Iquitos/The Rainforest

On Sept. 25th we arrived in Iquitos. Immeadiately we noticed the change in climate; Cusco had been a little on the cold side, and Iquitos was similar to Houston on a summer day...hot and humid. We met our private guide, Armando, at the airport, and we were transported to our hotel (which was to be our last few hours of air conditioning for awhile). We spent time at a local museam in the afternoon, walked along the river, and ate dinner at the historic Iron House. This part of the trip was run by Explorama.

On Sept 26th, we left the comforts of electricity and boarded a boat heading up the Amazon River, going to the Explorama Lodge.

 

This is the beautiful Amazon River. It's a major route of transportation for Peruvians, and you can almost always look around and see small canoes, fishing boats, ferries, and other boats.

 

Here's a photo of a macaw relaxing in the hammock house. We learned quickly that they love sweet ice tea and crackers.

 

Once we got to the lodge, we got settled into our rooms, which Corey diplomatically described as "utilitarian". :) It consisted of a narrow room with two twin beds (covered in protective netting), shelves, a water basin, and curtains covering the open windows. The walls were more like the partitions of an office cubicle, so that we could hear the conversations around us, and the snoring of other visitors sometimes woke us up at night. You know how, on a hot day, you walk up to a house and sort of expect that when you open the door, you'll have the relief of AC? It took awhile for me to realize that opening the door to our room only led to a hot, small cubicle. :)

So, we soon found out that the hammock house was the best place to keep cool. We would take up residence in a hammock, and get it swaying at a certain pace so that we'd create our own breeze.

After lunch, our guide took us on a short walk in the jungle. It was our first time viewing wild monkey families, and we also got to see many butterflies, exotic birds, and tons of bugs. Oh yeah, lots of bugs. :)

After a break, a cold shower (remember, no electricity, so no hot water. Boy, that was fun.), and dinner, we headed out on a night hike. Armando, our guide, was just amazing at finding small frogs in the dark. He also showed us more tarantulas than I care to remember. :)

 

On the second day (Sept. 27th), we headed out in the early morning to see the pink dolphins that live in the Amazon. After waiting patiently, we were rewarded with some really spectacular views of them coming up to the surface. We spent awhile enjoying these beautiful creatures, and then we headed back to the lodge.

On our way back, we stopped at a local distillery, where they make rum that is used in a lot of traditional herbal remedies (to make tinctures out of certain tree barks).

While walking back from the distillery, we spotted a sloth meandering along in the trees. Let me tell you, the word "slow" does not begin to describe that thing. Later when we got back to the lodge and talked with other vistors there, we found out that most everyone there had seen the sloth at some point that day, because it stayed in that area for so long (heck, I bet it hasn't moved from there yet!).

 

After lunch, we headed out on our longest hike, on what is called the "Bushmaster Trail". It consisted of some fairly hilly terrain, narrow bridges, mud, more bugs, and a whole lot of humidity. :) This time, we even more frogs of all different colors and sizes. More monkeys too.

This is a picture of Corey and I (right he climbed up a tree along with Armando).


 

That evening after dinner, we spent quite awhile in the hammock house. A thunderstorm passed over us, and we were treated with quite a lightening show. It was one of the most peaceful times I've ever experienced, just swaying in a hammock in the dark, with the occasional firefly going past, listening to the rain on the thatched roof and seeing the lightening light up the skyline. I felt pretty priviledged to have the opportunity to view that.