Jungle Life

Iquitos

(Photo of our guides, Elvis, Walter, Juan Carlos (L to R)

A city of 300,000, only accessible by boat or plane, Iquitos is an amazingly rich and active Amazon town. The food is excellent, the main square stays lively till late at night. The town has Internet cafes, a 5-star hotel, clubs, a couple of casinos, museums, multiplexes, and a huge wet market. It´s near the Brazil and Colombian borders, so is a center of commerce for the region. The Internet cafes are particularly incredible, with local teens "chateando" with people across the world. Yesterday I saw a mother talking to family in the US via the Net with a live camera.

All in all, though, the constant noise and smog from the motorbikes makes it a stopping point, not somewhere we want to spend more than a day. It´s notably cheaper than Lima, though, with our private double room with a fan and cable TV only costing us $10 a night.

The Nature

Swayed by photos of tapirs, anacondas, sloths, and pink dolphins, we signed up for a jungle tour to see Amazonian wildlife. From Iquitos, we boarded a series of motorcabs, taxis, motor boats, and paddle canoes to "el monte."

As promised, in the 5 days, we spotted several species of monkeys, sloths, freshwater dolphins, pirannhas, raptors, an anteater, a river otter, snakes, spiders, and tropical birds. Every square inch of the jungle is covered with sweaty, crawly, spiky, and sticky life. For the most part, the daily expeditions lasted for up to three hours, our guides, Walter and Elvis hacking through a tangle of vines and weeds with their machetes. Elvis, in particular, had an eerie ability to track and spot the animals. He´d spot something and motion for us to creep up behind him, then we´d spend a couple of minutes just trying to see the fuzzy grey bump in a tree forty feet off the ground. I had no idea how he could see these things while simultaneously breaking trail, watching for thorny plants, and avoiding roots and holes in the dirt.

Actually, the jungle we saw was regularly frequented by hunters and fishermen. The deep deep jungle, where you can spot jaguars and other larger animals was a few days away. Walter noted that before the jungle became more crowded, and as recently as the 1940´s, demons and dolphins would would turn to people were common. Now you´d have to go much farther into el monte to encounter these creatures. All this without a trace of irony and from a guy who spent several years learning English in Lima and who communicates via email everyday to people from all over the world.

The Food

We ate better on this tour than in Lima or Iquitos. In addition to the two guides, Juan Carlos, an amazing chef, also accompanied us. Every meal was different, tasty, and healthy. His repertoire included fresh fish and chicken, noodles with tomatos, garlic fried rice, salads of cucumber and tomato, salsa from exotic fruits, plantains, boiled yucca, and gorgeous omelettes. I think I lost a pound of blood to the mosquitos and gained two from Juan Carlos' cooking. He´d obviously been told that he´s a good cook before, with 15 years of experience in restaurants and on expeditions, but he'd still beam with pride every time I complimented him on the meals. In fact, the last day he insisted that we change our plans so he could meet us in another village to make a "surprise" - a moist yellow cake baked on a wood fire with evaporated milk frosting.

The People

We actually only camped out for one night, spending the rest of the time in small villages on the river. While we missed out on a serious Amazon camping experience (i.e., more mosquitos), the chance to meet and talk to people in the villages was way more rewarding. Folks live in ramshackle huts on stilts without running water or electricity. A whole family's belongings could easily fit in a Toyota Camry. But despite being cash poor, they have access to fresh food and really lacked little in the way of daily necessities. Bigger towns are a couple of hours away by boat, where they sell their harvests and pick up supplies. People looked healthy and happy.

Villagers were unfailingly friendly, particularly the younger kids who would take us all over town, showing us the football field, their little school, and their drawings and homework. The "It takes a village to raise a child" concept is huge here, with everyone constantly watching over the everyone´s kids, who run around playing marbles or swimming in the river all afternoon. The larger villages even have a nearby school and access to some medical care. On Saturday night, Juan Carlos (our cook, yes) had organized a party and BBQ in concert with a big football tournament. People from villages all over came to dance at the "discotech" and cheer on their teams. Unfortunately, they burned out the generator relatively early in the evening which killed the party a sooner than expected.

Seeing the strong community life really makes one reconsider the standard definitions of poverty. Simple things like a cold bottle of soda make kids happier than you can imagine. And while most Americans have cars, TVs, and enough clothing in one closet for a whole Amazon family, the quality of life in Puerto Miguel is arguably better than many parts of the US. It usually annoys me to hear gringos say this kind of shit, but there´s truth behind it.

The jungle plays a huge part of peoples' lives and identities. It´s where they get their food, their crops, houses, and the materials for crafts to sell to tourists. It also taketh away. The local shaman lost his wife 6 months ago to a poisonous snake. When I spotted a snake under our boat while bathing one night, Elvis jumped up and looked all over, a little nervous.

The Spanish

My Spanish has suffered notably since high school, but I can defend myself and carry on long conversations with some concentration. The local accent, though, can be a little tough to follow. Everyone speaks with a soft slow Brazilian accent, and they make fun of the crisp big-city Spanish, telling me the people from Lima sound like ducks.

Next Step

We fly out of Iquitos this afternoon, and will spend one night in Lima before heading out to Cuzco to do the Inca trail. I pray there are no mosquitos on the Inca trail. It´s worth mentioning that the local airport is closed from 9am-4pm because there are too many vultures flying around, making it dangerous for the planes.