Inspired by our trip in the jungle, when we arrived back in Cusco we decided to make a run for it to Iquitos to start our trip down the Amazon. We ran straight from one plane onto the next and changed in Lima sneaking through security to avoid the airport tax before being spat out in Iquitos. A steamy jungle town which can only be reached by boat or plane, home to 300 000 spread out across the both the centre and the shanty towns of puerto belen. Once a place of prosperity during the rubber boom it has reminders of how it used to look, with buildings with elegant tile exterior now crumbling into disrepair.
It was dark by the time we arrived and we jumped into a cab with Blondie blasting from the stereo and about one hundred motorbikes and cars on the road weaving back and forth with one hand on the wheel and one on the horn. I liked the place immediately. Made for a place in LP called the hobo hideout and stayed in a room on stilts with complete wooden interior and decked with snake skins and various other offcuts from the local taxidermist. Pulled the sheet up right under our noses as we realised we had hit Malaria zone.
Iquitos Hotels
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