After a flight cancellation, 5 hours in the airport, and some incredible river views from the plane, Sarah Anne and I arrived in Iquitos. As soon as we stepped off the plane I felt like I had entered a sauna. It was very hot and humid. It almost reminded me of the DC summer that I left behind. We made our way to a cute little hostel where we spent the night. Had a homemade breakfast on Friday and then headed to a hotel to meet our jungle guide and get transported by boat to the lodge. Beder, our guide, (still not sure how he pronounces his name), got us all on a little bus which took us to the dock. While leaving Iquitos for the lodge, we just happened to see the rare pink river dolphin. It's the only dolphin that lives in fresh water.
Arrived at the lodge in time for lunch. We ate the most delicious food (fresh fish, salad, friend plantains, fruit, etc) and dove into the jungle for a 2.5 hour walk. It was certainly sweaty, esp. in my corduroys, but it was incredible. The forest was just teeming with life. You could hear all the creatures and insects just humming and buzzing in surround sound. We saw some incredibly tall trees, lots of species of plants, and a few birds. We got the rest of the evening off for glorious cold showers, dinner, and some time in hammocks.
The next day was jam packed. We went bird watching at 6am. Saw a lot of birds but I can't remember many of their names-- kingfisher was def. one of them though. We also went fishing for piranas and swimming the Amazon (!) all before lunch.
That afternoon we visited a real-live sugar cane distillery used to make aguardiente, a really bad tasting alcohol, the poor man's rum. Of course I ended up buying some since they claimed that it sometimes cures people of stomach illness, headaches, etc. Can't be that bad I thought.
Later that evening, before dinner, after the sun went down, we took our flashlights and took another walk in the jungle. I was totally dreading this part of the tour because I knew we would see spiders and other nocturnal things that I have been trained to fear. But I bucked up and didn't even freak out when we saw this baby tarantula.
The next day, Sunday, we left after breakfast for a short boatride followed by a walk. The ultimate purpose was to see these GIANT lilypads called Victora Regia (Queen Victoria). They were gorgeous, but apparently deadly if you touch them in the wrong spot...luckily we weren't close enough to try anything.
That afternoon we took a short canoe ride on the Amazon and enjoyed the tranquility of the river at dusk. It was very peaceful to hear all the different types of birds and just be a witness to nature. After we returned to the lodge we were able to engage in some jungle talk with our guide and another friend at the lodge. We talked about Peruvian politics, infectious diseases (much to Sarah's chagrin), and other things.
Monday was our last day. We took a lovely boat ride to where the Amazon River meets the River Napo. It was beautiful and we even visited the town of Orellana where apparently Francisco de Orellana "discovered" the Amazon back in the 16th century. Of course the indigenous folks who had already been there received no credit, as per usual. Either way the town of Orellana was beautiful and almost felt over-developed for a river town on the Amazon. They even had streetlights and a beautiful town square.
On the way back from Orellana, we just happened to stumble upon some kids holding slothes. So we did what most tourists would do, which was pay them a few coins for some awesome pictures.
After lunch, we said goodbye to Heliconia lodge and went back to Iquitos. We had a lovely dinner looking out at the river and even topped off the night with delicious jungle gelato :) If you are even thinking of visiting the Peruvian Amazon, just do it... you won't regret it.
1 comment:
OMG! Sloths *and* pink dolphins? I totally need to visit Peru.
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