Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
As you see from The Amazon photographs I went on a memorable four day trip on a boat called The Selva Viva, run by a French NGO called Latitud Sur which is run by volunteers who are supporting local communities. One of their most impressive projects is helping a village to refine and extract a high-value oil from local trees which is then sold to the cosmetics industry. The villagers are receiving financial and practical support but the hope is that within two years they will have paid off their loans and be self-sufficient.
The boat was 'tourist class' and we roughed it a bit which seemed more appropriate when visiting impoverished local communities. I would not have felt right in one of the luxury boats that plies the river where the mainly American tourists are hermetically sealed in their luxury cabins and rarely set foot outside.I am not sure of the point. The highlight had to be our night jungle tour led by a local who had clearly been celebrating Father's Day on the local hooch which costs about 10p per litre. He managed to get us very lost in the jungle which at the time was not amusing.
The starting point for the trip was the city of Iquitos, the largest land-locked city in the world accessible only by air and sea. An interesting place which boomed on the back of the rubber plantations and is now on its knees, relying almost entirely on tourism. It has more moto taxis per head than even Bangkok and its very own branch of a Birmingham City Supporters Club.
- comments