You may wonder why I am writing more of this blog, this is so out of character for me. This is a good question. Sorry Jean, but this time it is not because you asked. Actually Will had quite the tantrum the other day (he is taking this bog very seriously) and said I was being very ´difficult´ not helping and we were getting very far behind. So to keep our travelling situation amicable I am attempting to relieve some of this emmense pressure he is feeling.
We finally arrived in Iquitos, Peru after 4-5 days in canoe experiencing the natural elements the amazon has to offer (in other words getting drenched by tropical downpours). We arrived at this crazy port of floating houses and 4 x 2 boardwalks, across which we teetered with our bulging packs. It was a bit zoo meets pub meets market, with most people carrying 5 times the weight we were (and OSH was nowhere to be seen!!). We eventually made it to the street with only a few near misses of going in the ´drink´. Here's a couple of pics of what it was like:
We were struck suddenly, 
after 8 days of only the canoe engine and jungle sounds, by the deafening noise of 400,000 motorcycle-rickshaws (moto-carros) without mufflers. Apparently muffler-less-ness makes you cooler here too, much like the boy-racers back home. You couldn´t hear in the city without being within a foot of the person speaking (even at night). This made group conversations difficult and understanding spanish near impossible. The reason for all of the moto-carros and motorbikes is that Iquitos is only reachable by river or plane, hence getting cars to the city is a bit of an expensive debacle, although there are a few.
Iquitos is blessed with the area of Belén. When the river is high the stilt hous
es appear to float on the river and the locals reach their front doors by canoe rather than on foot. At this time of year I understand that it is quite and enchanting place, but when the river is not there to take the rubbish away it is another story altogether. The rubbish was a couple of feet thick in places, with the vultures swooping overhead and the areas without rubbish were compsed of a thick greenish mud, which I can only assume was bio-degrading effluent (it squelched between my toes at one stage). As you can probably imagine, the smells were interesting, the kind that make you lose your appetite.
after 8 days of only the canoe engine and jungle sounds, by the deafening noise of 400,000 motorcycle-rickshaws (moto-carros) without mufflers. Apparently muffler-less-ness makes you cooler here too, much like the boy-racers back home. You couldn´t hear in the city without being within a foot of the person speaking (even at night). This made group conversations difficult and understanding spanish near impossible. The reason for all of the moto-carros and motorbikes is that Iquitos is only reachable by river or plane, hence getting cars to the city is a bit of an expensive debacle, although there are a few.Iquitos is blessed with the area of Belén. When the river is high the stilt hous
es appear to float on the river and the locals reach their front doors by canoe rather than on foot. At this time of year I understand that it is quite and enchanting place, but when the river is not there to take the rubbish away it is another story altogether. The rubbish was a couple of feet thick in places, with the vultures swooping overhead and the areas without rubbish were compsed of a thick greenish mud, which I can only assume was bio-degrading effluent (it squelched between my toes at one stage). As you can probably imagine, the smells were interesting, the kind that make you lose your appetite.We went to an animal refuge run by this German Hippie (you´d love her Jean, she definately didn´t shave her legs, no bra and she´s probably a vego to boot). We saw some pretty cool animals up close like a jaguar, anteater, sloth and loads of monkies that had been trained as thieves by the street kids in neighbouring towns.
To get from Iquitos to Peru we had to take a 3 day `Lancha` or slow boat down the river. The boat was packed full of people in hammocks and there is pretty much nowhere to go for 3 days. A little cabin fever to say the least. Food was cooked by gay chefs in the back by the toilets and was not the 5-star affair that I was expecting. We ended up chatting to this dude Juan Carlos a bit on the boat and managed to get this sexy pic of him.
Needless to say, we are glad to be off the boat and in Tarapoto!
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