Iquitos & The Amazon!!!! 6 - 19th April

The plane departed lima at 6:30am and 2 hours later we were in the city of Iquitos - the largest city in the world inaccessible by road; you have to fly or get a 4 day boat to get there. Iquitos is a city situated in the Amazon basin. There are only a handful of cars in Iquitos, the main method of transport is motorbikes and mototaxis (which were so much fun haha!!)

Our first two days in Iquitos we just relaxed and wandered around the city (and walked along the amazon river for a casual stroll - crazy!!).

After looking at reviews online and researching many websites, we decided to book our trip with Muyuna Lodge, which was 2nd on Tripadvisor (the 1st on tripadvisor cost over £3000 haha) which was a bit more expensive than the others but we wanted it to be a trip to remember for all the right reasons. Wanting to maximise our time in the jungle we went with the 6 day, 5 night trip, which was the longest they did.

Monday 8th April
We got picked up from our hostel, met our guide, Edson and got transferred to the boat. We then had a 3 hour (147km) speed boat ride down the amazon to reach the lodge. About 10 minutes into the boat ride, Loretta had a huge bug in her hair, which I thought was a hornet so I started freaking out and screaming... Edson came over and started laughing - it was actually a dragonfly hahaha - what must he thought of me?!? After we arrived at the lodge we had lunch and went to our own private room, due to the rainy season we were on stilts above the water which was pretty cool and very pretty!! In the afternoon we went on a boat ride down the river, we saw lots of birds, squirrel monkeys and a sloth - was awesome. Still couldn't believe we were in the amazon!!!! After dinner we went on a night safari, looking for caiman. The guides found a 3 month old caiman in the reeds, which we got to hold - after a little while we put the little fella back in the river and set off for the lodge. An amazing first day in the Amazon jungle!!

Tuesday 9th April
Woke up at 6am for a morning canoe ride, we just sat in the canoe and Edson paddled us along!! We saw a Pygmy and dusky titi monkey, red squirrel and lots of birds. After breakfast we went for a hike through the jungle, which was amazing. They told us back in iquitos due to the high water levels we wouldn't be able to camp or walk, but a local guide found some dry land and off into the jungle we went. Edson had to machete his way through some places as the foliage was so thick. We didn't see many animals, but we saw a bullet ant (which they call the 24hr of pain ant) which was HUGE for an ant!!! After lunch, we went Piranha fishing, it was so hard, they ate the bait off the hook without actually getting hooked on - but eventually I caught a (very) small one wahoooo!! We later ate our catch at dinner. After dinner, we went on a night canoe ride so we went deeper into the jungle, we saw some cool frogs, one little frog sat on my camera - so cute!! On the way back to the lodge we saw 2 huge eyes staring at us, Edson was getting super excited - it was an Ocelot, the first one he's seen in 6 years!!! We were sat watching the eyes trying to get closer, when the ocelot ran across the branch right in front of us - a beautiful cat - a small jaguar is the best way to describe it. Such an awesome lucky moment!!

Wednesday 10th April
Left the lodge at 6:30 and headed for the amazon river. Along the way we saw squirrel monkeys, a toucan, a prehistoric bird. We stopped on the banks of the amazon river and had breakfast on the boat wow. After breakfast we rode down the river and there was a snake wahooo!!! It was a dusky mud snake, Edson believed it was very weak due to its slow movements, so we got it on our paddle and took it to the shelter of the reeds on the bank so it could rest without the threat of predation from birds. We then went looking for the pink and grey dolphins - they were so beautiful, the grey dolphins had the typical dorsal fin and were quite small whereas the pink dolphins had a more streamline body and were much bigger. After watching them from the boat, we stripped down and jumped into the amazon river to go swim with them. They were about 10m away at the closest point, just elegantly breaching the water surface - in the distance some grey dolphins were putting on a show, splashing about in the water. The current was so strong we had been swept away from our starting point 150m away, so the boat picked us up and took us back to swim with them again. BEST MORNING EVER!!! After lunch we went back into the canoe and went deeper into the jungle, Edson having to cut the branches out of the way as we went, we were sort of looking for the ocelot, but was so chilled to be paddled through the untouched jungle. After dinner we went on a canoe ride near the lodge and saw 2 snakes, tarantulas, scorpions, rodents, bats & a stick insect (yay!!!) we floated back down the river looking at the thousands of stars above us - I've never seen so many stars at once, just beautiful.

