Iquitos

This weekend opened my eyes to the thrird ecosystem of Peru: Jungle.
Leaving Thursday night from the Lima was a gift, the weather here has been cloudy and gloomy-which is normal but a change is always appreciated. And a change I received! After a short 1 1/2 plane ride, I stepped onto the tarmac and was greeted by air so soaked with humidity I could drink it! Marvellous!! It was 80 degrees and a slight breeze was blowing, just enough to keep the mosquitos at bay.

During the bus ride to the hotel, I befriended an American named Kasey and a Peruvian named Aldo, the latter informed me and the former as to how we could rent motor scooters and tour the city. We accepted this proposal and agreed that Aldo would be our guide in exchange for conversation and an ice cold beer afterwords. The scooters only cost $4 dollars to rent for the hour, and came with a free helmet and fake Peruvian drivers liscense!! And they say the dollar is losing value...

The tour was incredible! Iquitos is a small (pop. 1 million) community, in relation to Lima (8 million) as has the lazy feel of a beach town. In reality this is true, it's situated right on the Amazon River. So we motored to the mouth of the river, enjoyed the night view, then cruised around town for another half hour. The interesting (and beautiful) thing about Iquitos is there are only motorcycles and buses, no one owns a car. Seriously, there are like four cars in the whole city, and the police owns three...

After scootering, we made good on our half of the bargain and got the most amazing hamburgers I have ever had-it had a fried egg on it, with lettuce tomato and mayo-seriously....amazing!! The beer as hoped was ice cold and was a perfect was to rign in the 4th of July.

Friday (4th) we boarded launches in the morning and set off on a tributary of the Amazon River-the Momon River. We headed to a "serpentarium" where as one may deduce from the name, snakes and all sorts of reptiles-some endangered species and others not. They also had a family of monkeys that lived there, and those were the real treat to see. They are so human it's scary-they're also little thieves!! A couple of people in our group had to chase after bogarted sunglasses and braclets.
An hour after we visited a native tribe called the "Boras" where we watched and participated in native dances and then most importantly...got to buy jewelry and knick-nacks. I'm not sure how I felt about invading someone's home, but the guides assured me we were welcome and this was their only way of earning income-still not in total agreement, but hey, that's just me...

Another 40 minutes by boat put us at the dock of "Albergue" our lodge. Lodge is a loose term. It came equipped with Direct TV and internet-oh satellites, what can't you do?
The lodge was beautiful, full of native birds and lush vegitation. The rest of the day was free to swim (yes they had a pool) and relax in one of the numerous hammocks.
Took full advantage of both.
Saturday morning we set off into the jungle for a five hour walk taking in the sounds...and the humditiy. Not to be the guy that states the obvious, but it's really hot in the jungle. Ok, done. Later in the afternoon we visited the Jibero tribe where I got to practice using a blowgun-which I'm quite good with I might add. I hit a tree like 25 ft. away, which by my standards is excellent.
Later that night Kasey, Steve, Jake and I set off in the kayaks provided by the lodge and explored a bit of the Momon river. We also swam, some willingly, others not. Steve fell into the water trying to get into his kayak-so later we all decided to join him for a swim. No parasites noted as of yet-Tomas 1-Rio Momon 0.

Sunday was a sad day. I really wasn't ready to leave the jungle-but it had to be.
Before leaving, we did go a different nature preserve of sorts, and were allowed to fish for pirhanas. This is a bit different from what I had imagined, and a bit dissapointing, because there was no challenge in it, just a bit of waiting. Still a fun experience, and yes I did eat it, even though there wasn't a whole bunch of meat on him, he tasted excellent. For those of you who know my aversion to fish...it's disapating. I also ate turtle legs, which taste like funny colored roast beef. Not too bad though.

The jungle of Peru is something impossible to experience in three days, as one may imagine. It's diversity, as well as the temperature, are stifling. I have already made a promise to myself that I will return to the jungle to experience it to a greater extent. And for any of you that are looking for an amazing week long vacation, I'd recommend Iquitos, or just Peru in general.

This place is forever be etched in my mind as one of the most beautiful and diverse places on the planet.
t~