One Sandal Colombia

Proper Photos

Here they are.

Encante

I was sitting in a no name bar in a no name town drinking no name local rum somewhere in the middle of the Peruvian Amazon. Kerosene lamps and warm drinks in this no electricity town, with plenty of mosquitos and heat to keep me company. In the jungle we pass around one cup and one pitcher. You fill the cup, pass the pitcher. After you finish your drink from the glass, you pass the glass to the man with the pitcher. It can go on like this for hours. After some Spanglish small talk with some of the town residents, I went down by the boat dock (the only means to get to this small village on a blackwater tributary of the Amazon). I needed to relieve myself from drinking the rum, and when I finished and turned back to the thatched roof bar I was in, I saw a pretty, fair skinned women clad in flowing white standing on the river bank. Buenos tardes, I said to her. Where are you from, she asked. I am from the United States, a long way from here. I only know the jungle, she told me. I like the jungle I said, but not the mosquitos. I live in a jungle city, she said, but it has no mosquitos. I would like that city I think. Do people look like you in your city? Yes, but we like to wear jewelry, like you. Would you like a necklace, she asked. She gave me a green necklace and put it over my head. It is very nice I told her, I am sorry I have no gift for you. I do not need gifts, she said, I have almost everything I need in Encante. It sounds like a very nice place. And she invited me to visit her city, but I told her that I could not because I could not leave my friends at the thatched roof bar. She said that she was sorry to hear that, and that she would go. I told her goodbye, and when I turned to return to the bar I heard a splash, and when I looked back into the black water I saw a pink river dolphin bob to the surface. Then I felt me necklace fall off my neck and I saw on the ground a bright green tree snake slithering away. The dolphin made a loud breath from the water and I went back to the no name bar in the no name town in the middle of the Peruvian Amazon.

Making a Decision

Well, I decided to fork out the cash and head to Mayuna Jungle Lodge - I mean, how many chances will I get to spend 5 days in the Amazon Lowland? I spend tonight in Iquitos, and leave at half nine tomorrow morning. There are tons of things to do here, so I really do not think that I will be bored. As I suggested in an earlier post, I will be ´sin email´ at the Lodge, so check back Friday for an update. With the notable exception of the wedding, this is my last adventure in Peru, so I hope to make it a good one.



Have a great week, and as always, thanks for stopping by.

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.

Welcome to the Jungle

After an overnight bus ride from Trujillo, I found myself once again briefly in the friendly confines of Casa Peschiera de San Isidro this morning. Natalia, Luis´s housekeeper, is the bomb - I was there for like 5 hours, and she made me breakfast, a fantastic lunch (some sort of organ meat, I think) and did my laundry: COMPLETE WITH MANUALLY SCRUBBING STAINS OUT OF MY TROUSERS AND SOCKS. Seriously, whatever he pays for her, she is a bargain.

After a circuitous taxi ride to evade Lima traffic, I arrived at Jorge Chavez Internacional for my flight to Iquitos. Two hours in the air over two of Peru´s climates - coastal desert and mountains - left me in its third, the selva Amazonas. I was struck immediately when exiting the plane for the tarmac by a familiar feeling: the smell of slash-and-burn agriculture and the moist heat reminded me of my first foray into the jungle (in Southeast Asia). A motocarro took me on a hair-raising trip through chaotic traffic from the airport into downtown Iquitos, and into my guesthouse (without air-con or hot water).

The Plaza de Armas is pleasant here, with some very attractive lighting on the main catedral. The largest city in the world inacccesible by road, Iquitos is certainly a thriving jungle town. The roar of motorbikes and motocarros is constant!

Wow, is the jungle muggy. I hear that the discoteques of Iquitos are really good fun, and I hope to find out this evening. In any event, a few cervecas are are in order to cool down this noche caliente.

Enjoy the weekend.