Thursday 11th April
After brekkie we went in the canoe and got stuck in the thousands of lily pads, it looked like a field more than a river, the boat literally didn't move no matter what the guides did. On the pads were cool spiders, frogs and multicoloured grasshoppers, we also saw a laughing hawk, night monkeys and saddleback tamarin. One of the main things we wanted to do in the jungle was to camp, but in iquitos we were told this wouldn't be possible because of the lack of land (due to water levels) and then the danger of snakes on the dry land - thd bushmaster is found in the area of the amazon we were based in, but Edson told us that we could go camping but it might take a while to find the land. Wahooo!!! So, after lunch the boat was packed (there was so much stuff haha) and Loretta, Nick (a cool American who was in our group), Edson, Rene (a guide) & I headed off to find some camping ground. On the way we saw some squirrel monkeys playing right above our heads and running right infront of us - so nice to see wild monkeys!! After about 2 hours the guides found some land which looks suitable, so after making a clearing with their machetes (they make it look so easy - so Nick & I had a go all cocky aaaand failed miserably haha!!). We put up our tents and then Edson hands us our double blow up bed and a foot pump haha - I thought we would be on the floor... So when the bed is blown up, he gives us a sheet, 2 proper pillows and a cover - hahaha it's better than some hostels we've stayed in!! Luxury Amazon Jungle camping. Edson and Rene started cutting some wood and sticking it in the ground, they were making a table using the palm leaves and wood they found on the floor - Loretta and I looked on in amazement, the table was bloody brilliant - so clever. After dinner which was cooked on the camp fire we went on a night safari walk - a little scary to think of all the animals out there that could creep up on you and POUNCE!! Haha. We saw a bull toad (about a size 3 football) and spiders. Rene also went spear fishing to catch our breakfast, at the end we all had a go - on my first attempt I speared the fish but it wriggled free :( Loretta caught one and Nick failed like me. After the walk I was standing by the river, with the spear and practiced spear fishing - I caught a sardine wahoo. About to go back to camp, Loretta spotted a opossum, think of a large mouse - super cute. With the useless dead sardine on the spear Edson put it on the floor and the opossum ate the sardine (and we all got great photos) and I felt less guilty for killing a fish!! We got into our tents after being bitten alive by mosquitos when using the el natural toilet (a bush). As we laid in a tent in the middle of the jungle, the thunder and lightening storm started, the lightening was no more than a mile away - although there was no rain at all. The thunder was SO loud, I've never heard it that loud before. Edson warned us if we got up in the night to look around for snakes before leaving the tent.

Friday 12th April
We Survived!!! Woke up at 6am to the noises of the jungle. We had breakfast - fish and boiled egg - it's a jungle tradition to have fish (which Rene and loretta caught the night before) for breakfast. Was really nice fish but at 6am I didn't eat it all, also, it's dead eye was staring at me, which was a bit off putting haha!! We packed up and headed back to the lodge, had the best shower ever and relaxed on our hammocks on the veranda until lunch time. (If England was warm and I had somewhere in the garden to hang it I would be bringing a hammock home with me... I'm turning into the shape of a hammock!!) After lunch, Nick headed back to Iquitos and Loretta and I had our own canoes and went for a paddle around the jungle, we saw brown capuchin, Pygmy and squirrel monkeys. It was so relaxed, lying in the canoe being paddled around searching for wildlife - I never want to leave. After dinner we went on the search for caiman again, this time we found a year old caiman, which was much bigger and stronger than the 3 month old one from Monday, it's features and skin was much more defined, It was about 1/2 feet long. It was our last night in the jungle lodge tonight.

