It's a Jungle Out There!

Friday, May 8, 2009 Nighttime
Ecolodge in the middle of the Amazon

Well, after 20 hours in airplanes or airports, I miraculously made it all the way from Washington DC to Iquitos, the largest city in the world that is inaccessible by car. Although I originally had an image of a small fishing village with straw huts on the water’s edge, I had later read that it was actually a city of 400,000. My preconceptions of stepping off the plane and landing smack dab in the middle of a huge canopy rainforest were further proved wrong as we hit the tarmac to be greeted by fields and sporadic trees. I was picked up by a guide and driven through Iquitos to meet with the rest of the group at their hotel.

The drive itself was fascinating, and I could observe a lot of differences between Iquitos and Lima. Besides the main streets that I rode down, many of the roads and sidewalks were unpaved, dusty paths. Also, besides the few large vans meant for tourist groups, I didn’t see a single car on the way to the hotel. Everyone rode around on either motorcycles or these 3 wheeled motorcycles connected to a little cab for two people. Many of the buildings lining the street appeared “run down” with their concrete walls and mismatched tin roofs, but I found an incredible beauty in the varied colors of faded and peeling paint.

After a happy reunion with the group, we were off on a canoe-shaped motorboat with thatched palm roof for the hour’s ride from Iquitos to our lodge on the Amazon River. I dozed a bit since I was so exhausted but woke up startled when everyone started exclaiming over seeing a pink dolphin jump out of the water. There were several dolphins hanging around in the water near us, so that was pretty cool.

The lodge itself is awesome. The huge main building, where meals are served, is interconnected by wooden pathways to the smaller cabins for sleeping. There is even a hut with hammocks that face out to the river. All the structures are made from wood but have thatched palms as roofs. Also, there is no electricity, so we use kerosene lamps at night– I’m actually writing by lamplight at the moment.

After a delicious lunch – the standard rice, beans, and chicken, but with a flavoring distinctly from the jungle with a tart, lemony sauce - we took a boat to a nearby village. We went on a short hike (with big rubber boots) past water buffalo and slightly flooded paths (apparently the Amazon is over 12 feet higher than usual) to a shaman’s hut. A shaman is the local medicine man, who uses different plants and herbs to treat his patients. He demonstrated many of these different treatments and we even got to try some of the plants and liquids commonly used. We then headed back to the village and a local woman demonstrated how to use the special wooden press for sugar cane. We took turns trying it and then we all got to drink fresh sugar cane juice with lemon – so delicious. We were back on the boat just in time for sunset, which was gorgeous over the water. The rest of our night was spent at the lodge eating another great meal and making up song games in the lodge.

Coli