Thursday, May 17,2007: Iquitos & The Amazon.

( Happy 1st Birthday, Chloe!!! )
Today it is off to the Amazon Jungle part of our tour.  We are on our own on this part as Kathy decided to stay and visit more of Peru around Lima.  

2:45am is not a really pleasant time to be awakened, but we managed. Maritza picked us up on schedule at 3:30am and then we were whisked through mostly empty streets to the airport. By the time we checked in, paid the airport tax and found the departure lounge, we were ready for a coffee and the yogurt we picked up at the hotel. The flight was uneventful, though those on the other side got a spectacular view of sunrise over the Andes.

 Landing at the Iquitos airport we were met by the Explorama representative. We drove through the outskirts of Iquitos, then to a huge market area which featured everything from jeans to live chickens. 

On the road there are thousands of motorcycle-driven 3-wheel cabs. No roads come this far so everything comes by air or river.

We checked in at the company headquarters and boarded a power boat for the fast 45 minute trip to the resort. It was a bit alarming since the Amazon is full of debris ( mostly natural...no shoes like the Yangtzi River in China ) but the driver seemed to know his stuff.

The Ceiba Tops resort is lovely and serene, right in the jungle. We had a briefing about services and activities and then were shown to our cottage. It's rustic but comfortable. It was still a couple of hours before lunch so I caught up on sleep while Larry tested the internet connection. We were amazed there was one and it works very well. 

Lunch was a delicious buffet of local dishes. Then we had a bit of rest before going on a jungle walk. We had gone only about 100 when it started to pour. We quickly dawned our ponchos and headed back to the lodge.

After 15 minutes or so it stopped and we headed out again. Our guide, Percy, pointed out a lot of interesting things. We saw monkeys cavorting in the trees, a couple of centipedes, a tarantula, several kinds of birds, termites and many kinds of plants, including the Ceiba tree, for which the resort is named. We were hot and muddy when we got back so had to immediately wash our pant legs.

We were happy to climb into the swimming poo,l and both tried the water slide. A macaw came and perched on one of the tables by the pool.

Photos 17 May