Saturday 13th April
The night before Edson had asked us whether we wanted to go Dolphin swimming again, which YES of course we did. So, we left the lodge at 6am and had breakfast on the amazon river again. The other people in the boat were quite old so it was only Loretta, Edson, another guide and I who went in the river to swim with them - they got so close, about 5 metres away, mainly pink dolphins this time. Loretta and the 2 guides got back in the boat so I was left on my own in the river with them - they were so beautiful - although always in the back of your mind you wander what else is lurking in the cloudy brown water oooo!! I almost refused to get back on the boat when thy said it was time to leave - I could have stayed there forever!! Back at the lodge we packed an had lunch and at 1pm our boat came to pick us up and take us back to Iquitos. We said goodbye to Edson and got on the boat.

Goodbye Amazon you have been absolutely incredible. For sure those 6 days have been my number 1 highlight of the trip so far and I doubt anything will over take it (unless I bump into David Beckham randomly on a Costa Rican beach haha!!!). It might have blown the budget but it was worth every penny :)

Sunday 14th - Friday 19th

After our 6 days in the jungle we had 6 days in Iquitos - the city in the jungle.

Monday 15th:
We visited Quistococha lagoon, a nearby lagoon with a small zoo. We had been recommended to go here and wish we hadn't. The "zoo" was awful - birds, anacondas, pumas, ocelots (which we last saw in the jungle) and monkeys in tiny cages with no enrichment... Actually, no nothing. The cages were bare and empty with only one log. I think the worst was a pink dolphin swimming in a pool, being trained to perform tricks... Which had been taken from the wild 8 years earlier when he was a baby - 2 days ago we were watching them in the amazon river. The lagoon and beach area were nice and we spent the rest of the day relaxing by the lagoon.

Tuesday 16th:
This morning we visited the locals market, a cramped, dark, packed street market that had hundreds of stalls tightly squeezed together. Situated next to the floating village of Belen, this market sold everything you could imagine; fresh fish (it was still trying to breath through its gills), fresh fruit & veg, clothes, shoes, DVDs, stationary... And then the typical illegal produce; (endangered) turtle meat, caiman meat and pet monkeys. We had been told dead monkeys were for sale but thankfully we didn't see any monkey meat for sale. Was a great experience seeing how the poorer local people live in Iquitos, on the way back to the hostel we popped into the supermarket and realised the divide between Belen market shoppers and supermarket shoppers.
In the afternoon we visited another market - this time the largest souvenir market in Iquitos wahoo. Wow I could have bought the whole market, such awesome items on sale, but I controlled myself haha.
In the evening we sat down to watch some pirate DVDs I got from Belen market... But they were all in Spanish & one of the films wasn't even the right one (although was in English haha) we have up and played connect 4 instead

Wednesday 17th - 3 months today!!
Today we visited a manatee rescue farm, babies are rescued from the river if their mothers are killed for (illegal) meat or missing. This centre is trying to educate the Amazonian people that the endangered manatee needs saving and the centre is doing all it can. We looked around the sanctuary and then got to hand feed the babies banana pieces, although when the banana ran out they were happy to softly munch my hand :) their skin was thick and rubbery to touch. In the afternoon we sat by the river eating ice cream and then got drenched by a huge (amazon style) thunderstorm haha.

Thursday 18th:
Today we went souvenir shopping, there are 3 main markets in Iquitos so we had fun looking around - and not one llama wool jumper in sight wahoo!!! I really hope there isn't anything illegal in the wooden items I got - UK customs control could be interesting if there is haha!! In the evening we watched a local festival in a nearby plaza.

Friday 19th:
Time to say goodbye to Iquitos and the Amazon. What an amazing 2 weeks, by far my highlight of the trip so far. Iquitos was an amazing city, such a relaxed atmosphere with mototaxis zooming past. The amazon jungle was everything and beyond what I had dreamt of, an amazing 6 days. We had one last downpour and off to the airport we went. The flight was nice and easy and when we arrived in lima we got a taxi to the hostel. Eurgh, take me back to the jungle!!!!!!!!!