was little more than a jetty at the bottom of some concrete steps.  The boat was a turquoise blue; metal hulled and roofed speed boat with open sides.

The lodge is set 110km east of Iquitos on the Amazon River. It is dry season so the water is approximately 15m lower than in the wet season. At places the river is 3km wide.  There were some green islands dotted in the river due to the low water level where the locals grow rice in the dry season.  The banks of the river are steps of mud and sand up to the edge where the jungle begins. Every so often there is a thatched dwelling on stilts.

The speed boat is the fastest public transport on the river. Occasionally we pass rusty, metal ferry boats with their cargoes of goods in the hulls and lower levels, sleeping cabins in the middle levels and then a level of hammocks, swinging lethargically in the warm breeze for the second class passengers. These boats take days if not weeks to reach their destinations.

Now and then there is a local fisherman nearer to the banks in a dugout canoe. The river is mud brown and smells. The rubbish that pollutes it near the city is quickly replaced by organic materials like floating trees that need to be avoided by our small boat.  Once in a while the motor is turned off to remove things jamming the propeller. It is very hot.

Two hours later we arrive at the entrance for the lodge. It is just a small wooden jetty and a thatched hut on the bank.  We disembark and have a 5 minute walk through a tropical orchard of pineapple, banana and citrus trees.

The lodge is made up of 2 main wooden buildings on stilts with woven and thatched palm roofs. There are mosquito nets in place of all the windows and doors. One building is the dining area and kitchen and this leads on to via a wooden walkway the accommodation. The rooms are simply furnished but comfortable and surprisingly have ensuite (cold) showers.

There is jungle all around us, and as it gets dark the animal noises are amplified. There is a noisy chorus of cicada as well as birds, frogs and monkeys.  Despite the heat, I manage to sleep really well and wake early to get ready in my wellington boots and liberal coating of 100% mosquito repellent for my 1^st excursion into the jungle.

Osmar, myself and Tedy a local man from the nearby village of Oran head down river in one of the lodges speed boats. Every so often Tedy waves his wooden stick towards the shore and the boat is steered towards the bank. He points towards the tree tops. Eventually using a pair of binoculars and with plenty of guidance I eventually pick out what he saw from a moving boat 25m from the bank. It is a 3 toed sloth, sleeping in the top of the tree.  We continue downstream for about 15 minutes, the boat stopping and starting whenever there an animal or bird of note. Eventually we pull up to the bank and head off into the jungle.

Tedy

 Even in the shade it is boiling hot and in my long trousers, long sleeve t shirt and wellies I am soaked with sweat in about 15 minutes. The humidity is 85%. There has recently been a storm and many trees and palms have been blown over so there are plenty of obstacles to climb over. Tedy goes in front with his machete, cutting a path where possible. Both Tedy and Osmar can mimic the sounds of many of the animals and it is quite amazing how they can almost call the animals to us so we can get a good look. There are fire ants everywhere and it is hard not to get bitten. The jungle is quite impressive and we were lucky enough to see 2 more sloths, one which was actually moving and also 3 variety of monkeys, night owl monkeys, pygmy marmoset and saddle back tamarind.  There were lots of interesting trees and vines and in between all this many varieties of bananas, cocoa, papaya, pineapple and tropical flowers.  It was hot and tiring but worthwhile. Later that afternoon, once we had returned to the lodge I fell asleep in a hammock in the hammock room, with views of the jungle.

There is only me and an American couple staying at the lodge. It’s quite odd in a nice way. It’s nice to have the place to ourselves. We both have our own guides so I see them at meal times but other than that it’s like having a private jungle estate. The lodge is not luxurious. It has no electricity. It is owned by a young American biologist and falconers with eco-tourism in mind. There are two very impressive birds of prey in the grounds that he rescued. One is a White crested eagle and one is an ornate hawk eagle. There is also a pond with turtles and another with Caymans.

