While many of you were reviewing the 9/11 five year memorial activities, I was leaving the Refugio and going back to Iquitos.  There was a little bit said about 9/11 on CNN, but other than that, it was quiet here - except for the incredible city noise.

The water was pretty low in the Amazon even though we had had several torrential storms while I was there.  Storms in the Amazon are complete with lightening, thunder and sheets of rain - quite spectacular - especially at night.  You can watch the storm brewing and hear it way up stream as it echoes through the river basin.  We sat and watched a few of these storms roll in during my stay.  It was hard to know if and when it would let loose at the Refugio. 

Anyway, we were going out of the tributary slowly so as not to hit any hidden debris when we hit a huge submerged tree which practically sent us all into the river!  The propeller sustained some damage, but we were still able to make it to Iquitos.

The Amazon is home to a couple of types of dolphins - gray ones and pink ones.  I did not know that dolphins lived in fresh water so was surprised when some would come out and play around us.  The stunts they would do reminded me of Sea World - and we thought it took lots of training!  We usually saw the gray ones, but once a pink one jumped out of the water.  What a gorgeous sight!

I spent a couple of days in Iquitos before going on to Lima.  Iquitos is the gateway to the jungle, so if you want to go to the jungle, you usually enter it from here.  You can also go into Brazil and Columbia via the river.

Iquitos is a very interesting town that got its start during the rubber boom in the 1800's.  People came from all over the world to strike it rich on rubber.  The town grew 17 times its original size over night.  Since people came from all over the world, they brought things from home that look quite out of place in the middle of the jungle.  For example, many buildings are covered in Italian or Spanish tile and one building is completely made out of steel.  The architecture is a cross between European and Georgia plantations complete with window shutters and brightly painted.  This is why the town has such a different feel than Pucallpa - more refined, cultured and worldly. 

The only way into Iquitos is by boat via the Amazon or by air.  There are no roads through the jungle which keeps it rather isolated so it can maintain its very unique culture.

Unfortunately, a European smuggled some rubber tree seeds out of South America around the WWI or WWII.  Rubber plantations were started which eventually caused the downfall of Iquitos.  They could not compete with the plantations which made the cultivation of the rubber so easy.  In Iquitos, the rubber trees had to be found in the jungle and then tapped and brought to Iquitos - a lot of manual labor - which was done by their version of native slaves.  Many lives were lost during this period. 

Overlooking the Amazon, Iquitos has a very picturesque walkway (called the Boulevard) with fountains and statues where open air restaurants and bars face the water while street musicians, vendors and beggars compete for your soles and extra food.  The street kids and young mothers with babies are constantly coming up playing on your soft heart and wanting to shine your shoes (even thongs!) or sell you a piece of candy.  They get rather bold and won't leave you alone, so the restaurants have hired "bouncers" to try to move them along.  It does get old quick! 

For some reason, Iquitos has attracted a lot of ex-patriots from the US, England, Australia, Europe.... They have come to escape the hectic lifestyles of their home countries.  Many have opened businesses down here.  It was amazing how much drama is in their lives - it is worse than a small town - with gossip and back stabbing.  Of course, Scott knows most of them, so they were always coming up and telling him the latest saga. 

For the two days I was in Iquitos, I hired a young guide (25 next month, but looked 15) to show me around and help interpret.  Luis is a dear!  He studied English a couple of years and was able to do an incredible job communicating and interpreting for me.  He is well versed in the history and places to see in his home town.  He took me to the famous Belen market which is Iquitos' open air market and shanty town.  You could buy anything you wanted in the market - from any type of food, to jungle supplies, to personal care items, to clothes, to plant medicine, to kitchen supplies..... As with most markets, the smell, or should I say stench, was a bit overwhelming in some areas. 

Once you leave the booths of the market, you can go down into the actual town of Belen.  It is a very poor area of town along the river.  The homes are along dirt roads and are either on stilts or float so as to accomodate the high water season.  Luis lived down here, so he took me to his home to see how they live and to meet his parents.  He has 8 siblings, but only 4 are still at home.  As the family grew, they just added a room or so onto the house.  It reminded me a bit of the structures in San Francisco.  They had electricity (and a freezer), but no running water.  They had to buy and cart water to the house each day and do laundry in the river. 

Luis' parents were wonderfully warm and welcoming people.  His dad had several questions for me about where I lived and my family etc.  He also was wondering if I was single .... maybe for Luis?  We went on a canoe ride up river to see how people lived along the river.  It was very interesting and quite a challenge for the boat owner to paddle up stream against the current.  We got off the river just before the sky opened up with a torrential down pour.  We snaked our way back to the market by running from beneath one home to the next.  It was fun to watch the kids playing in the rain!  Luis told me the next day that a couple of houses got dislodged by the rain storm and started floating down river.  It was quite a feat trying to stop them!  I don't think it was in their plans to move away from Iquitos!

Because it rained off and on the rest of the day, we spent the rest of the day running errands instead of seeing the rest of the sights (i.e. zoo, butterfly farm, serpent farm) which were quite a ways from town.  If you go to Iquitos, be sure and look up Luis to give you the grand tour.