Monday 27 february
Last night we slept in a hotel in Guayaquil. We woke up pretty late and were just on time to get our free breakfast across the street. The guy who worked there refused firstly to make breakfast for us, but when the hotel manager came, he had to (:
After the breakfast we went to the bus station to get on the Cruz del Sur bus to Lima. For 120 dollar per person we got VIP seats, which was a good choice. We had enough space for our legs and could almost lie down completely for sleeping. The bus ride was easy, I made a new video compilation and we played games. After cruising through the desert of Peru for a while, we arrived in Lima 30 hours after we left.

The next day we got on a airplane and flew into a city in the Amazona: Iquitos. A Australian couple (Will & Jane) started talking to us and we shared a taxi with them. They stayed in the same hotel as us. After checking in we told them we got picked up at 16:00 to try rubber boots for our Jungle trip. We told them when we could have dinner when we come back.
Marcel, the man who organises our 4 day Jungle trip picked us up shortly after and we tried on the boots. After that he showed us around in town and told us about the history of Iquitos. Back in the 1700's this part of the Amazona was very famous for it's rubber trees. There was alot demand coming from Europe, so it was a big business. Later the seeds of the rubber tree got taken to Europe, Thailand and Indonesia. This destroyed the export business in the Amazona, since people could get it much cheaper from somewhere else.
After buying some insect repellent and other stuff, we got back at the hotel at around 19:30. Oops.. the Australian couple were already gone. So we had dinner with the 2 of us. Later in the evening I sended some emails to find a new job. Yep, "normal" life is starting again soon....

2 March
Marcel picked us up at 08:30 with a minivan and 2 hours later we arrived at the port of Nauta. Adriano, our guid helped us with shopping and after that we got on a long tail boat and took off for another 1.5 hours of boat ride. Right before we arrived at the lodge, we saw pink dolphins. No we are not on drugs! The Amazona has pink dolphins and here is a good place to spot them☺ Later the day we went on the river with the boat and saw monkeys, birds, a sloth and at sunset dolphins again.
When we got back it was time for dinner. Marcel bought alligator and the woman at the lodge prepared it for us. Nicole already had alligator once, but I didn't. It has very white meat when prepared, like chicken, it tasted very good!
When it got dark everything changed. Alot of Musquitos where after us. And there was only electricity from 18:00 to 20:30. After that everything was pitch dark and that didn't do any good for Nicole.. uhhh.. OUR fear of spiders 😂 🕷

We didn't sleep good that night and the next morning Adriano woke us up at 05:45. We watched sunrise and after that we navigated on the river to watch birds and we saw a iguana. Later in the morning we hiked in the jungle and Adriano told alot about the Flora & Fauna. We saw big trees, one was around 600 years old. In some trees you can see big termite structures hanging in the them. Adriano showed us different types of flowers, and we tried fruits of the jungle. Other than that we saw monkeys and birds again, but nothing really special. Just a lot of musquitos again arggggggh 🐜
In the evening we went to several lakes, which were fully grown with lely plants. We tried to find some alligators, but unfortunately couldn't find any. When we got back at the lodge we had spaghetti for dinner. The food has been really good so far, we are eating a lot of local things as well. Later the evening we drank some rum cola and spoke to John, a 24yo guide. He told us about his passion for the jungle and he wants to be the best guide (:

This night we slept alot better and at 08:00 we got up for breakfast. Not just a breakfast, Jungle PANCAKES 😍
After filling our stomachs we got in the boat and navigated upstream. Along the riverside we spotted different kind of monkeys and birds. We saw beautiful toekans and parrots.
We went through thick dense jungle to a lake, were we landed on the other side. We started fishing with a tree branch and worms which we got out palm tree seeds. Adriano catched 2 piranha like fishies which we used for bait. He also gave us a try now. We were fishing in 50cm deep water and after awhile I catched a pretty big fish "lisa". Wow! Adriano said I was lucky.
We tried to catch more fish but weren't really succesfull. Nicole got stuck with her rod and I wanted to help her. I walked a bit on the water and then looked at my left leg, thinking there was a leaf on it. I looked again.. WTF BIG HAIRY SPIDER ON MY LEG!😱 shit I hate spiders.
The musquitos were really eating us here in the jungle so after Adriano cooked some fishes we had lunch on the middle of the lake, musquito-free😏 On the way back, Adriano let me navigate the boat and we raced with a local haha.
In the evening we went with a boat to a near small village where "jungle carnaval" was being celebrated. We were only with 20 people but it was nice. Nicole had fun dancing with the locals while I enjoyed my beer 😜

