Heliconia Amazon River Lodge Iquitos

... tamales, fed baby manatis at a reahbilitation center, helped build a recyled house out of used car parts, seen magnificent blue butterflies the size of an open hand, ate grubs, did a rain dance with half naked members of the Bora Tribe, drank six different kinds of exotic homemade juice, ate (a small portion of) a 600 lb fish, had our auras read by a metaphysics professor, got lost in the ghetto, spent the night in a shamans hut ...

... the location where it still stands today; the Plaza de Armas in Iquitos.<br><br>And so Iquitos offers many cultural surprises that date back to the days of the rubber boom. Those days ended quite abrubtly during the early years of the twentieth century, when rubber seeds were smuggled out of the country and the rubber industry moved to Malaysia. <br><br>After the rubber boom, many immigrants stayed in this area and made the city of Iquitos what it is today. Even ...

... Eric mentioned above and had basically the worst run of my life. I was wearing a red tank top and ¾ length pants, nothing revealing by any means. I usually pack mace &amp; a small amount of cash just in case I sprain an ankle or something and need a cab back. For starters, I ran through the overcrowded, littered, smelly maze of a market and I just got catcalled repetitively as I ran through it. To make a bad situation worse, I got turned around a couple of times and had to run ...

... headed back to the lodge, had lunch, grabbed our things, and Falcon and his assistant Gedrani organized stuff, loaded the canoe, and got us headed towards our campsite. Falcon and Gedrani set things up when we got there, and this served as reminder number 2 on why we hired guides for this one. They packed hammocks, one for each person, large rectangular walk-in mosquito nets to go over the hammocks, and tarps to throw over those. No sleeping bags, no tents. It made sense in ...

... ever seen also. A frog larger than a bullfrog...i think. I have the picture uploaded, he was cute. After a good hour hike into the woods we decided to go for a night boat ride. We head back to our small boat and wondering around the small streams in the area. Not seeing much, but hearing a city of animal noises, along with a beautiful night sky, where the milky way galaxy sparkled in the distance. After the ride we were exhausted and headed back to camp. We ...

... northern Peru. A bit south of town, the festival was buzzing. Locals crowded the streets and a large carnival filled a nearby park. I tried my hand at the ring toss, aiming for a tall bottle of cerveza, but failed each of my five attempts. My Italian friend was luckily more skilled and landed a free beer on his second try.<br>After the carnival, I took a walk along the Malecon (a boardwalk along any body of water in a South American city), and ended ...

... was only the two of us (well 4, with Judith &amp; Edson) because we spoke Dutch the whole time which I really enjoyed. Neither Edson nor Judy spoke English (let alone Dutch!) so we spoke Spanish with them. I am having a hard time thinking about what I should write for this entry. The trip was so amazing! It truly was a dream come true and did not disappoint...although I teased Gart for not showing me ...

... a kind of foam thing that is served in cups with spoons and is made in big bowls with egg whites vanilla essence and sugar. Women have a big coiled metal device that they bang it with until is peaks and then its eaten, it was delicious and Jonathan finished it within a mintue of it being served. The next morning we set off early with our guide Falcon by car to a place called Nauta and from there we took a motor boat for an hour and a half deep into the jungle to our lodge. We ...

... the monkeys at 5.30 AM and were not disappointed. Slowly paddling underneath the canopy, they put up quite a spectacle in the treetops. One of them even fell out of a tree and landed in the water below, making a huge splash. Who knew this was even possible?! Screaming in frustration, it ran back up the tree.<br>The monkeys moved along quickly and soon disappeared from view. But then there is so much more to see. Butterflies, more than you can count ...