Peruvian Amazon Jungle

Arrived in Iquitos, northern Peru, after a nightmare 30 hours and three flights. Iquito is named after a tribe of Indians that used to live here until the white people came. The town reminds me of Asia. It is so hot, that I am dripping with sweat, we have a fan and cold showers, there are lots of ex-pats, tuk tuks (motorbike carriages), dodgy (probably dirty) old Western men, and loads of American missionaries. We visited a butterfly farm / animal rescue centre, called Pilpintuwasi by a slow motorised boat, which was very interesting. They do not get any funding for looking after the jaguar, monkeys, sea cow, giant ant eater, turtles......but the government fills in the paperwork that they have to keep them, and if they lose a turtle for example they have to pay a fine. Whats with that? See the link to the Butterfly / Animal Rescue site. The woman has to work in the University so they have enough money to feed the jaguar. They need donations for their amazing work. Ian took a shine to a small monkey that was raised by street kids. As he likes to touch and get too close to animals, he had this monkey riding around on his shoulders. Now he wants one. He just tells me that the monkey has a name, which I have to use - Tony, and that Tony is very intelligent! We went on a 5 day jungle tour, with a local indian group called Aciendes, instead of the many others tour operators (many dodgy). We took a 19 hour camped boat overnight, sleeping in hammocks to visit the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve for one night in the village and 3 in the jungle camping. Ian still wanted to see an anaconda, of which he did not. The heat was unbearable!!! Even with long sleeve tops and trousers the mosquitos were ruthless! You would not believe the amount of bites we have. They drove me CRAZY! It was certainly an experience, but I am not doing it again. Next time we go to a lodge on the river, with showers and fans in your room. Of course no one told us that the wet season was not the best time to go. There is a popular gringo bar/restaurant here called the Yellow Rose run by a Texan and his local wife. Spent numerous meals there as the food is great. He is very proud of the number of awards he has won for his bar, and that he gives out honest travel advice. He was able to tell us that the numerous locals being painful, trying to sell us different jungle tours were either getting commission, or thiefs, and he recommended the local Indians, as did our hostel. You need someone like that in every town. We had forgotten how painful sellers were, and how in your face, and they will not go away - to the point that at times you have to be rude. It is Carnival time here and everyone is taking much pleasure in throwing water, ink and flour all over everyone. So we got right on in there and joined in at a concert last night. Loads of scrubbing in the shower, thinking that it may not come off. Lets see how the laundry comes back. Tomorrow we have a 9 hour boat that takes us along the Amazon river to Colombia.

We had to share the boat on the way back to Iquitos with some stinky cattle. 

The very cramped 19 hour boat ride up the Amazon for our tour. This is where everyone slept. You could not swing in your hammock or you would knock the person next to you! 

The scene after we first got on the boat. 

What a sunset from the San Martin Village! 

Ian attempting to catch fish the local way. He managed to get 2 tiny ones. 

We had bananas with every meal. This was before they were fried up to accompany our meal. 

Puncho the Howler monkey at the San Martin Village, in the jungle. 

Camping out in the Amazon Jungle. It poured down rain this night. The mosquitos drove me crazy!!!!!!! 

Carnival time in Iquitos. Here I am very wet from water, beer and sweat, also covered in ink, flour and other stuff. We attended a concert with our jungle tour guide and may have been the only gringos, so the locals thought it was great covering us. 

The Museum where lots of Indian tribes, that live on the Amazon River, where made into statutes. This one was a tribe that shunk heads. 

Two Butterflys making love! 

The houses in Iquitos on the water, where we took a boat to the Butterfly Farm. 

A tipir at the Butterfly Farm, where they also look after rescued animals. 

Ian making friends with Tony. Now he wants one as a pet. 

A huge ant eater. Check out the size of him! 

Iquitos. View across the river. 

Off to see the Butterflies. 

Mendoza - Argentina

Went on a day trip to see the biggest mountain in Sth America today. Long and tiring day doing nothing much more than driving around in the van. Made me sleep a lot. It was actually the pass that we came over from Chile too, so we felt that we had ´been there, and done most of it´. Also we paid GBP10 for the 9 hour bus trip from Chile to Argentina, and then went and paid about GBP18 for this day trip. Felt in hindsight that it was way too expensive and somewhat boring. Had to remind yourself that the scenery was beautiful. Made the mistake of not asking whether the guide spoke in English - which he didn´t, and was annoyed that the girl who sold it to us (who spoke to us in English), didn´t let us know. So learnt nothing! Thought about white water rafting, as Ian hasn´t done it before, but the water is brown and muddy looking. So no thank you! Visited some wineries for tours and tastings. Lopez winery was huge, so very interesting seeing the bottles being filled, capped, boxed, crated and wrapped up in plastic, all by machinery. They produce 60,000 a day. They also have a labortary where experts create new tastes. Looked like a chemistry classroom. Bought a 10 year old bottle of red for only GBP5! There was a smaller winery near by that only produce 70 bottles a day, by hand. Very different. Now we are flying to the very north east tip of Peru to the jungle. You can only get to this part of the country by either flying or by boat. It is the largest jungle city in Peru, and apparently very nice. From here we intend on taking a boat trip into Colombia. We keep hearing great things about Colombia and intend on spending at least 6 weeks there.

Festival celebrations had began in Mendoza in one of the plazas. We enjoyed a meal there. 

Having a wee drop, at the tasting, on our Lopez Winery tour. 

Ian and John playing funny buggers at the Lopez Winery. 

Ian checking out the grapes on a wine tour in Mendoza. 

The view, amongst clouds, of the highest mountain, 6962 metres.  

Interesting. The river flowed past these old ruins. 

The highest mountain in Sth America. Beautiful scenery on the bus ride between Santiago and Mendoza. 

Pucon - Chile

In Pucon (south east of Santiago - Chile). Climbed an active snow capped volcano yesterday. It last errupted in 1971. Took 4 hours to climb. Saw the bubbling bright red larva. Very cool. What may just have been better was sliding down the mountain on our bums. Very quick of course and heaps of fun. The first part was 1km long! Surpringly my body has no overly sore parts.

I really do not like being so close to the edge.