Iquitos

First if the people of Iquitos knew how bad their Internet service was they would revolt!  I know we are in the Amazon, but this a fairly big city for the Amazon.  Anyways the Internet here is extremely frustrating.

The YouTube video is me eating a grubb worm grilled on a skewer.  Just had to try. Really was not that bad.  I have been contemplating a live one, but so far have not brought myself to that point.  As you can imagine, they eat about anything here.  I have actually surprised myself and ate and drank things I thought for sure would make me sick.  Something while in Cusco got us, but I can attribute the jungle pig to making me think twice about what I eat.

I have been in Iquitos for several days now.  This is a neat place to be, but at the same time very touristy. The motos are crazy but other than walking it is the only way to get around.  I was thinking of going out to a jungle lodge, but really they are all basically staged with tribe for pictures and captured animals.  I spent enough time along the river and several times into the jungle, so I do not think a lodge will offer anything new.

There is a place close to Iquitos where you can go and hold animals (not the jaguar).  The 3 toed Sloth was very fun to hold.  She loved having her neck scratched.  The other animals I have pretty much came across in various trips, but they were there so what the heck, I did the picture thing with them too.  I spent about a half hour playing fetch with a pink dolphin. I was just watching it and it brought a 2 ft long piece of plant to me on its head.  It was clear she wanted me to take it.  I tossed it into the pond and sure enough she would bring it right back balanced perfectly on her head.  Some other people came along and tried to feed her some fruit, but she ignored them and just wanted to play fetch.  I think she was very bored in her small world but the interaction was very fun and interesting.  The picture is her biting her tail playfully like a puppy would do.

There is a part of Iquitos called Belen.  It has a big market and some of the homes are floating on water now in the dry season and all of them during the rainy season, with a few on stilts.  I am amazed people actually live in these floating homes.  The support logs do not appear to be tied together.  They must be anchored someway as some of the homes have electric going to them.  See end pictures below.  It would be interesting to see these during the wet season.   It is also interesting to walk through the market and see all the bazaar foods, plants, etc., but wow does it stink and the trash is horrible. Quite the experience.

There are quite a few gringos here from all over the world.  Most all of the foreigners that I have spoke to are here for Ayahuasca.  This is a hallucinogenic drug made from two plants.  Some are here for the recreational effects of the drug but most are here for insight into themselves or believe it will help a medical condition they have.  The Belen market also has an isle dedicated to medical plants, potions, etc., from the jungle. I am not sure I recognized one medical item in the entire market.  I am sure there are medical benefits with a lot of these items but it all makes for an interesting culture for which I am clueless about - and am glad to remain clueless.  I also might have found some missing hippies from MO.

There are a lot of sidewalk vendors selling everything you can imagine.  I think at least half of the stuff is illegal to bring back to the U.S.  Most of them are trying to pass alligator teeth off as Jaguar teeth.  I am told that the police do a good job of monitoring the illegal animal trade.  I am so used to sea turtles being protected and here the river turtles are slaughtered all the time.  The picture to the right are two river turtle shells being used as a pot to cook turtle soup right in them.

Right off of the main plaza, there is a restaurant called the Yellow Rose of Texas.  Gerald, the owner, said he was an All-American football and baseball player at UT Austin.  Anyways, his place is all about UT and Texas and there is a long horn on everything. When sitting inside you would swear you were in Austin.  Fun place to stop in because it is so out of place here.      

The Jaguars are very impressive.  I would definitely not want to run into one of these big cats in the jungle.  It is obvious why the tribes fear and revere them.   The guy in the white is holding what we would call a snapping turtle.

I think this will be the last blog before I get back to Texas due to the horrible Internet.  I plan on doing a few more that provides more detail about the rivers I experienced, exact routes, guide information etc. I tried to track it all on my GPS.  I also have a lot on the GoPro so I am interested to see how those videos and pictures turned out.  So stay tuned.



 la señora gorda no ha cantado todavía

 Raising the flags at the Plaza de Armas