Iquitos, the Peruvian Amazon Capital

Wow!!! What an amazing day!!

From flying over the Andes with the peaks bursting above the clouds, to landing with a view of the Amazon River meandering through the forest. Absolutely incredible! The view of the forest as we approached was just spectacular. Trees as far as the eye can see and with the beautiful misty clouds evaporating from the canopy. So lucky to be here.

Our itinerary had been a bit mixed up and we had to wait for another couple to arrive before heading to the jungle. We were looked after well at the office in Iquitos though, given a room to nap and have a shower if we wanted and then taken on a tour of a conservation centre in Iquitos.

The centre works hard to rehabilitate and release several species, from tortoises (these funny things like to gather in great mounds and pile on top of each other) to monkeys, but their focus is manatees. Unfortunately, they are being killed for their meat (I would say hunted but they are docile and curious creatures so that's probably not the term to use) and the knock-on effects are awful. Without their grazing the river will starve of oxygen and much more river life would struggle to exist. They had seven babies in quarantine and three in areas focused on readaptation. Here we were fortunate enough to be allowed to get up close and feed and touch the manatees, which was pretty incredible and not something we had expected to be doing in the rainforest! They are so unexpectedly squishy and have the strangest mouths, with soft cheek like pincers to help them grab food. One thing to note though is they have extremely smelly breath! They really are such beautiful creatures though and I cannot understand how anyone could harm something so gentle.

After this, we drove through Iquitos in the slightly crazy traffic of buses, motorbikes and tuktuks. The colour everywhere is such a contrast to the usual grey and pale cities of the UK, and as we drove through the market on a Sunday you could see everyone out and about enjoying the holiday and shopping amongst the colourful stalls. I wish I hadn't lost the photos from here because the colour and the crowds really were quite spectacular. Also of note, sadly there is a real contrast too between the richer and poorer areas of the city, a gap which is continuing to grow.Read more