Victoria Regia Hotel Iquitos

... though keen on expanding their vast empire, never reached Iquitos. Even for them, the Amazon rainforest proved to be too difficult to take. The native tribes that still live here have been here for a thousand years, isolated from the rest of the world. The impenetrable rainforest prevented these people from being wiped out by the Spanish conquistadores. This is how it was possible for no less than 23 different races to develop, each with their own culture ...

... all the way around it. I was so nervous of the tee here that I overdrove the hole missing everything altogether, but landed the ball into another water hazard from 20 yards beyond. In the end I shot a 52. With the greens and having a caddie for the first time in my life, which was unnecessary- especially since he spoke only Spanish and our conversations were too simple to be very interesting. All in all it was a very interesting day out.
I (Jen) did the marathon training run ...

... use blow darts. They take some of this liquid and put it in a bottle. Then before they shoot they dip the dart in this liquid. If they shoot a monkey it will jump around like normal and make lots of noise. And then a minute later its muscles will get tight and it will fall out of the trees and it will be dead. They cut around the poison and cook the food. I have only had food cooked this way once-I had to try it. I don’t know how they cut the poisoned meat from the ...

... the one we picked. His
hotel choice was nicer, so we took it. For 55 soles, we had a private
room and bathroom at Hotel La Casona Av. Fitzcarrald No 147-A, Iquitos, Peru.
The hotel was clean and the staff was very helpful. We spoke with Guido
about a tour but made no commitments. We left the hotel to find food ...

... for the higher class seating instead of the 20 down below. It was WELL worth it. We had much better food served to us, plenty of room, and a beautiful view. I met Elijah and Josh up there also. We hung our hammocks up and waited for departure. We departed about 1pm and are well on are way to iquitos, the amazonian paradise. It was the most amazing, relaxing experience of my life. Elijah brought a bottle of rum, and we lay for 3 days sipping on rum watching the ...

... are still many who go hungry. Many people here literally have nothing but the clothes on their backs. We in the U.S. can't imagine such a life. There my friends were amazed that I was happy to live without running water, a floor or a shower. My house was a palace compared to what these people have! I always knew that, but seeing it up close and personal is quite an experience. And what do I remember the most? The sweet smiles and laughter.

Day 91 - 07/04/09 Another crazy day of travel awaits! I was woken at 2.30am by the French guys who I met on the boat from Manaus. We're travelling together from Tabatinga to Iquitos so we shared a room last night at a guesthouse near the river border with Peru. We leave by fast boat for the 10 hour journey at 5am, but first we have a tiny little problem! The French guys decided to stay up all night rather than sleep. When they woke me, they said a group of locals have ...

... and what isnt. On the boat we met an English couple called Robyn and Jason who joined us to the hostel we found in the guide book which was located 2 blocks from the plaza de arms, the price seemed a little high so we decided to do a walk of the town in search of another, after not much luck Robyn and I jumped in a tuk tuk to see and place a driver was reccomending, on route we nearly hit another tuk tuk as he swung around a corner leaving Robyn and I in fits of panic and ...

... the quality of the air, the continuous concert of sounds, the views of the rivers, cochas and creeks, and the absence of anything modern and civilized, apart from the boat we were on. There are plants growing on trees that grow on even larger trees with beautiful flowers and impressive root structures.
Despite the rain we were also treated to spectacular sunsets and sunrises, lakes so still they looked like giant mirrors and to hours of just ...