Our Journey to the Jungle

Our journey began in Tarapoto Peru. We needed to get from Tarapoto to Yurimaguas, and the guide book said it would take 5 to 7 hours on an unpaved road. Actually it took 2 ½ hours on a paved road and it was gorgeous. Being that we thought it was a longer journey we set out early (6:30am) as to arrive at midday. We want to catch a barge to Iquitos. In Yurimaguas early we boarded a barge for Iquitos. We hung our hammocks on the upper deck and locked our bags together around a pole. Tim and I took a mototaxi (motorcycle front with 2 wheels in back with covered seating area for 2 & luggage storage off the back) back to into town from the docks. A quick email and off to find the outdoor market to get some food and water . We discovered a huge market that went on for blocks and blocks. We found fruit, steamed spiced rice in banana leaves, fresh bread, jam, & water for our journey. We also saw a lot of other things like fresh fish, meat, cheese, grocery & hardware stalls. Tim was not so impressed with some of the street performers, thought they were strange. We made it back to our barge. We had a “scheduled” 2pm departure. I put quotes because times have a tendency to change here. There are many barges like ours and all of them are loading. On ours two levels down there are cows, chickens, rice, soybeans and who really knows what else. While we were waiting for departure we get our first look at pink dolphins! I happen to be on the back of the barge when I see 4 dolphins going by. They really are pink and I must say pretty and unique looking. They don’t look like the dolphins we know but have more of a bottle like shape. Never did get a photo as they surface so briefly. 2pm comes and goes and we finally leave at close to 4pm. But we are off.
It’s a barge we are on so it does not move fast but the breeze we get is very welcome as it is very hot! We are 4 of 9 westerners on the barge, the rest are locals and they have taken a real interest in the kids, and the fact that we are a family. Tim made fast friends with a man named Pablo. He spoke fairly good English but everyone wanted to practice. Our Spanish dictionary came in handy. Jessica was an attraction also but not just with the girls, the boys of course liked her also. It was fun to watch the kids engage with the locals, learn some Spanish and laugh with the people. We were on the barge for 2 days and nights. We loved our barge journey.
Once in Iquitos we arranged for a jungle tour 4days 3 nights. We depart Iquitos for Nowta on Monday oct 12th to begin our tour. We head by small wooden boat 2 hrs north on the Maranon River to where it meets the Amazon River and then take a tributary to the Yarapo River. We stop and walk over a large sand bar to the Cumecaba River. Here we get into an even smaller boat and head further in the jungle to the “lodge” we will stay in tonight. Lunch is their big meal and it usually around 2pm. After a short siesta we head back to the village near the sand bar. We visit the village, they of course have things to sell. We got watermelon and a few craft items. They are playing futbol (soccer) Jeff gets his face painted with some sort of orange fruit. We see a pet sloth! Lots of chickens, ducks, cats and dogs. After dark (7:30) we head out looking for Cayman. We spent 2 hrs looking and did not even find one. But it was an absolutely gorgeous night, the jungle noises and an amazing number of stars.
Jungle day 2 we head up the Cumeceba River to a camping spot. They set up 2 hammocks and a tent, build a fire. Jeff and I take a long walk in the jungle with a guide and come back to a fabulous lunch. After lunch we go up the Narapo River to fish for Piranha! I caught 3 Piranhas! We had fun fishing and the dug out canoe had lots of fish in the bottom. Good thing we had rubber boots on. Heading back to camp Juan Carlos, one of our guides, spotted monkeys in the trees, so we climbed out of the canoe to go track in the jungle. It starts to rain. Under the jungle canopy we do not get overly wet. We head back to camp, they have put up some tarps, although they are not overly waterproof. We spent a wet rainy night in the jungle. There was thunder and lightening and pouring down rain most. Uncomfortable!
The morning of our third day was very fresh from the rain although the jungle floor was very wet. We all went on a long hike, saw birds & monkeys, spiders & ants, drank water from a fresh cut log, found cilantro & fungus, and found a fresh young palm that we will use to make palm fans tomorrow. We visited another village, La Libertad, where they bought fish and bananas. The fish lives in the mud in holes on the river bank. Apparently, it can walk on land and live for 4 – 5 hours out of water. They cooked the fish for part of our dinner. Its outside scales were like armor, but the actual flesh was delicious. We had an excellent cook who fed us very well.
Our 4th day we made palm fans and a palm skirt and got ready to leave. It was a long journey back to Iquitos by two different boats, one mototaxi and a local bus (two hours). The local bus was packed and Jeff and I both ended up with peoples kids on our laps. We finally arrived about 7:30 pm and were able to take cold showers. Never thought a cold shower would be so welcome.

Karen