October 23, 2011
This will be my last blog entry for Iquitos. I think 10 days in Iquitos was probably a little too long since after the zoo visit on Friday which was day 7 I am a little bored but have my flight to Lima booked for Monday morning so I have 2 days to kill and no itinerary or things I want to see. I had left an extra fews days just in case I wanted to do a jungle excursion but have decided against it. I have seen enough jungle already.
On Saturday morning I am told I have to switch dorm rooms since a family has reserved in advance for my 4-bed room so I move to the other dormitorio which has 8 beds and there is a spanish woman in there and as soon as I open the door she is speaking spanish to me and pointing at her stuff and I had no idea of what she was talking about so I just said "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, talk to the "hand" baby! it is far too early in the morning to be speaking spanish to me" as I passed by her and went to the far bed and left my luggage there and headed out for coffee and breakfast.
Before breakfast I headed to a spot by the Amazon river and sat down for 20 minutes enjoying the cool wind when one of the regular guys I see everyday "Juan" came over and I knew he wanted me to buy one of his necklaces which I didn't want. Realizing I was going to be a hard sell he then said he needed to sell one so he could eat which is a really good sales pitch since I offered him 1/3 the price he wanted and he countered me a bit more than that so I said fine. Juan had also told me that he goes into the jungle for 10 days to do ayahuasca on occasion. There are not that many good beaches here in Iquitos except for the one I saw at Quistococha and Juan told me of another that I would have to go to Bellavista nanay and catch a boat for 1 sole and there is a nice beach there.
I decided to go out this afternoon for a few beers but instead of going to the gringo/tourist pub/restaurants I went to a local one and was surprised at how cheap the beers were. The beers here are twice the size as the ones in North America and they were only 4 1/2 soles each ($1.50US) for a big cold beer.
I use to wonder why things don't move very fast here as compared to North America in regards to service etc... but when you feel the heat you realize it does take a bit out of you and most store owners here just lie in a chair somewhere in the shade as people walk by.
At 6pm it is dark and decide I would like some cheap late night entertainment and still have half my bottle of ayahuasca. The spanish woman is no longer in my room and they don't have a reception at this place for late night arrivals so I think it is safe to try some more ayahuasca on Saturday night.
So instead of just drinking it within a couple minutes I decide it would be easier to drink it all over a 30 minute period and to finish the bottle I drink 1/3 more than I did on Tuesday thinking that would guarantee its effect. I lay down for 40 minutes and can hear the street noise since my new room has a big window right by the street. My stomach is feeling good which surprises me since I am thinking it shouldn't be feeling too good so I get up and head into the bathroom where upon "seeing" the toilet I instantly convulse and puke 5 times into it which surprised me since I was feeling good. I lay back down and it is black in the room but only hear a faint buzzing sound in my ears and not the deafening high frequency PAC MAN tone that usually tells you that you have safely arrived in the "ayahuasca reality".
After an 1 1/2 hours of initially drinking the ayahuasca I realize it won't be working tonight. I drank more of it on Saturday night than I did on Tuesday night but it just isn't working. It could be that I ate some ice cream in the afternoon along with some "cervezas" at the bar. It was a last minute decision for me and normally I would not eat for 24 hours. So that is the end of the ayahuasca bottle and I have no desire to buy another except for that powdered ayahuasca that I bought that Hi-me had recommended and I may try that in a couple weeks. When you are in Peru you have to try everything at least once!
I am doing my last wash now as I have a washing machine here at this place I am staying and won't get up to too much today. I have been trying to avoid some of my usual hangout spots because I know some of the guys who usually stop by to visit and chat will be wanting me to buy their necklaces and shirts that I don't want and they know I am leaving on Monday morning so I am not really in the mood for any high pressure sales tactics.
My next blog entry will be from Lima where I will plan the next leg of my itinerary route which will include Cuzco (Machu Pichu) and lake Titicaca and possibly into Bolivia for a short while before re-entering Peru again.
