Explorama Inn Lodge Iquitos

... to Cartagena for a night or two before Bogota, but I realised that Im never probably going to be in the Amazon region ever again, and I can always get a beach like Cartagena somewhere else. Plus it would e more expensive for an extra flight. So I´m going to do some jungle tours or something when I get to Colombia and then I´ll fly up to Bogota a day or two before I head back to the states (which is rapidly approaching).<br><br>So if all goes to plan, I´ll be on a ...

... wear, customs and language.<br><br>Until the end of the eighteenth century, things didn&#8217;t change much in this area. But the industrial revolution brought an end to centuries of peace and quiet. The small village of the Iquito native tribe, now known as Iquitos, experienced a &#8216;boom&#8217;, an explosion of growth and extraordinary wealth, because of the development of the rubber industry.<br><br>The architectural and cultural heritage of those days is still ...

... 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. <br> I (Jen) did the marathon training run ...

... if one person alone was less intimidating than six people grouped together, or that just my sloppy swimming style provoked curiosity, but either way this time the dolphins didn&#8216;t seem to swim away. The guide told us (maybe just to make us look like idiots) that the dolphins like human sounds and singing. I gave it a go and started whistling and chanting &#8220;hey dolphin, dolphin&#8221;. The dolphins actually got closer. I started yelling back to the group to come ...

... we arrive at camp. A beautiful 8 roomed lodge. The first night we decide to spend the night in the jungle.(the canadian kids spent a week, ridiculous). Our tour guide Tito and his sidekick Weedwacker take us deep into the jungle. Well not deep, but no where near civilazation. What is the amazon like...TERRIFYING! My nightmares surrounding me. I have never seen so many terrifying insects and spiders in my entire life combinde. Spider thrive there, the one thing i ...

Maybe all ex-pats (people who have relocated to another country, for retirement/work/evading the law) are a little eccentric. After all, it is not the most common path in life to leave behind your home country and lay down roots in a totally different culture. What struck me about Iquitos was the interesting concentration of people from the United States who had left the country to re-establish themselves in South America.<br>My boat from Lagunas ...

... and I knew I had to come and see for myself what it was all about. The trip from the brochure was over $5000...I don't think so. I like white linen tablecloths and such...but not necessary. So I did some research and found Dawn on the Amazon. They offered a trip on the Rio Nanay, 5 days, for $600. That's more like it! Captain Bill said he had a couple going on a trip on May 2 to the Allpuhuana ...

... to get deeper into the jungle in the hopes of seeing more wild animals. After a gruling few hours doing our rounds at the millions of offices that offer jungle tours we narrowed them down to a few, we deicded to sleep as our minds were boogled with all the information. We enjoyed a nice dinner with our English friends and and enjoyed a beer or two before heading to bed in the host humid climate of Iquitos. Morning arose and we were on the ball, did our errands such as clean ...

... br>We witnessed the pink dolphin chasing a fish across the river. The poor thing jumped out of the water time and again, with that pink snout snapping at its tail fins. I can&#8217;t say if it got caught, or managed to escape.<br>At night we took the canoe out on one of the cochas, following the sounds of frogs and toads, calling each other from miles away. We actually managed to locate one, sitting on a branch, hovering over the water. At night the ...