a. Iquitos
Iquitos, with a population of some 371,000 is the largest city (and one of the few) East of the Andes mountains in Peru. It sits on the Amazon River and access is limited to airplane and to multiple day trips up the Amazon from Brazil.
We had a beautiful view of the Andes while passing over.
The plane we flew in on was in sort of better condition that this one. Good thing it was on this end of the flight!!
The airport was full of tour guides, porters, and lot of other people. It is here that we met our guide, Celso Hidalgo, an Indian from that region. He would be our guide for the four days we spent in the area. An excellent guide who speaks great English and knows a whole lot about the Rain Forest and its inhabitants.
The main means of transportation is the motocar. They are used as taxis, light trucks, express delivery vehicles, and probably a lot more applications.
This is a car wash.
A corner of the central market.
The main city plaza.
It was time to get aboard a river boat and head down the Amazon some 45 miles to the lodge in which we were staying. The Amazon was unusually high and full of floating debris including logs.
There is a strong navy presence due to the smuggling (especially drugs) on the Amazon. There is a major river off of the Amazon which goes to Colombia.
This is one of the large river boats which carry people on the route between Brazil and Iquitos.
One of the usual size boats used for local pickup and delivery along the Amazon. There are no roads.
Finally, we are arriving at our lodge, Cieba Tops.
This ends our first installment, more to follow very shortly.
