It started on Friday afternoon. We got to the airport early because stupid LAN messed up our flight and we couldn´t checkin online. Both of us had to leave work early to get to the airport two hours ahead of time. Luckily, we got the emergency exit row - which was quite spacious! On the flight, we got a snack. It was a rather special snack, consisting of something that smelt like fish but looked like a little snack cake. We call it the FISH CAKE. yummers. There were also a pack of little crackers that looked like uncooked raviolis. They were also odd tasting...but whatev.
We got to Iquitos and went outside where there were 9000000000 moto-taxis (motorcycle taxis, lol). We got in one and went to the center of Iquitos to look for a hotel. The driver found us one called Heliconia. It was maybe two blocks from the city center, and pretty nice for a Peruvian jungle hotel, lol. There was AC (thank heavens!) and a comfy bed (in Peru?? I KNOW, RIGHT!!) and a little fridge and both hot and cold water, woo! Plus, it was clean and bug free. Nice work, hotel! We also got free breakfast every morning and got to check out at 515pm instead of noon. The inside of the hotel and our room were bright green, woo!
Friday night, we went wandering around town. Let me just say, being tall and super pale in the Peruvian jungle doesn´t exactly lend itself to blending in. We saw the Eiffel house...which is a metal building designed by the guy who designed the Eiffel tower. The house is pictured above with me... we saw it every time we went to the main plaza....anyhow! We ate at Antica, YUM! Love that restaurant. We went into a touristy market area... it was precisely that... a touristy market area. Everyone was selling beaded necklaces and bracelets and pirañas. Right. Well, we were both tired, so we turned in early and went to sleep!
Saturday, we headed out to experience Iquitos in the daylight...but not before breakfast! We had a breakfast which consisted of a roll, a bun, and a glass of juice and tea. It was fine. When I asked for tea, the man responded by asking if I wanted cereal. What?! Yep, that´s what I thought. Paolo and I decided it must have been because Americans like to eat cereal for breakfast. LOL.
After breakfast, we sunblocked and bug repelled ourselves and ventured off into the hot Iquitos streets. We chose a moto-taxi and headed to the zoo! The zoo was like a half hour moto-taxi ride from the city. Once we got there, we paid our $1 entrance and proceeded to walk down a pathway full of Amazon myths about AYAYMAMAS and TUNCHES and PINK DOLPHINS. Did you know that pink dolphins live in the Amazon River? They do. And they turn into handsome men that seduce beautiful women and bring them to the bottom of the river with them. Obviously.
After that, we went and saw the pink dolphin. It is pink...and grey. And dolphin-like. Then we saw a lot of leaf-cutter ants. Lots of them... and a bunch of animals. There is a beach at the zoo...which looked almost decent. It was called the caribbean of the Amazon...lol... riiiiiight. It was cool, though, cuz we were in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest, but it was safe.
After the zoo, we headed to the port...which was on the opposite side of the city. It took about an hour to get there. We saw another market...it was gross. But they did have sweet corn. I wanted to eat it, but I decided I didn´t want to get any diseases. Silly me. After that, we headed to the other side of the city. We went to the famous Belen market... GROSS and DISGUSTING and a waste of time. I almost puked it smelt so bad. That fun ended pretty quick. We went back into town and hung out around the city and ate at Antica again...yum! We were going to go out to Noa... a discoteca...but we went to sleep instead.
We were up bright and early on Sunday (615am!) and left around 730. We headed to the port and got on a boat to go see a native tribe and then go to see a butterfly garden. The boat was going to cost us 30 soles ($10). The guide person said that to visit the Boras, it was 15 soles ($5) per person. We got there, and it was not 15 soles...but rather 20 soles... plus another 10 soles if you wanted to dance with them. We did not. But then they made us. So that was 30 soles per person...then they like force you to buy their crap... so anyhow...the 30 soles that it was supposed to cost to visit this village turned into 75 soles... so instead of $10 it was $25. AND a major rip off. We were there for maybe 15 minutes. There wasn´t even a village. It was like a large hut and that was all. We are convinced that they are actually from Iquitos, but they go and pretend to be native tribes to rip off stupid tourists and get lots of money. It works. Note to self, join a native Amazon tribe near Iquitos and make $25 per 15 minutes with two ppl... and there was another group of 4 there... so that would´ve been $75 for 15 minutes! Now that´s the life. Oh, and while we were there, all the women came over by me...without their shirts on... and one of them sat next to me and a baby appeared out of nowhere and she just started breast feeding the baby. I was like umm... this is a bit awkward. Is it time to go yet?
We finally escaped and got back on our boat... we then headed for the butterfly garden...but not before dropping our guide off at the snake place...which I refused to go to. The boat driver then tried to tell us that we had to pay more money. Paolo said no. LOL. After that disappointing rip off special...we had given up hope for happiness in Iquitos - when we arrived at the butterfly garden.
This place was AWESOME! It´s in the middle of the jungle...and they actually took us into the jungle a little bit...we saw a jaguar (he was in a huge cage though...) and a taipur...I got to feed him pineapple! And we saw lots of moneys. One monkey...he was a baby...decided to love me...and was hanging on me. Don´t worry, I washed myself REALLY well when we got back to the hotel. He even tried to take off my bracelet, lol. There was another monkey that was really furry and had a bald red head. He was funny. There were also a couple of howler monkeys. Aside from the animals, there were 1000000000000 butterflies!!!! I got to hold one :) We learned about the butterflies. It was pretty cool. It was also an animal orphanage...so the animals that were there were being taken care of because they were abandoned or sick or whatnot.
After that, we returned to the hotel... rested a little bit before heading back to the port to go on the AMAZON!!! We took a boat to an alligator place (which was a rip off..but at least it was only 6 soles per person...) but at least we got to go on the Amazon! I touched the water and everything! We saw some dolphins, but I didn´t get any pictures, boo!
Then it was back into Iquitos where we ate lunch at a nasty little restaurant. Paolo had some juice that we decided tasted like guacamole onion weird jungle fruit juice. It was sick. Then we went to the hotel and packed up our stuff and changed and headed out to the airport. Now, up until this point, I had not received a single bug bite. We got to the airport where we waited in line and got our seats (last row in the plane cuz that was the only place with 2 seats together - thanks, LAN, for not letting checkin online grrrr)...
We putzed around for as long as we could outside...but eventually we had to pass through security... where in the box of things they take away from ppl there were TWO GUNS! WHAT?!?!?!?! oooooh goodness it was funny. Anyhow, they should rename that airport and instead of it being an airport, it should be a bugport. There were 9000000000 bugs...and they were everywhere... even in my hair! I was not a happy camper. Finally, after 2 hours of waiting funness, we got on the plane...and we were sitting by stinkbugs! This woman kept farting and it was SICK... and the food this time was a brown fish cake and salty ravioli crackers. Way to change it up, LAN!
We got back to Lima, yay!, and had a donut, lol. Then we went to find a taxi... they all wanted 35 or 40 soles!!! say what! So then we walked to right outside the airport where Paolo got us a taxi to San Borja for 20 soles. Nice work, P!
Got back to the apartment and had to clean a bit...and eat some food before heading off to bed before midnight.
Today has not been good...I have a cold and my right eye is bothering me. My ride to work didn´t show up. And my laptop can´t get internet so I can´t get anymore pics online. RARR.... in a half hour, I get to go teach like this. Sweetness.
T - 5 weeks til my next trip...this one is to ARGENTINA!!!!! Wooooo!!!
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