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A quadrupled charged taxi drive, stranded with no money, teary eyed anguished Dal, delayed speedboat with a decapitated toed peruvian, toilet half the size of Harry Potters closet paved our eagerly anticipated journey to Peru! *A sigh of relief*
Arriving to the chaos of Iquitos port to the stress of our backpacks being passed overhead to numerous awaiting taxi drivers (piggy in the middle- our midrifts are expanding slightly!!). Shouts of `F%$K off`and ´this is the only language they know´ immediately distinguished our fellow Canadian.....waving for us to follow, we reluctantly agreed.......not knowing what was worse, the hords of taxi drivers or the raving Canadian!!!! He quoted us correct taxi prices ensuring we wouldn´t be ripped off, somehow we still were, our obvious tourist trademark! Surprised by the presence of numerous Americans, it seems Iquitos is an early retirement hotspot, where money lasts longer bringing an improved quality of life.
Viewing Iquitos via motorcar allowed us to appreciate its beauty and charm with the pull of its magnetic energy. A buzzing city,situated on the Amazon river, being the only city in the world with no road links in or out, transport via boat or plane only.
Iquitos has an obvious status divide, with Belen shanty town hosting deprived Peruvians. Homes were in the form of floating houses on the river amazon. Numerous screams of laughter and play could be seen and heard!
The city´s architecture is influenced by the Spanish, a very long history which we won´t go into!!! What became startlingly obvious was the cleanliness of the city and surrounding areas. Road sweepers, bin men, pavement cleaners were always present, busy furrowing away at their work. Endless cafes/restaurants targetting tourists, with offers of Texacan dinners and English breakfasts to name just a few! Were we swayed.....nah!!! We were making delicious homemade smoothies, ingredients obtained from the Belen market with the help of Jannina (host). An impressive row of smoothie makers, inticing customers.....we were slightly concerned about cleanliness, so gave it a miss:) We still managed to suffer severe abdominal pains and sickness on the day of departure, contracting this at a restaurant recommended by Lonely planet!!!!
Now the departure day was another saga.....after securing cheap tickets to Lima, we realised our tickets were invalid for next day travel (wrong departure date). Maz and Antonio (host) were lone bandits in the night, on a mission to obtain correct tickets for next day departure, unfortunately it was.....MISSION IMPOSSIBLE!!! Maz came back with a sore bum, looking pleased after a midnight motorbike ride around Iquitos! Dal on the other hand had to wake up at 5.45am the following morning to try and change tickets at the airport, no avail ...... threats, harsh words and finally with negotiation we managed to secure tickets to Lima the next evening. Antonio was a real knight in shining armour, without his wit, forethought and disposition we would have succumbed to a further payment.
Still suffering with food poisoning, running to the toilet we managed to board the plane, saying a fond farewell to Iquitos which gave us our first sweet taste of Peru.
On board we reminised about our first movie outing with Antonio and Jannina. ´The museum´ was a great film, even though it was in spanish!!! Our time spent with our hosts children...... Wee, snot, poo, saliva, cries and laughter left us missing their vibrant personalities.....one particular memory was one of the children peeing in a cooking pot, whilst Dal was baking!!!!!!
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