Adventures in Iquitos

Wow, I really should have learned more Spanish before I got here.

I am having a drink by myself at a streetside bar just off the Plaza de Armas last night, and a nice Iquiteno invited me to join his friends for a beer last night. Victor spoke some English, but his friends spoke virtually none (including several Peruvian tax lawyers!). There were 4 of them in total, 2 guys and 2 girls. I ended up on the back of some girl´s morobike en route to another bar here where a band was warming up. Although we were soon joined by another Iquitena, Victor has vanished with his girlfriend. Which left me at the bar with 3 people that don´t speak English. And while I am proud of how far my Spanish has come in three and a half weeks, it isn´t really good enough for proper bar chattting. Eventually Victor came back to the place, but by that point he was too drunk for English. (Although the band was quite good once they started.) We whittled down to three, with Rony, Victor and I getting on one motorbike and speeding off to an outdoor discoteque somewhere here in Iquitos. I did my best impersonation of a person who can dance to Latin music for an hour or so, and then Rony brought me back to my hostal on his motorbike. Somewhere, we lost Victor outside the club. What a night.

I am going off to the jungle tomorrow, probably until Thursday. Cannot decide whether to take the budget option, or the more expensive nicer place (3X the price). I want a proper jungle experience, yet at the same time I think I am more likely to meet interesting travellers at the cheap place. Yet the chances of an English speaking guide are very slim there. I dunno. In any event, I will certainly be off blog Sunday morning through Thursday afternoon.