We were hungry so four of us went to a restaurant and I ordered a crepe/pancake and a scoop of ice cream (and I complain that I’m gaining weight/losing muscle!).
I roomed with the other Jessie and Rita (from Minnesota).
The next morning we for breakfast we had papaya juice, tough bread with jam, less-than-appetizing eggs with ham, and weak tea. Needless I didn’t eat very much.
We left the hotel and went to the river where we took a 40-minute boat ride to the lodge where we were based for the weekend. When we arrived at the dock and Sandro told us that part of the movie The Motorcycle Diaries was filmed there. This information might have been a little more exciting for me if I had ever seen that movie.
We arrived at the lodge, which was eco-friendly (yay!). It didn’t have electricity and used water from the river for the toilets (I just hope it wasn’t flushed back into the river). It also had different baskets for organic waste, paper, cardboard, plastic, cans, etc. I was pretty excited.
Our first outing was to see a demonstration of an indigenous culture of Iquitos. We saw a dance demonstration and we got to try out their weapon. They took long, thin pieces of wood and sharpen the end of it. Then poison is put on the sharpened end and then it is shot at a target and the poison paralyzes the target.
Someone explaining to me how the thing works and how to shoot a target. I shot and missed the target.
We were asked to bring old clothes or candy to the children and adults. If we wanted to take a picture they asked us for one sol (30 cents). Each picture that someone took of the kids they held out their hand for something. I wondered if they are taught that from the very beginning. I felt bad taking pictures because I didn’t have any money with me, but also I felt like I was speculating their way of life. It was strange, so I don’t have very many pictures from that.
We ate lunch at the lodge and they hid fish. Luckily they made some chicken for those of us who don’t eat fish (there are five of us in our group). They also made plantains, which I love! So it was an excellent lunch.
After lunch we had an hour to let the food digest or take a nap if we wanted. I headed straight for the hammocks and rested for an hour. I fell asleep for some of that time, but not all of it.
The comfortable hammock
After my hammock time we went to visit a Shaman who is the herbal medical doctor for the little towns around the river. It was an interesting presentation to hear. He has a special potion that you drink twice a day called caña agria and it’s supposed to cure asthma and gastritis. It takes 20 days to work. I was pretty tempted to stay there and see if it would work.
Then we went to a place where exotic animals that were confiscated at the airport are taken to be back in the wild. Sandro told us that people try and inexpensively buy or steal sloths, snakes, prehistoric turtles, monkeys, parrots, Macaws, and other animals and try to take them to the airport. If the animals get across the border they are worth a lot of money on the black market. The animals that are confiscated are taken to different reserves in the forest.
This is a little anthill. I thought it looked like a smiley face.
A mama sloth
And her baby sloth---Did you know that sloths make the strangest sounds? I can’t even explain it.
I was actually pretty terrified. The snake was slithering on my neck. The guy holding the head of the snake is Sandro, our guide.
I made friends with a talking parrot.
We went for a night walk to hear the sounds of the forest and the night animals. We saw several insects and two tarantulas.
Since this lodge has no electricity it was very dark very early and we had two little lanterns for our room. It was hot and humid when we went to bed. I shared a room with Jessie and Rita again. Our room was joined with three other rooms. Our bathrooms shared the same pipes and the walls and floors were made of wood and the windows and roof were just screens.
Day 2!
We woke up bright and early at 6:30. The sun was shining into our room. We ate breakfast and went on our way. We went searching for the pink dolphin that is only found in the Amazon. Several baby dolphins were playing, but every time they popped out of the water, I was looking the other way, so I missed it.
We got off the boat and walked on a sidewalk. This little village had a Christian church (built by missionaries who had visited there), a water well, sidewalk, and a school that was supported by a school in Vermont.
We walked for 20 minutes all the way to the end of the sidewalk where we get on a boat in the Yana Yacu River (Black Water River). We rode on this boat for about 20 minutes until we got to another lodge of our Amazon tour company. There, we got boots for our rainforest hike and some water.
This is me by a huge tree where a portion of its roots are above ground. If the tree has space to move, it does and it “walks” around other ones.
We got to swing on some Tarzan branches and there were some comments made about Jane swinging with Tarzan. It was really difficult to swing. I tried twice and didn’t make it back and forth either time.
I had someone take this picture because I remember having a picture similar to this taken when I was in third grade. Grandma and Grandpa were building their house and we were out there looking at the progress. I was walking along and not paying attention to where I was walking and walked straight into mud can got stuck. I screamed for help and Paul came out and laughed at me and then dad came out, took a picture of me yelling and then came and got me. A few things have changed since I was in third grade, but this is a reenactment.
We returned back to our base lodge the same way we came and we ate lunch and then had some more free time. We took our boat back into the mainland in Iquitos and then took a tour of the poorest and most populated area of Iquitos called Belén.
This is the poorest and most primitive area I have ever seen. I was shocked and couldn’t believe that people lived in this area. During the wet season the water from the rivers rises significantly making this area a very special part of Iquitos. During the dry season hundreds of vendors are on the street selling various items. We each paid $6 for this tour, as it turns out; most of the $6 went toward two security guards escorting us through this neighborhood.
This is the entrance of the neighborhood of Belén, the most populated and poorest part of Iquitos.
Right when we turned onto the first street in Belén, I smelled it. The heartbreaking, nose bleeding stench that came from the piles of garbage sitting in the middle of the street. The raw pieces of beef, pork, and chicken sitting out on tables in the sun to be sold filled my nostrils to the point of gagging. As I walked by men, they would either say “hula” or “buenos tardes”, whistle, or make comments about my hair or skin color. At one point, I was even barked at. I felt uncomfortable the entire time I was there and I felt really bad about that. I couldn’t raise my head enough to smile or say hello at the people who were going about their business and I was invading their space. I feel a deep sympathy for the people who have to live like that. For people who have no way to move up in society or in their education. The people of Belén have free electricity, water, and medical care from the Peruvian government. They use a little outhouse that is situated over the river for a bathroom, making that part of the river the most contaminated part of the Amazon River. It is to the point where the Peruvian government can do no more for these people; another organization needs to step in.
After our tour was over we went out to eat. We went to the same place we went the first night. I ordered three scoops of ice cream and a crepe. Both items are separate on the menu, but I told the waitress I wanted them together. She brought out my ice cream first and I tried to eat it very slowly so I could still have it with my crepe. One by one she brought up the dishes of the other eight people I was with and brought my crepe last. The plain crepe that I ordered was filled with manjar blanco (a weird type of caramel) and peaches, neither of them I like very well. I told the waitress that this wasn’t what I ordered and she told me all I had to do was scrape it out. I was not happy and she didn’t get a tip.
Then we went to the airport and sat in the very hot, humid, buggy airport for two hours before our hour-and-twenty minute flight back to Lima.
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