By the the time we had to pack up and head to Iquitos we were feeling very comfortable in the Miraflores area and we were really enjoying ourselves. The sun was shining and we squeezed in every last minute we could at the beach before heading to the airport.
Iquitos was unique. Definitely not my favorite city that we visited, but very unique! It is the worlds biggest city that cannot be accessed by road as it is completely surrounded by jungle and river. It is also probably one of the noisiest cities I have ever been to with everyone driving three wheeled motorcycles/ tuck tuck things everywhere! We arrived in Iquitos late in the evening so it was already dark, thankfully our hotel had arranged for transportation for us, in a car. We couldn't see much other than lots of traffic whizzing past us on our way to our hotel, which gave me the night to get used to the idea of another town. Although one of the things we did see upon arrival was the back of a pick up truck full of men and woman in army dress patrolling the streets with machine guns, so that was a tiny unsettling. Iquitos seemed to be one of those cities where the new and the old are all mushed into one. There were lots of historical buildings around, in fact the hotel that we stayed in was an old rubber plantation. The history of the amazon seemed to seep into everything there, the food, the clothes, and the buildings.
The hotel was clean and interesting, but I am a paranoid traveler... and because our hotel was so old the doors didn't shut all the way, there was a big gap at the top of them and the door handles where these tiny little nobs that even when locked could easily be pushed open. So I had a hard time with that, our first night I made Dahlin move the coach in front of the door to barricade it. I again was a little overwhelmed so we never left our hotel room that night.
The next morning we woke up early to get some breakfast and explore a bit before our tour guide came for us. Our hotel was literally right beside the amazon so it had a beautiful view! Everything looks a little bit dirty though. Maybe it is from the humidity, or just because there is no where to take all the garbage... I donno, but its definitely not clean! Soon our guide came and hailed us a tuck tuck. I was super uncomfortable riding on one, they don't wear helmets and they go super fast! Plus the smell of the exhaust is so strong! By the time we got to the tour office I was desperate to get off! Someone was running behind or something so we had to waste an hour or so before we could go so we again walked around for a while, with our tour guide showing us different things in the city center.
Next we again rode on a tuck tuck to get to this big market and the hub where all the boats are to take you onto the amazon. The market was crazy! You could buy everything there from fried grubs or alligator heads to woven clothes or whatever. This is where all the bush people who live on the amazon come to sell there stuff.
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| these are the fried grubs, the ones in the blue basin are still alive and moving around, so disgusting!! |
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| every fruit imaginable |
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| fresh fish everywhere... but it is really really hot in Iquitos and nothing is refrigerated so I found that questionable! |
There are line upon line of boats tied to the shore. We ended up getting there right when the rain started. So we just went and sat in our boat again until it was time to head out. This was my breaking point, I lost it at Dahlin, everything was so wet, and noisy and dirty and we had been all over the place on those tuck tucks. I was mad that we were there and that we couldn't communicate with anyone and I was sick of not feeling safe.
Fortunately once we got going our day turned out to be pretty amazing! We first stopped at a farm with parrots, piranhas, crocodiles, and these huge fish called piache.
Next we headed to a ladies house who leaves food out for monkeys and birds and each day they come and eat and hang out and then they leave back into the jungle everyday. The monkeys are super friendly though and jump all over you. It was super cool, but totally, 100% overwhelming for me! Our guide kept trying to get me to hold all the animals and I kept trying to tell him that I just like to look but not touch, but he just kept helping the monkeys on my shoulders. Dahlin also held a sloth, and we got to hold an anaconda. Looking back it was a really amazing place!