People Are People

What nearly always take some getting used to for me living out of my backpack is how a person makes friends on the road. You are thrust into these bizarre situations all the time with random strangers, and just as quickly you find yourself apart from these same people. Rafaela from the trek puts too much salt on her food, is worried about her sick grandmother, and doesn´t like sushi. Max likes Nordic heavy metal and doesn´t need a shave after 5 days in the bush. Kate wants to travel more but has to move home after this trip to her parents´ place outside Glasgow to figure out if she wants to start a career or travel more. Who are these people? Why should I care about them? I have met so many people, and have pages of email addresses, most rarely used. But, on the other hand, just a few months ago I spent 5 short days in London and saw two people I met (separately) in Thailand, and one I met in Belize. Or is it only that we make friends quickly on the road because we are lonely, or bored with our companinion? Or is it merely that curious people travel, and we ask questions to learn new things and just make new friends in the process? Why do I bother to ask these questions?

Travel Tale, Update

I get off the bus from Huaraz in Trujillo yesterday at about 530 in the morning. I slept OK, but there is nothing worse than waking up and five minutes later someone incessantly calling in your ear about hotels, tours, taxis, etc. Anyway, I walk out into the street and agree to a 15 soles ride out to the beach town of Huanchaco. The guy, however, does not have a proper yellow taxi, but instead has a beatup black VW Beetle that is incapable of going faster than 50 kph. The best part was where he told me to put on my seat belt, which was a canvas strap that attached to nothing (I assume in case the policia saw us drive by). And we get out to the beach, and the guy cannot make change for a 20 soles note. Absurd.

***

Had a nice day at the beach yesterday. Saw Chan Chan (awesome), then a few minot Chimu sites, then had a big plate of ceviche. Ended up sharing a room with a German named Simone and a Scottish girl who calls herself Kate. Had a nice chat with them at the terrace at Casa Suiza in Huanchaco last night and a pleasant breakfast as well before they headed off to Chan Chan themselves this morning.

Trujillo is a charming enough place. I had a look around some today.



Took a collectivo out to the Huacas del Moche this afternoon, muy bueno. Frescos from literally thousands of years ago. Very, very cool.



Anyway, another overnight bus to Lima tonight. Should spend a couple of hours at Luis´s flat, then I am off on a plane to the jungle. Iquitos is supposed to be very fun, and I am quite excited about a week in the middle of the Amazon lowland. The jungle is the missing part of the survey of Peru: hot and humid, lots of green, and tons of crazy wildlife. And do not worry, I got a fiebre amarillo vaccine last week at the airport in Lima (and I did it all in español).

Until next time...

Since the Trek

I got up Ssaturday morning after about 4 hours of sleep to meet the Germanic kids one last time, in order to have breakfast and swap photos. An early morning, indeed. I then hopped a quick flight back to Lima and was back in the pleasant Occidental world of San Isidro. Luis and Andrea had a wedding that evening, but Papa Lucha was visiting from Chincha, and we had a nice chat in broken Spanglish. Saturday night Luis and I went to an amazing party at a top floor flat in Miraflores (sort of a Peruvian Beverly Hills) overlooking the Pacific. The place actually has a glassed in shower overlooking the beach. Sunday I spent in Lima, the morning hanging out by the pool at Luis's country club while he golfed, and Andrea joined us for an afternoon party at his friend Nicolas's place (I actually met Nicolas, a Perivian who was living in London when I visited Luis this summmer.) Sunday night put my on a bus to Huaraz in the Cordillera Blanca. Huaraz is known for its trekking, but I am a little trekked out particularly as the weather wasn't cooperating. A day trip to Chavín de Huántar one day,



and another trip to Llanganuco Lake.



En route to the Lake, we stopped at Yungay, scene of a

devasting avalance

on 30 May 1970, where an estimated 17,000 villagers died in the scope of 5 minutes when part of the wall of Huascaran fell to the earth and swallowed up the entire village. A few dozen people were spared because the were at the town cemetary, one of the few spots of high ground spared the devastation. Over 50,000 died throughout Peru.

Another overnight bus has left me outside Trujillo, in a beach town near the very impressive ruins of Chan Chan, a dominating coastal culture until their annexation by the Incas in the 15th Century.

This afternoon is for drinking at the beach and eating ceviche, and tomorrow I'll see some more ruins at the city of Trjillo.