Iquitos

Our first evening in Iquitos was amazing (for reasons beyond the phenomenal state of sleep deprivation).  Our guide, Lynn met us at the airport with one of our local guides.  We were shuttled from the airport to our hostel on little motorcycle pulled buggies called motor-cars, which was our first (well, second if you count our plane being blown off course by a hurricaine) big adventure. I found it best to close my eyes when passing thru intersections as neither direction of traffic stops before crossing...somehow it just all works out...We quickly learned that traffic laws, signs, signals and lines on the road are really only loose suggestions in S. America and no one takes them too seriously...For instance it appears in Peru that a Pare (Stop) sign actually just means:  "if you were thinking about stopping for some reason, here would be a good place"  not the mandatory "stop or pay $75" as it does in the US. 

Iquitos was much closer to a 2nd/3rd world country than I was expecting, the dwellings are very simple and rough, many just made of cinder block and have pieced together tin roofs.  Only the main roads are paved and many of the manholes are not covered so that coupled with the lack of waste disposal means you really have to watch your step!

Anyhow, upon arrival at the hostel, we got out our guitars and had a short jam session with our guides, then went to meet a local shaman who works primarily with medicinal baths.  He was a magical, wonderful older man, he and I bonded instantly, and we had a wonderful conversation (thru our translator/guide) about plant spirits and the different layers of healing work.  He was surprised by how much we understood, I was surprised at how similar what he was saying was to what my teachers in the US have taught me about being a healer....it was very affirming.  

After making an "appointment" to receive treatments and study with  him for the week of our return from the jungle, we went down to the "Boulevard" or the "strip" by the Amazon and had a dinner of garlic coated Paichee (one of our favorite Amazonian fish), Yuca, plantains, heart palm and cervesa (beer).  There was a dance club next door and I managed to coerce one of our guides into dancing with me - after making sure there was no one around that he knew, he conceded to dance with the gringa. I don't think he suffered too badly. 

The next few days were taken up with plans and obtaining supplies for the jungle.  There is an outdoor market in Iquitos called Belen, which is sort of the equivalent to Pike Place market in Seattle, only with no health codes.  I felt like I was walking thru a picture in National Geographic, and I suppose in a way I was.  

In an amazing stroke of synchronicity, we discovered that an integrated health care group was going to be going out into the jungle to run a volunteer health clinic on the very rivers that we were going to be on, the same dates we would be there.  They were happy to meet us and said we could join them for a few days! 

On the day before we left Michael and I were joined by our third adventurer, a great college kid named Justin.  He was traveling all over South America, mostly solo, and had somehow found out about our jungle adventure and decided to join us.  He had just come from Brazil.  

So, our missing bags.  Remember the missing bag that had our water filters, water purification, flashlights, batteries, film and toiletries?  Fortunately for us we had 3 days in Iquitos for the bag to catch up with us, unfortunately we were now in South America where things run on a little bit of a different schedule....needless to say, we went to the jungle without the bag.