The next day Osmar and I go Piranha fishing. We are dropped off by Tedy in the speed boat about 15km up river. We have a short walk inland to a fresh water lake where there is a wooden dugout canoe. Armed with wooden poles for rods and a lump of steak for bait we paddle out to the far side of the lake where there is some shade. Osmar cuts the meat up with the machete and we start to fish. Piranhas are greedy little fish so we have landed out first within seconds. There are 2 types silver and red bellied. They are quite comical little things, but the teeth are razor sharp and you have to watch your fingers when removing the hook in case you get bitten.  We spend a really pleasant morning bobbing about in the shade fishing and chatting. We don’t bother keeping any of our catch as Piranhas are not very nice to eat.

Fishing is one on the main sources of food and income here and many of the locals are fishermen who fish the main Amazon with nets for several days at a time and then make the journey to Iquitos to sell their catch at market. Every so often we see a make shift plastic tarpaulin tent on the shore line which is temporary shelter from the sun and the rain for the fishermen.

In the afternoon we go out on the speed boat again, this time we are dolphin spotting. There are 2 types of fresh water dolphin in the river. Blue and pink. We see lots of both. They are much smaller than salt water dolphins and it’s easy to sit and watch then playfully dive around the boat in twos threes and fours. We also see plenty of birds on the shore line and the local village football league squad in their boat returning from a local tournament.

The following day we go by boat up river for about half an hour to a different part of the jungle. We had had heavy rain the day before and the ground is really waterlogged and the atmosphere even more humid than usual. The rain forest is really interesting with even more different trees and palms and animals than I’d seen on the previous days. After 2 hours of waking I am soaked through with sweat and it is a real relief to get back on the boat and get a breeze. We visit some local fisherman on the way back to the lodge that have caught some really interesting looking fish. Post lunch I have my now regular siesta in the hammock room…. It really is too hot to do anything but sleep or read between 1pm and 3.30pm. That evening we take the boat up river again, bird and dolphin spotting with binoculars and we are also lucky enough to see a fantastic sunset. After dinner we explore the grounds of the lodge by torch light, which reveal a whole new wild life world of alien like frogs, tarantulas and the red twinkling eyes of the Caymans (alligators) in the swamp.

Unlike Iquitos the atmosphere up river has been nothing but friendly. When we go out in the boat the local people on the river banks or in other boats always wave or say hello or come over for a chat. Several times we have been offered fish or a slice of water melon by strangers.

The days roll into a routine of being in the boat and wildlife spotting. It is too hot to be in a hurry. A little bit of paradise is to be found strolling along a sandy beach on a fertile Island sand bank in the middle of the amazon where fields of rice lead onto fields of maize with bananas and guavas ripe to eat from the trees and then floating upon a quiet lake fishing and taking turns with the binoculars to spot the incredible wildlife in the surrounding forest.

My final afternoon is spent visiting the local village of Oran. It is a tranquil little paradise. The main economy his fishing or agriculture and live seems very laid back. The lodge also gives employment to around 25 people in this community. There is a small clinic, and a junior and secondary school. There are no motor vehicles except for boats and there are plenty off volley ball nets and a concrete football pitch complete with stadium seating. Football is a big part of daily life and local teams compete with each other on a daily basis for money. As we are there a 6 a side game is quickly organised, to include Osmar. Bets are taken, about 25p a person and a game of approximatly 10 minutes each way ensues. Its quite exciting and there are various lively exchanges re penalites. The audience are the referees and I guess a bit biased according to which side theyve bet on. Its almost dark by the time we get back to the lodge.

The village of Oran

I feel quite sad to leave the next day, but on the way we stop to visit a sugar cane plantation and mill. The owner makes his own rum which we stop to taste, before heading back to Iquitos.

Sugar cane press at the rum factory



Rum or fire water tasting



Having spent a final night in Iquitos, I think my first impressions were wrong. It is a bit edgy, but its not agressive. Its just really hot and people like to stare.