The Amazon Jungle

Hello. Over the last 3 days we have travelled from Lima by air to Iquitos. This is a city in the middle of the jungle with 800,00 people, but is not accessible by road. Lots of tuk tuks as shown in the photo.

We then went on the Amazon River to our lodgings which were 45 minutes north along the river. The river is really amazing. It is quite fast flowing with some strong currents, very wide (up to 4 kms in some parts), has islands in it, and is littered with water lillies and logs. It is the beginning of the wet season now and the river is quite high, but some parts are actually dry during the dry season. 

                                                Julie on the Amazon

Our accommodation was basic, but nice. The roof of the hut covered 4 bedrooms, and the walls were half wood and half fly netting, as was the roof. It made for very close neighbours. There was no electricity, so no hot water for showers and no lights. We had 2 kerosene lamps for our room, and lamps on the dining tables. It was very early to bed on both nights - 9pm and 8.30pm, but breakfast was at 7am so not too bad.  The photo below shows a rare fine moment at our lodge.  The rest of the time was cloudy or rainy.


Went to see an indigenous village where they gave us a demonstration of dancing and singing. We also visited the Shaman (medicine man) to hear about the natural remedies, then walked through the mud to another village where we tasted sugar cane juice in its various stages. As it is just squeezed it has a flavour which is cross between pineapple and citrus, and nice but not sweet. The end product is like rum but very strong.

On the second day we saw pink dolphins. They are much larger than regular dolphins so do not jump out of the water, so are much harder to see. Then there was some piranha fishing, but no luck, and then a walk through the jungle, but the water was too deep even with gumboots on. We visited a animale sanctuary which had a boa constrictor, anacondas, tucans, monkeys, sloths and a weird looking shovel-faced turtle.

Mal with friendly toucan -honestly he IS smiling!

Back to Lima today and welcome showers.  Nice restaurant trip overlookiong the pacific and sunset and off to Cusco tomorrow to see how we fare with the altitude.  Will update when we can.  Thanks to those brave few who have posted comments.  Others welcome!