October 15, 2011
It is extremely humid here in Iquitos and you are wet all the time. You feel like taking a shower every 10 minutes. Everything is for sale here and it doesn't matter if it is an endangered species it is for sale. I saw some old woman sleeping on the sidewalk late at night and she was selling paws from some animal. I ran into the Argentinian on the street last night and he said he was going to stay the night in Iquitos and then tomorrow head out to the Jungle for a couple days and camp out there. I met a young guy Sammy in my hotel and he is here for forestry and completing his degree as well. He had originally knocked on my door within an hour of settling in at this place (the Iguana) to warn me they were about to fumigate the place and he says once every few weeks they go door to door fumigating because of an outbreak of dingy.
On Saturday morning I headed out around 7:30am and was searching for Eugene and Megans hotel and had people pointing me in the opposite direction going back and forth. Finally I continued along the river and saw Eugene just walking onto the plank onto their floating hotel on the river. We decided to go for breakfast and get something to eat and as we were walking along the street a bunch of guys are inside a bar that had steel bars for windows and one guys tries to sell some drugs to us by saying "Hey Amigos!! We have weed and we have blow and we got everything in here!!" and as we walk by I say "That is awesome boys! It sounds like you are going to have a good time tonight!!" as we continued walking past them.
We go to a restaurant that is along the river owned by a guy named Phil from Indiana USA. We order our meals and as we wait a guy walks past us and looks at me and says "Hey Mr Canada. You want Ayahuasca haha". Megan looks at me and says "You know that guy?" and I say yes that I met him this morning on the street. Then 5 minutes later another guy comes by and comes right up to me and says "Hello my friend" as we playfully punch each other fists and I pretend in front of Eugene and Megan to throw out some gang signs at him. Megan asks "Where on earth do you know these people?" and I had to tell Megan that those were my "homies" that I had met only a few hours early in search of their hotel and had chatted with them for awhile.
Our meal was delicious. I had burritos that were covered in a nice gravy with hot sauces and Eugene and I shared a giant beer. We decide to head out to "Bellavista Nanay" which is a port and I ask a motorcycle taxi how much to get there and I heard "seis soles" and I countered him at "trece soles" (Always offer half of whatever they say) since everywhere is roughly 2-3 soles and he agrees and we go to the gas station which is a normal ploy for these guys to get their cash from you so we give him 3 soles and he says he wants 6 soles at which point I tell him we had a deal and I make it perfectly clear to him that he will be driving us there and won't get 1 sole more. Anyone he drives us there and later on I was worried that maybe I was ripped him off but I ask around and they say 3 soles is normal for that trip. So he was just playing "the money game" to see if he could squeeze a little more out of the gringos.
At Bellavista Nanay we head down to the dock and we meet "Rene" who has a good vibe to him and we can't see any dollar signs in his eyes and he gives us a fair price to go to an island where there are many different animals. As we are heading to the island where the animals are I see another boat coming our way and I recognize the guy at the front and yell out "Hey Patrick!!" who was on the 2 day boat ride with me. He is talking to me but because of the loud motors of both boats it is hard to hear and I just tell him to email me. I look over and Megan is shaking her head and laughing as she wonders where I met all these people in such a short period of time.
Anyhow, Rene takes us there by boat and we get out and pay for our ticket and immediately a monkey is jumping on me and biting me but it doesn't hurt and I guess he is playing. They bring over 2 sloths which are cool and I hold them both and they move sooooooooooooo slooooooooooow. We then go on to see some other different types of monkeys. From there we go and see some big Anaconda snakes. There was one smaller snake and a huge anaconda that was about 20 feet long and felt like it weighed 300lbs. I know this because I lifted the damn thing up over my head (see photos). As I am holding this huge Anaconda I asked Megan and Eugene if they wanted a picture holding it and they give me the look of "NO FUCKEN WAY!". Later on when our tour ended one of the guides told us that I was the only guy ever to lift that snake up by myself and get a solo photo with it and that most have 6 people holding it up.
We left that place and Megan wanted to do some fishing for pirranas so our boat guy "Rene" took us to a floating restaurant and let Megan fish from the wharf and she caught a pirrana. I didn't see any big teeth but they said is was one. I got a coke while I watched them fish and surprisingly they brought us 4 alcholic drinks and I never ordered them and Eugene and Megan never ordered them but see Rene drinking one and I am wondering if we are getting set up for a big drinking bill. They later tell us it is all free and I am shocked since this is the first time I have experienced that here. We chat at one of the tables since we are the only ones on this floating restaurant that you need a boat to get to and I bring up Ayahuasca and Rene says he knows someone and his price is 1/2 of everyone elses in town and says he can set something up for Monday and he will get the Shaman to meet us here on Monday night to do the ritual. As I said, Rene has a good vibe about him and I immediately trust him. Megan and Eugene set up a fishing trip with Rene for Sunday but we will all meet up on Sunday morning and go down to Belen Market early Sunday morning to check it out and then they will return at 9am for their fishing trip with Rene. And on Monday night we hope to have our Shamanic Ayahuasca ritual but we still have to wait for confirmation.
Rene drives us by boat back to the dock and we get a motorcycle taxi back to the main square and I tell them both I will meet them at 6am at their place and make our way to Belen market.
