Hostal International Iquitos

... food grown on their property, wash our clothes with collected rainwater, gave us beds to sleep in, and everyday have been taking us around the city and surrounding jungle.<br><br> <br><br>The days here are hot and very humid, the nights bring torrential thunder storms. When we are not out exploring, or helping out on the land, we spend our mornings playing chess by the fan, and our afternoons playing futbol at the local park. The ...

... an extraordinary number of bird species.<br><br>But for those who lack this kind of adventurous spirit, there are many things to do and see in and around Iquitos that will give you an excellent impression of nature as well as the culture of this area. Villages close to Iquitos, like Padre Cocha, can easily be reached by boat. Tribes like the Bora and the Yagua live here, at about a half hour boat ride from Iquitos and are visited daily by tourists.<br><br>In Padre Cocha ...

... into our nets.<br> &#8220;After dinner, we will go spear fishing,&#8221; Falcon yelled out from his hammock. Spear fishing sounded great, but going outside to do anything during the malaria infested mosquito orchestra did not. &#8220;They&#8217;ll die down after a while, and they are not as bad on the river,&#8221; Falcon yelled, as if he read our minds. &#8220;Okay,&#8221; we said. &#8220;Spear fishing sounds great.&#8221;<br> He woke us up a couple ours later-we all ...

... for coming is as a base for exploring the rainforest (I use the term 'exploring' in its most limited sense) and so I went out to stay in one of the jungle lodges for a night and spent a couple of days in the rainforest. As you might expect, it is an amazing place. On the way out there, I couldn't quite believe I was on a boat on the actual Amazon. It was so cool. I was travelling with an Aussie couple at that point and we visited the Yaguas tribe who showed us their ...

... in sight. We check out the discotecha or club that is happening and as i head to the dance floor i realize the this overcrowded place is full of mostly dudes. Us gringos towered over everyone and the uncomfortable feeling of rubbing against guys in all directions drove us out quickly. We hang out late into the night and finally pass out at our hostal. <br><br>The next day, or this morning, josh takes care of some business and elijah and i head to the farmers ...

... water doesn't end at the banks! It goes on and on far beyond this edge of trees. Along the way we stopped at several areas where we could canoe into the trees...this is what I had seen on TV and wanted to experience and it is a wonderland! On these canoe journeys we saw many birds, an unbelievable number of butterflies, insects, spiders, sloths, monkeys, and even a Tayra. I had never heard of that one ...

... very close by although we often only caught the tail or sparys. We stayed with the doplins until sunset which was beatuiful and headed back for dinner, on the way seeing a sloth in the tree, birds, centerpieds, butterflies and many other creatures. The amount of wildlife here amazed us and better yet its all in the wild, our guide Falcon has an incredible amount of knowledge of the jungle which truley is his home. He has only lived in the Iquitos for 5 years and before that all ...

... We would have missed it, if she hadn't had such sharp eyes. What appeared like either an old termite nest, or a dead fur ball, turned out to be a two-toed sloth. Our calls and whistles could not persuade it to move, but softly poking the tree it was hanging on did, and it slowly started to flee. It gave us a cranky look, as it moved into the next tree, and we decided to leave it in peace.<br>We arrived in Lagunas, a peaceful, friendly village, but ...