July 30th to 31st 2015
Iquitos Peru is the world’s largest city which is entirely inaccessible by road is a city of contradictions. I sadly did not get a chance to explore the city fully as I got quite ill after returning from the jungle, but this city is fascinating. It’s also the main gateway to the Peruvian Amazon and sits right on the Amazon river.
The contradictions I mention above are instantly visible. Iquitos was a city built off the rubber boom. Grand mansions and colonial constructions still dominate the street, though most are now in shambolic condition as once the rubber seeds were smuggled to Asia Iquitos lost many of its economic advantages. There is even a building designed by Gustave Eiffel, the man who built the Eiffel tower. But this grandiose history is only one part of the jungle city, the other half is made up of ramshackle shacks closer to the river and on the outskirts of the city which bring to mind a more crowded 4000 Islands in southern Laos.
It is hectic, crowded, full of moto taxi’s (The best way to get around and simultaneously beat the heat) , way too hot and humid, dirty, and even mildly dangerous, and yet I loved this city, though no doubt it’s beast feature is the amazon rainforest all around it. To that end after landing on my flight from Lima with Star Peru (90 USD) I set out to try to organize a jungle getaway with a few friends met at the charming and social Flying Dog Hostel (Get a dorm with air conditioning, its only 4 soles more and worth it at 30 Soles per night or roughly 9 USD).
Most tourists head to lodges dotted around the outside of Pacaya Samiria National Reserve and explore the area there, but after some research on the internet I have a different plan in mind. Tapiche Reserve, a private reserve set up by a Brazilian man named Katoo with serious conservation goals. It’s much further away from Iquitos, deep in the jungle, and also much less visited, usually your small group are the only guests there. Check out Tapiche Reserve here.
Allie, Tristan, (two american friends though Tristan has lived in Japan for many years) and I head up Ricardo Palma street to Green Track Hostel, the only and best place to book a trip to Tapiche which also includes a free night stay before or after your Amazon experience.
Now such a trip is very expensive, but all the profit goes into protecting the reserve and expanding it. The cost for a shared journey is 120 USD per day, and the standard rate for a private tour with your own guide is 200 USD a day. The private one is way out of my price range and even the group one hurts, but I have a strong suspicion it will be worth the money.
As it works out two wonderful Israeli guys Avshi and Noam are trying to go around the same time as us for a 5 day trip and we decide it’s worth jumping on board with them. The next step is getting the US dollars to pay with, as paypal has a 4 percent surcharge. This should be easy as almost all ATM’s in Peru offer the option to withdraw USD, problem is none of them seem to work.
After trying almost a dozen of them with no success or ludicrously high fees per withdrawal which seemed to be capped at under 200 USD per time, I find myself inside a scotia bank, lining up with dozens of peruvians in a complicated cuing system. Eventually I get to the teller and ask him if a cash advance off my scotiabank credit card is possible and he ushers me into his bosses very posh office.
I sit down and explain what I’m looking for and am then invited to meet the bosses boss, who eventually tells me they should be able to do it. I spend twenty blissful minutes chatting with various managers in a comfy chair and cool air conditioned office before one of the tellers brings me crisp 100 Dollar bills after registering my credit card and passport. I go and drop off the money at Green Track hostel and head back to the flying Dog for an early night, we’re headed back to Green track at 5 am the next morning to start an incredible journey.
We eat a quick breakfast and then are taken to the bus by Eric, Katoo’s son. Sadly we learn that Katoo is taking a much needed week off but he promises us that we will have a great time With Pepe and Jose, two local guides.
Climbing out of moto taxi’s we store our smaller bags (You’re encouraged to pack light for this outing) and settle into our seats on the comfy air conditioned bus knowing it’s going to be a long day of travel. Tapiche is a long way from Iquitos, far removed from all but the smallest indigenous villages. Here it is on google maps, just to give you an idea.
2 hours later we climb out of the bus and into our first boat, a public speedboat which has a full roof and even a small bathroom inside. Soon we’re zooming off on the waters of the amazon rivers, turning onto some other smaller rivers and heading towards Requena some 4 hours away. We’re served small sandwiches and cold drinks on board and are also the only non Peruvian’s on the boat.
Eventually we get to Requena where we meet Pepe and Jose our guides. We quickly head up into the city and over the bridge for some lunch alongside the fish market. This amazon small city teems with life and energy, and lacks any tourists, so people stare at us with wide eyed interest on smiles on their faces. I find myself wishing I could spend more time here exploring the city and other small settlements like it. Maybe next time I’m in Peru though.
After lunch we head back down to the boats and climb aboard two much smaller uncovered boats for the longest leg of the journey yet, about 5 hours upriver to the reserve, our lodge and our home for the next 4 nights.
The further we get from the cities the less signs of human life we see and the more animals come out, parrokeets chirping in the distance as Herons and Egrets look on with unhidden interest from their perches along the riverside. The motor’s roar and we travel too fast too see much, but as we pull up to the simple yet clean Tapiche Lodge there’s a sense of anticipation floating in the air between us. We all have a feeling this is going to be special.
We eat a surprisingly delicious dinner and head to bed early knowing that in the Amazon the day starts before sunrise. Tapiche has everything you need, bathrooms with flush toilets, electricity for about 2 hours a day to recharge things, comfy beds with flawless mosquito nets, and a wonderfully efficient and friendly operating team. Still though, when we’re speaking of the amazon, it’s not the lodge you go for, it’s the jungle, and Tapiche is incredible. Katoo told us at the very beginning of this long and exhausting day of travel. “We could buy better boats, we could have nicer buildings, we could even get better guides than me, but it’s not possible to get better jungle.” He wasn’t lying, check back soon for the stories and pictures to prove it. For those who can’t wait check out my entries from the Ecuadorian Amazon at Cuyabeno National Park here and here.