This will be my last blog entry for Iquitos. I think 10 days in Iquitos was probably a little too long since after the zoo visit on Friday which was day 7 I am a little bored but have my flight to Lima booked for Monday morning so I have 2 days to kill and no itinerary or things I want to see. I had left an extra fews days just in case I wanted to do a jungle excursion but have decided against it. I have seen enough jungle already.
On Saturday morning I am told I have to switch dorm rooms since a family has reserved in advance for my 4-bed room so I move to the other dormitorio which has 8 beds and there is a spanish woman in there and as soon as I open the door she is speaking spanish to me and pointing at her stuff and I had no idea of what she was talking about so I just said "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, talk to the "hand" baby! it is far too early in the morning to be speaking spanish to me" as I passed by her and went to the far bed and left my luggage there and headed out for coffee and breakfast.
Before breakfast I headed to a spot by the Amazon river and sat down for 20 minutes enjoying the cool wind when one of the regular guys I see everyday "Juan" came over and I knew he wanted me to buy one of his necklaces which I didn't want. Realizing I was going to be a hard sell he then said he needed to sell one so he could eat which is a really good sales pitch since I offered him 1/3 the price he wanted and he countered me a bit more than that so I said fine. Juan had also told me that he goes into the jungle for 10 days to do ayahuasca on occasion. There are not that many good beaches here in Iquitos except for the one I saw at Quistococha and Juan told me of another that I would have to go to Bellavista nanay and catch a boat for 1 sole and there is a nice beach there.
I decided to go out this afternoon for a few beers but instead of going to the gringo/tourist pub/restaurants I went to a local one and was surprised at how cheap the beers were. The beers here are twice the size as the ones in North America and they were only 4 1/2 soles each ($1.50US) for a big cold beer.
I use to wonder why things don't move very fast here as compared to North America in regards to service etc... but when you feel the heat you realize it does take a bit out of you and most store owners here just lie in a chair somewhere in the shade as people walk by.
At 6pm it is dark and decide I would like some cheap late night entertainment and still have half my bottle of ayahuasca. The spanish woman is no longer in my room and they don't have a reception at this place for late night arrivals so I think it is safe to try some more ayahuasca on Saturday night.
So instead of just drinking it within a couple minutes I decide it would be easier to drink it all over a 30 minute period and to finish the bottle I drink 1/3 more than I did on Tuesday thinking that would guarantee its effect. I lay down for 40 minutes and can hear the street noise since my new room has a big window right by the street. My stomach is feeling good which surprises me since I am thinking it shouldn't be feeling too good so I get up and head into the bathroom where upon "seeing" the toilet I instantly convulse and puke 5 times into it which surprised me since I was feeling good. I lay back down and it is black in the room but only hear a faint buzzing sound in my ears and not the deafening high frequency PAC MAN tone that usually tells you that you have safely arrived in the "ayahuasca reality".
After an 1 1/2 hours of initially drinking the ayahuasca I realize it won't be working tonight. I drank more of it on Saturday night than I did on Tuesday night but it just isn't working. It could be that I ate some ice cream in the afternoon along with some "cervezas" at the bar. It was a last minute decision for me and normally I would not eat for 24 hours. So that is the end of the ayahuasca bottle and I have no desire to buy another except for that powdered ayahuasca that I bought that Hi-me had recommended and I may try that in a couple weeks. When you are in Peru you have to try everything at least once!
I am doing my last wash now as I have a washing machine here at this place I am staying and won't get up to too much today. I have been trying to avoid some of my usual hangout spots because I know some of the guys who usually stop by to visit and chat will be wanting me to buy their necklaces and shirts that I don't want and they know I am leaving on Monday morning so I am not really in the mood for any high pressure sales tactics.
My next blog entry will be from Lima where I will plan the next leg of my itinerary route which will include Cuzco (Machu Pichu) and lake Titicaca and possibly into Bolivia for a short while before re-entering Peru again.