It is extremely humid here in Iquitos and you are wet all the time. You feel like taking a shower every 10 minutes. Everything is for sale here and it doesn't matter if it is an endangered species it is for sale. I saw some old woman sleeping on the sidewalk late at night and she was selling paws from some animal. I ran into the Argentinian on the street last night and he said he was going to stay the night in Iquitos and then tomorrow head out to the Jungle for a couple days and camp out there. I met a young guy Sammy in my hotel and he is here for forestry and completing his degree as well. He had originally knocked on my door within an hour of settling in at this place (the Iguana) to warn me they were about to fumigate the place and he says once every few weeks they go door to door fumigating because of an outbreak of dingy.
On Saturday morning I headed out around 7:30am and was searching for Eugene and Megans hotel and had people pointing me in the opposite direction going back and forth. Finally I continued along the river and saw Eugene just walking onto the plank onto their floating hotel on the river. We decided to go for breakfast and get something to eat and as we were walking along the street a bunch of guys are inside a bar that had steel bars for windows and one guys tries to sell some drugs to us by saying "Hey Amigos!! We have weed and we have blow and we got everything in here!!" and as we walk by I say "That is awesome boys! It sounds like you are going to have a good time tonight!!" as we continued walking past them.
We go to a restaurant that is along the river owned by a guy named Phil from Indiana USA. We order our meals and as we wait a guy walks past us and looks at me and says "Hey Mr Canada. You want Ayahuasca haha". Megan looks at me and says "You know that guy?" and I say yes that I met him this morning on the street. Then 5 minutes later another guy comes by and comes right up to me and says "Hello my friend" as we playfully punch each other fists and I pretend in front of Eugene and Megan to throw out some gang signs at him. Megan asks "Where on earth do you know these people?" and I had to tell Megan that those were my "homies" that I had met only a few hours early in search of their hotel and had chatted with them for awhile.
Our meal was delicious. I had burritos that were covered in a nice gravy with hot sauces and Eugene and I shared a giant beer. We decide to head out to "Bellavista Nanay" which is a port and I ask a motorcycle taxi how much to get there and I heard "seis soles" and I countered him at "trece soles" (Always offer half of whatever they say) since everywhere is roughly 2-3 soles and he agrees and we go to the gas station which is a normal ploy for these guys to get their cash from you so we give him 3 soles and he says he wants 6 soles at which point I tell him we had a deal and I make it perfectly clear to him that he will be driving us there and won't get 1 sole more. Anyone he drives us there and later on I was worried that maybe I was ripped him off but I ask around and they say 3 soles is normal for that trip. So he was just playing "the money game" to see if he could squeeze a little more out of the gringos.
At Bellavista Nanay we head down to the dock and we meet "Rene" who has a good vibe to him and we can't see any dollar signs in his eyes and he gives us a fair price to go to an island where there are many different animals. As we are heading to the island where the animals are I see another boat coming our way and I recognize the guy at the front and yell out "Hey Patrick!!" who was on the 2 day boat ride with me. He is talking to me but because of the loud motors of both boats it is hard to hear and I just tell him to email me. I look over and Megan is shaking her head and laughing as she wonders where I met all these people in such a short period of time.
Anyhow, Rene takes us there by boat and we get out and pay for our ticket and immediately a monkey is jumping on me and biting me but it doesn't hurt and I guess he is playing. They bring over 2 sloths which are cool and I hold them both and they move sooooooooooooo slooooooooooow. We then go on to see some other different types of monkeys. From there we go and see some big Anaconda snakes. There was one smaller snake and a huge anaconda that was about 20 feet long and felt like it weighed 300lbs. I know this because I lifted the damn thing up over my head (see photos). As I am holding this huge Anaconda I asked Megan and Eugene if they wanted a picture holding it and they give me the look of "NO FUCKEN WAY!". Later on when our tour ended one of the guides told us that I was the only guy ever to lift that snake up by myself and get a solo photo with it and that most have 6 people holding it up.
We left that place and Megan wanted to do some fishing for pirranas so our boat guy "Rene" took us to a floating restaurant and let Megan fish from the wharf and she caught a pirrana. I didn't see any big teeth but they said is was one. I got a coke while I watched them fish and surprisingly they brought us 4 alcholic drinks and I never ordered them and Eugene and Megan never ordered them but see Rene drinking one and I am wondering if we are getting set up for a big drinking bill. They later tell us it is all free and I am shocked since this is the first time I have experienced that here. We chat at one of the tables since we are the only ones on this floating restaurant that you need a boat to get to and I bring up Ayahuasca and Rene says he knows someone and his price is 1/2 of everyone elses in town and says he can set something up for Monday and he will get the Shaman to meet us here on Monday night to do the ritual. As I said, Rene has a good vibe about him and I immediately trust him. Megan and Eugene set up a fishing trip with Rene for Sunday but we will all meet up on Sunday morning and go down to Belen Market early Sunday morning to check it out and then they will return at 9am for their fishing trip with Rene. And on Monday night we hope to have our Shamanic Ayahuasca ritual but we still have to wait for confirmation.
Rene drives us by boat back to the dock and we get a motorcycle taxi back to the main square and I tell them both I will meet them at 6am at their place and make our way to Belen market.
