Amazon

Iquitos is an amazing city situated in the middle of nowhere, er, I mean the Amazon rain forest. There are only two ways into Iquitos; river boat or airplane. We were ferried from the airport on wooden open air buses that were a hoot - all painted up, small and boisterous. The trip through Iquitos made us truly realize that we were far from Sugar Land. Because everything has to come in by boat (5 day trip to Lima) there are almost no cars in a city of more than 500,000 people. The primary mode of transportation is small motorized rickshaws and motorcycles. Johnny, your Honda 50 would fit right in. The streets are crammed with people selling every kind of fruit and vegetable you can imagine. We caught a small ferry on the Itaya River which flowed into the Amazon about 10 miles downstream of Iquitos. The river is low now, about 30' below what it will be in several months. The water level is up about 2 meters in the last week. I never realized that there is such a fluctuation in the water level. As we move into the South American summer, the glacier melt in the Andes increases and raises the water level. The maximum level is usually in May and begins ebbing in June. We rode the boat downstream for an hour and a half to Ceiba Tops Lodge. It is a lodge run by the natives focused on wise use and preservation of the rain forest. Somehow, we ended up in the Presidential Suite - about the size of our first home. Kind of nice, I'm sitting in an office off the kitchen loading pictures and typing our blog. Paula is in the other room showering and sorting out her day pack for tomorrow. We almost felt guilty at dinner. We were sitting with a nice couple and they commented on how primitive the rooms are - twin medal beds and micro-shower. We didn't feel right describing our two bathrooms, raised jacuzzi or the workout room


Tomorrow we take a smaller boat further down river about 2 hours for a canopy tour and, hopefully, meet a shaman. We leave tomorrow at 6:00 am and will have breakfast when we get there. The boat ride back tomorrow evening will be against the current and take a bit longer. We leave here Friday for Easter Island.


Sunset on the Amazon


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Location:Peru