Iquitos to Yurimaguas (our Amazonian adventure) - Peru

Upon arriving in Iquitos, it was great to feel the tropical warmth of the Amazon Rainforest and admire the number of motorbikes, mototaxis that plague the streets of the largest city in the world inaccessible by road (it can only be accessed by plane and boat). 

Looking out over the floating villages on the Amazon River - Iquitos, Peru

The town has a lot to offer travellers in terms of jungle adventures and Ayahuasca retreats, but we were really only there to book a tour down the Amazon. The city is literally overflowing with tour companies and touts trying to offer 'the best' in jungle tours, so it was quite a hard decision choosing which one seemed the most legitimate and reliable. After speaking to several agencies and getting somewhat aggressive with the touts in the main square, we decided on going with the tour company recommended by the guys at the Flying Dog Hostel, Emerald Forest Expeditions (or Amazon Refuge). We got a great deal as we were four people, so decided on taking the four day, three night tour to the Pacaya Samiria Reserve, a one hour minivan/mototaxi and four hour boat ride down the Amazon River and its tributaries. 

Taking our mototaxi to the wharf - Nauta, Peru

Our guide showing us some of the fish that were likely to take a chunk out of our legs whilst swimming in the Amazon - Nauta, Peru

Ready to head out onto the Amazon - Nauta, Peru

As soon as we reached the actual Amazon, two hours from the town of Nauta, we spotted river dolphins just ahead of the boat. Our guide, Wilder, told us we could jump in and swim with them, but we were scared of penis fish, so decided to wait until another day when we were not on the actual Amazon (apparently they only like the Amazon, not its tributaries). Upon arriving at the lodge, we had a small rest before beginning our jungle adventures. 

Kicking back on our journey down the Amazon.

Giant Victorian Water Lilly

The lodge - our jungle home for the next four days.

Over the next four days, Wilder had our group of five birdwatching, piranha fishing, sloth and monkey spotting, searching for alligators and anacondas, as well as swimming with river dolphins. 

Exploring the Amazon by canoe, searching for monkeys and sloth.

We found some gators!

We found a tarantula in our roof and Justin wanted to eat it.

Larni didn't really want to touch it.

Is there something on my face?

The girls became brave enough to touch it.

The closest village to our jungle camp.

We found a rainbow serpent escaping the rising waters, living in our jungle camp.

Snake handling with a rum in hand!

Later we found an 'anaconda' living in the roof.  It turns out, it was actually an Amazonian tree boa (our guide just wanted us to believe we had spotted an anaconda). 

Here's the little guy trying to steal Brendan's watch. 

Here he was back in his home - easily approaching two metres in length. 

Searching for river dolphins at sunset on one of the Amazon's tributaries.

We spotted them, so threw backflips in excitement.

Many reviews we had read online regarding the jungle tours mentioned that people felt there were not enough activities and too much downtime; though, in our case, we were kept busy for the entire four days and actually wanted to ask for some downtime to hang in our hammocks and take in the surroundings. On the final day, it was a six hour boat trip back upstream to Nauta, where we would say goodbye to Cassie's sister, Larni, and continue our journey back downriver to the town of Yurimaguas (three to four days on a passenger/cargo boat from Nauta). 

A barge transferring cedar, the unfortunate products of the Amazonian logging industry. 

The night we arrived in Nauta, we had organised to spend the night in our hammocks on a local man's roof, as his house was in a perfect position to spot the boat when it arrived in port at 3.00am the following morning. After several beers and a night of providing enough blood to feed all of Nauta's mosquitoes for several months (dengue isn't bad, right?) we awoke at 3.00am to find that the boat had never left its home port, Iquitos, as the Peruvian customs hadn't granted it clearance to leave. So we now had another bus ride back to Iquitos, a day doing nothing on the boat whilst still in port and an extra night on the river to look forward to.

After spending the day lazing in our hammocks on the boat, in port, we watched the boat gradually fill up with people and goods (beer, chickens macaws, plantains, mototaxis, boats, and Inca Kola among many other items to be transported downriver) and were pretty excited when the boat finally left (well after schedule). 

Looking out over the hectic port of Iquitos from our 'luxury cruise-liner'.

The next three days were actually pretty enjoyable albeit a little boring. We spent our time reading, sleeping, playing a 9999-in-1 Tetris game, drinking rum, and taking in all the sights, sounds and smells of the Amazon Basin and the surrounding villages. 

Kicking back in our hammocks with a rum - luxury, right?

One of the beautiful sunsets we experienced en-route to Yurimaguas.

Upon reaching Yurimaguas, we jumped in the back of a Hilux ute for a three hour drive to the town of Tarapoto.  We were told that the journey would take two hours at most, but this was typical Peruvian guess-timation, so after three hours we were happy to be out of the pick-up and off our feet.  

How many gringos can you fit in the back of a pick-up truck?

Notice the lady in front of Brendan... she was breastfeeding whilst we drove along the highway at 80kmh, around hairpin bends. 

We decided to stay in Tarapoto for a night, instead of attempting the next leg of our journey - 14 hours in a bus to Piura, a town on the Peruvian coast.  After reaching Piura, we spent two nights in the surf-town of Mancora before heading north for Ecuador.