Hello loyal followers
We are in lima at the moment mentally preparing ourselves for a 20 hour coach ride to cuzco after having arrived back here from iquitos last night. Never has the term traveller felt more apt.
We arrived in Iquitos, a town in northern peru bordring the jungle, on Sunday after perhaps the dodgiest plane experience of our lives which consisted of us making a planned stop en route which turned into a 2 hour wait whilst firemen were called out to fix our clearly malfunctioning plane and we were told not to panic as the pilot was simply ´making an indication´. What made it worse (for me) was that the only soft drinks we were given as compensation were coke (which rebecca was happy with but I hate) and inka kola which tastes like bubblegum and looks like wee. Mmm.
All we could really do was laugh at the situation (and pray that our plane wasnt going to explode) and people were remarkably patient, which either says something about peruvian character or peruvian airlines. We stayed in an Iquitos hostel for a night and then the next morning our jungle tour company (Paseos Amazonicos if anyone is interested, we highly recommend them!) picked us up and took us by boat to their lodge which was exactly how you would want a jungle lodge to be - all thatched roofs, buildings on stilts in the river and plenty of hammocks (there was also a cat that kept trying to come into our room/jump on us in the hammocks and two parrots). We first went to a "tourist presentation" by some of the indigenous people which to be honest was a little awkward. They were dressed up in the traditional grass skirts and clothing which they used to wear about a million years ago and the expressions on their faces were something along the lines of "i cant believe youre making me wear a grass skirt, you bastards". However there were some very cute kids there. And Mizz was amazing at dart blowing.
Next that day we went to visit the local shaman and were told by our guide all about the shaman lifestyle (basically taking loads of hallucinogenic drugs). The shaman looked in the face exactly how you´d expect; very few teeth and lots of wrinkles, but he was wearing a baseball cap which didn´t quite fit the traditional image. Our guide told us about how when he was a baby one of his legs had stopped working because it had come into contact with black magic and how he´d been cured by a shaman. After that we went to one of the local villages which like most of the surrounding communities was almost completely flooded. We met four adorable little girls who showed us what used to be their school playground - all swings and slides half submerged in water!
That night we went on a canoe ride in the dark which was amazing although quite frightening; we could hear all the different noises of the insects and also of this amazonian rat which makes a noise exactly like that creepy doll in Saw. The next day we went on another canoe ride through the heart of the jungle which was incredible and we came into very close contact with all kinds of bugs (nb: we are SO bitten. Without wanting to exaggerate mosquito bites on the soles of your feet are the worst thing in the world ever). That afternoon we went fishing and WE BOTH CAUGHT A FISH!!!! We ate them for dinner and they were yummy (if a little bony) and we are especially proud because a super macho guy staying in the lodge went fishing twice with a group of others to about four different places and none of them caught anything. Yay!
The next morning was our favourite of all as we visited an open air monkey sanctuary. As our boat pulled up to the little lodge it was suddenly covered in monkeys (6 different types live at the sanctuary) who we got to cuddle and play with for ages. They reminded us so much of the kids we babysit at home, they have exactly the same features as human children. Very cute if a little disconcerting. There was also a parrot living at the sanctuary, who really didn´t seem to enjoy being surrounded by monkeys, and a giant anaconda who, we later discovered, has previously bitten visitors. In retrospect it is probably better that we found this out afterwards as Rebecca is very scared of snakes.
After lunch (the food at the lodge was amazing) we went to a fish and alligator farm where we had on our right a big area of water full of pirhanas and on our left one area with alligators and another with the worlds largest fish which was terrifying and absolutely massive. Its called a paiche - google it. That night after the staff had gone to bed us and two guys who were staying there snuck some tequila from the bar (south america clearly bringing out the rebels in us!!!!!!) and sat on the deck discussing the afterlife, getting bitten to shreds but feeling happy and very gap yah. Our final excursion the next morning was a last canoe ride round and then a trip to another local village. We went into one of the schools there which was just a big room with desks ("where's costa?!" we cried) and the children in their pristine uniforms put our sweaty, dishevelled selves to shame. We were reassured to see that on the blackboard at the back of the room someone had drawn a penis in chalk - clearly some things are universal.
After lunch it was time to leave the jungle and we arrived sweaty and dirty at our Iquitos hostel only to find out that it had NO RUNNING WATER. We were quickly moved to another hostel and had the best showers of our lives (the water for the showers at the lodge had come straight from the amazon and was thus always cold). The next day we headed to the airport and arrived in good time for our 2.30pm flight only to find out that it had been changed to 4pm because the plane had not yet left lima. Within about 10 minutes of sitting at the airport we had succumbed to the airport bookshop´s terrible selection of English books and passed the time reading awfully written thrillers ´she checked caller id and knew at once who would be on the other end of the phone` ...
That´s basically all for now. Can´t wait to get this 20 hour coach journey over with. We´ve stocked up on doritoes, cheese strings and nature valley bars to help the time pass and are praying for good movies and quiet fellow passengers.
Lots of love to all (and a shout out to Meera Somji) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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