For the full complement of photos
corresponding to this blog entry, use the following link to the set of photos
in my Flickr pages:
A visit to Iquitos was a chance for
me to ´dip my toes´ in Rio Amazonas, feel the jungle heat and connect with some
locals. Since Iquitos is the world´s largest city which is unconnected to
others by road, the only ways in or out are by boat or plane – the latter
taking an inordinate amount of time. That meant that a journey via Lima was
necessary in order to connect with a flight, which gave me a chance to spend
some time in the capital. I enjoyed my time in Lima, Iquitos and Tamshiyacu in
the company of my Brazilian friend, Sergio.
Lima
During the bus journey from Huaraz
to the coast, the road descends 3,000 metres (9,842 feet), passing from the
grasslands of the high planes, through barren rocky terrain with cacti to reach
the dusty coastline – crossing a variety of landscapes and temperature in a
matter of hours. The climate in Lima is cool and often hazy / misty because of
the cooling effect of the cold ocean currents from the south of the continent.
The affluent Lima district of
Miraflores was a nice enough place to relax after a lot of time in the much
higher altitudes of Huaraz and the Cordillera Blanca. However, passing some
days wandering around Miraflores and the old centre of the city was relatively
uneventful since the city is not blessed with that many attractions to keep a
tourist occupied for long.
In Perú, and particularly its
coastal towns such as Lima, there are plenty of opportunities to sample one of
the national dishes, cerviche. This contains raw fish (and sometimes shellfish
too) marinated in lemon juice and onion. Often the plate also contains some
sweet potato. It is very tasty, though I think it would be better if the lemon
marinate was drained off before serving, as when it is swimming in this it can
be overly acidic.
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| Cerviche - One of Perú´s National Dishes |
Iquitos
Iquitos; what a different place to those in
Perú I had previously visited – a hot and sticky jungle environment rather than
a mountain or coastal one. Iquitos has the chaotic feel that one associates
with hot cities – people hustling and mototaxis (like motorised rickshaws)
everywhere. In fact, it seems that in whichever direction you turn there is at
least one (and often three or four) mototaxis speeding in your direction, which
becomes an irritation after a few days.
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| Two of the Mototaxis Ubiquitous in Iquitos (View Through the (Inevitably) Cracked Windscreen of that Decrepit Bus) |
In Iquitos there are plenty of
opportunities to savour food from the local rivers – particularly if one goes
to markets like the one at Puerto Nanay on the Rio Nanay, which Sergio and I
visited. There are many types of fish on the barbeques as well as Lagarto
(alligator / caiman) which is delicious. Despite Sergio´s offer of a cash
reward, I was not brave enough to try to eat the huge maggots / larvae that are
crawling around alive in boxes, before being skewered alive and cooked on the
barbeque. We made the journey from Puerto Nanay back to the city centre in the
most decrepit bus I have ever been on.
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| Sergio Enjoying Lagarto |
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| Boats in Puerto Nanay Near to Iquitos |
Tamshiyacu
There are many agencies offering
jungle tours where one stays in a ´jungle lodge´, with the trip including a
chance to meet some ´tribal people´ - the ones who wear traditional dress for
the tourists, then when that is done pop around the corner to put their jeans
and t-shirt back on and call their friend on their mobile phone. Sergio and I
were wise to this and were also aware that the only way to meet traditional
jungle communities would be to have special contacts and spend days or weeks
travelling by boat and on foot to very remote regions of the jungle. So we
sought a community smaller than Iquitos which while ´modern´ is in fact a truer
representation of how most people live in the Amazonas in the 21st
century. We chose the small town of Tamshiyacu.
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| Tim Waiting by the Boat Colectivo to Tamshiyacu |
We travelled by boat colectivo from
Iquitos about 1 ½ hours up river to Tamshiyacu which is on the banks of Rio
Amazonas, where seemingly every evening one can see a spectacular sunset view
across the river. Away from the one or two blocks surrounding the town square
(in ´suburban Tamshiyacu´), the housing is very basic – just an (often insecure
looking) wooden frame with planks nailed to it to create walls. I´m not sure
that the housing standard is always due to lack of funds as there may be a
strong dose of the South American ´that´s good enough´ philosophy present.
Evidence of this is the strange sight of a tumbledown wooden house with a
satellite dish on one of the walls, or the noise of a substantial sound system
inside (maybe costing the same as the wood to build the house).
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| One of the Glorious Sunsets Across Rio Amazonas at Tamshiyacu |
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| Housing in ´Suburban´ Tamshiyacu |
The days in Tamshiyacu are long and
slow. It seems like the heat and humidity even find their way into your watch,
with the soupy air retarding the progression of the hands of the timepiece.
Hours are passed drinking a lot of water and snoozing. It is not uncommon to
enter a shop to find that the owner has nodded off. When the rain comes, it
does so in dramatic fashion with drops like pellets.
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