The next morning we fished close to our lodge. With the boat we navigated to the side of the river where alot of trees are in the water. The fishing here is different than I'm used to. To attract the fish you first make alot of noise in the water with your fishing rod, and then you drop your bait in and wait for the fish to get it. We catched mostly small catfish.
Later in the morning we went to a local family who have 2 sloths as pet's. The last days we saw some sloths in the trees, but we couldn't really see any detail. Pablo, the name of the sloth, was sitting in the top of the house and the owner climbed up to get him. Nicole and me holded it for a while, it was like a baby haha. They are very slowly and look cute.
After that it was time for our last meal in the lodge. We bought a painting of the woman who cooked for us. She said that Olli painted it, the local were Nicole was dancing with last night. We took the boat and car back to Iquitos and are happy to be back again and sleep musquito-free. The jungle was very interesting, but we don't necessarily have to go back again.

Monday 6 March
I got up early in the morning to do a video call with my former boss for a possible new job. After that we prepared ourselves and Marcel picked us up to go to the Belen market. This is the most popular and interesting market in Iquitos, you can buy anything there. The market already exists for 100 years and is 6 blocks big. Marcel gave us a free tour there and told us about the things they sell. There are alot of local fruits you can buy there, but some are also imported from Lima. Besides fruits you can also buy (dead or alive) animals here. Marcel brought us first to a small slaughter house were dead (parts of) pigs were hanging. Okay, quickly take a picture and let's move on😅 After that we saw a stall with a big alligator tail. We also saw turtles and parts of the turtles being sold. Marcel said that the penis of the turtle is really wanted here and is sold out as the market starts.. the people here are a bit crazy he said. We kept on walking and saw a lot of medicine stalls. They sold all kind of plants from the jungle and use it as a medicine. They also sell a lot of products for better sex, yep this is Iquitos.
After seeing these interesting stuff, we took a water taxi and Marcel showed us the floating village of Belen. The people here are really poor and live in dirty conditions. Toilets are next to the houses, everything goes in to the river. And we saw a women fishing right next to the toilet😨He has a guy there who works for him, he loves to live there. It was an interesting day and made us appreciate the things we have.

Tuesday 7 March
Marcel picked us up from the hotel and we had breakfast together. Around lunchtime it was time for our next trip to the jungle, where we stayed one night. Marlon, our short big musculair muchacho guided us on this tour. He also does survival tours in the jungle that takes 10 days, with only a tent and machete. Sounds awesome, but I think we have to pass 😅 He worked with "survivor man" from discovery channel and had several trainings in Arabia and Alaska, yeah he's pretty though. We went on the boat to the village and visited
a local Shaman: Don Luise. A Shaman is like a "doctor" who uses only uses plants from the jungle to heal. It was a very interesting experience. This was our last day in the jungle.

We spend the night by eating in a "Texas style" restaurant and looking on the internet to see where we want to spend our last week🏖

The next morning we woke up at 7:35.. hehh uhh..? WHAT! our plane leaves at 8:40. Shit? the battery of my phone didn't charge properly.
We rushed to the airport and when we wanted to check in, the lady said we didn't have tickets. I checked my email and yeah, I only had a booking confirmation. We missed our flight but got the money back. We got on the next flight to Lima and had to stay here for 1 night before flying to Cusco. We are going to the highlands were we want to hike up to Machu Pichu 💪

Geschreven door FrankArends