THE AMAZON

Our journey down from Ecuador to Peru was unlike many of the other "mochilera's" ("backpackers" in Spanish).  We found our way far from the "gringo trail".... these terms are so nice, aren't they?!  Once we left Quito we made our way to a town called Coca, on the cusp of the Amazon jungle.  We made friends with a Spaniard, David, who luckily was taking the same "arduous" journey as us down the river to reach Peru.  Each day we encountered at least a 6-10 hour boat ride, and I am NOT talking about sitting on a luxurious boat!  We were either in a canoe that always seemed like it was about to sink with a motor that seemed like it was always about to fall off, a metal boat with a huge engine operated by the Peruvian Military, or a cargo ship packed with hammocks filled with people.  

Our backs have never hurt so bad in our lives!

First hostel we made it to from Coca...10 hours away we made it to Rockefuerte!  It was strange because it looked so much like my grandma's house, in a good way.  $6 a night wasn't bad either!

Making our way to the Peruvian border in a canoe with 3 other travelers we met along the way.

Pantoja, Peruvian Military base...The military let the 5 of us travelers sleep at their base free of charge because we agreed to have them take us down river (10 hours) for $450...yes, that is USD.  Unfortunately, as we all had ideally planned in our heads, cargo ships weren't frequently going down the river in this part of the jungle.  We were able to catch a cargo boat later in our trip, luckily.

 After lots of evaluation from the military we were allowed to enter the base.  This is the view from the "hut" we were allowed to stay in.  Good thing we brought our own hammocks because these weren't provided.  Neither were bathrooms!

The military surprised us with dinner.

Sunrise in the Amazon on board the boat that the military took us on.

We were surprised by the number of people that live along the rivers in the jungle.  This is my favorite photo of a typical hut and boat that can be seen right and left.

IQUITOS!  Our destination was the city of Iquitos, Peru in the middle of the jungle.  This is the largest city in the world that is unreachable by car!  It was really an amazing city with a great vibe.  Practically everything in the city has been brought by cargo ship, which made it a very interesting place.  We stayed here for about a week with our friends Josie and Jarryd that we met back at our volunteering gig in Ecuador.

These are some photos from the Belen Market in Iquitos, Peru.  There was an assortment of alligator meat, monkeys you could BUY for $10 USD, parrots, dead turtles, disgusting fish...etc etc.  This town was also extremely interesting because during "wet season" the water level rises about 12 feet.  We happened to visit during dry season and were able to walk through the streets like normal.  During wet season the village is only accessible by boat.

The village of Belen.  During wet season all the houses on the river float about 12 feet higher with the water level.  The houses that exist on land are built on long stilts so that when the water level rises they can take boats through the neighborhood.

One of these buildings was a "disco" which was a floating building.  Our tour guide told us that when the disco is packed the whole building sinks and people are drinking and dancing with water up to their thighs!

Me, Josie, Mike and David on our canoe tour through the village.  It was interesting to see how the people treat their environment - which was actually extremely depressing.  People through their plastic bottles directly into the water from the shore or boats.  They take trash bags filled with trash and dump them into the water.  They have floating toilets set up on the river and go fishing and eat the fish they catch directly next to it....our tour guide told us that they DO NOT sell the fish in the nearby market from this river....that isn't true because we saw people fishing there....gross!

We went to an animal refuge in the jungle.  I was really looking forward to seeing monkeys until I saw that they looked like this!  I was terrified!

AHHH

Beautiful butterflies fluttered around the refuge.  This is the front.

This is the back.

The hustle and bustle of our cargo ship being loaded with everything you can think of.

Accommodations.

View from our boat.

View from my hammock.  Three full nights of being on the boat with blasting rap music + kylie minogue + "be my lover wanna be my lover" + sweltering heat + cramped quarters...

Sunset in the jungle.