Thursday, September 11, 2014

Amazon - Day 1

After a brief stay in a cheap, comfy, and friendly hostel in Lima (< 12hrs), we headed off to Iquitos, the gateway to the Amazon. Upon arrival I noticed one thing immediately, it’s hot… real fucking hot. Our 20 min ride to the center of Iquitos was not only reminiscent of Thailand because of the heat, but there were Tuk-Tuks everywhere. A city of 500,000 people, Iquitos is essentially an island. Unreachable by road, everything (and everyone) must be flown or boated in.


Arriving in Iquitos. We were _the_ plane.

Comforting to see on arrival.


We arrived at the Otorongo office, in Iquitos, and were immediately greeted by our personal, English-speaking guide. Let’s call him Mister X, because neither Bill or I can remember his name and we feel so bad of the fact, we're still devising clever ways to determine his name. Stay tuned, we'll figure it out eventually. lol. We’re such idiots, we've spent so much time trying to come up with creative, and often hilarious ways, when all we have to do is ask him. Honestly, it’s way more fun this way. :)

After meeting our guide, checking in, and dropping off most our luggage, we jumped on a Tuk-Tuk and headed to the river where we'd rendezvous with 5 other adventurers and head down river 110km to the Otorongo Base Camp. It’s supposed to be a 2.5hr speed boat ride but due to rain, wind, and the resulting choppy water, it took more like 3.5 - 4hrs. At one point the waves were crashing into the boat, soaking the shit out of me. The boat was slamming into the water after being launched into the air by turbulent seas. During the worst part of the tier’s assault, a horrified passenger turned to her guide and asked, “Is it supposed to be like this?”… “lol, No” was the reply. heh. It was rough at times but not too bad, in my opinion.

Dock where we boarded our boat to Otorongo




Also, for the record, I’m totally brain dead and thought “dry season” in the Amazon means it’s dry. Not the case, “dry season” just simply means that the entire fucking area isn't completely flooded. It still rains almost every day and, considering only 2% of sunlight penetrates the canopy, everything is wet, almost all the time.

About two thirds of the way up we stopped at what was essentially a bootleg rum production facility. It was pretty rad to see how sugar cane was turned into rum throughout the entire process. The machine they used to extract the sugar cane juice was over 300 years old and still functioning just fine. We got to taste fresh, raw cane juice as well as sample many of the different types of rum the dude and his family produced. The best part was that it was free and wasn't a tourist trap thing where you Exit Through the Gift Shop. Another interesting thing i learned was that the rum maker’s house, as it exists today, is about 200 yards in from where it originated. Due to erosion on the river, the property has, over the last 300 years, slowly moved inland to keep from getting washed away! Upon closer inspection, it’s clear the property is due for another move very soon.

300 year old machine used to extract juice from sugar cane

Fermentation process



I was simply amazed at the size and scale of the Amazon, It’s HUGE. It’s more like a long, giant lake than a river. I commented to our guide that i was surprised at how large the river was, pointing across to the shore.  “No, that’s actually an island in the middle of the Amazon, there’s more river on the other side.”!! HUGE.

The mighty Amazon


We finally arrived at base camp, was shown our rooms, lounged in the hammock area while watching lightning bug fly around, was fed a delicious meal, and planned out tomorrow’s adventures with our guide. We're going searching for sloths, monkeys, pink dolphins, and will do a little fishing. Just another day in the Amazon, it seems. Everyone here is really cool too. I guess it takes a certain type of person and a certain mindset to even embark on an adventure like this, regardless of where you’re from. Everyone is very open minded and seem pretty progressive and friendly.

Otorongo in relation to the Peruvian Amazon

Rooms at the lodge

Beautiful birds scattered around the property

This little dick almost took my finger

Perched above

Good from afar





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