Day 352: The Amazon – Iquitos Day 1
So, in addition to being sick all night and getting little sleep, we were woken up around 6AM by a bunch of INCONSIDERATE ASSHOLES who thought it was appropriate to shout, “Whoop! Whoop!” and talk loudly in the hotel hallway at the butt-crack of dawn. These guys must have been high or drunk – they were just hanging out in the hall for about 3 hours. (We suspect a lot of Western tourists come to Iquitos to take drugs – we heard that the Amazon River has become a major highway for smuggling cocaine into Brazil. Last night, we noticed so many of the tourists in the area look super thin and haggard.)
Around 10AM, a car arrived at the hotel to pick us up and take us to the port-town of Nauta – the end of the road leading out of Iquitos. From Nauta, we boarded a longboat and headed out into the Marañón River – one of the many tributaries of the Amazon. It took us about a 1.5hr. to reach the lodge from the port. We made a quick drive-by the official head of the Amazon River (where the Marañón River and the Ucayali Rivers meet), and we found a pod of over a dozen river dolphins during our transfer – Iquitos was off to a GREAT start!
Leaving the town of Iquitos behind as we head toward the confluence of the Amazon River
Lindsay is still weak from her food poisoning and lack of sleep
Heading up the Marañón River, we catch a quick glimpse of the official start of the Amazon River
The Amazon reminds us of the Okavango Delta – lots of birds
Dolphins! We see a pod of Gray River Dolphins playing where the calm “black water” meets the strong currents of the “brown water,” then we spot a huge PINK River Dolphin
Pink River Dolphins breaching the surface and showing off their noses!
Local houses on stilts – during the rainy season, everyone needs a boat to get around
Passing a luxury cruise ship on the way to our luxury tree house lodge
When we arrived at the Treehouse Lodge, we realized we had every right to be critical of the hotel we stayed at in Puerto Maldonado. The Treehouse Lodge was the same cost per night, but the rooms were private (the lodge capacity was only 10 rooms vs 50+ rooms), the meals were decadent, delicious and served to each guest individually (no buffets), and – best of all! – all rooms and common areas had both screens AND ceiling fans! This place did it RIGHT!
Lindsay’s tummy is very weak, so she is limited to plain white rice for lunch while Igor gets a delicious spread of fancy food
Long walk down the boardwalk, up the stairs, and across the suspension bridge to get to our treehouse room. We will definitely NOT be able to hear anyone poop in this lodge!
Lindsay loves our treehouse!
Unfortunately, we only gave ourselves two nights at the Treehouse, so we had to make the best use of our time. All of our excursions with our private guide, Martín, were included with our stay, so we planned an afternoon of piranha fishing and a night-time boat ride on the river for our first day. Lindsay was still very queasy, so she still was content to just sit on the floor of the boat and watch as Igor baited his hook with raw beef and dropped it into the water. He didn’t catch any piranha (those guys are clever fish – they were very sneaky and bit the bait off the hook from the side without tugging the line at all!) but he did catch several catfish. Each time he felt a tug on the line, he yanked the line out of the water and promptly dropped the fish in Lindsay’s lap – each time she screamed, thinking it was a piranha.
Afternoon on the Marañón River
Leaving the main river and descending into the quiet floodplains in search of piranha
Igor catches a half dozen catfish – the piranha are just too tricky!
Our guide manages to catch a piranha – look at those teeth!
Golden Hour on the river – we find a Praying Mantis stowaway on our boat
Sunset in the Amazon
Our guide brought back the one eating-sized piranha he caught for us. The chef cooked it for us as an appetizer. There wasn’t much meat, but what there was tasted pretty good (like flaky white fish). The rest of dinner was just as fancy and tasty as lunch (Lindsay was slowly feeling better and was able to eat half!).
Tables have turned on this piranha! We’re gonna eat YOU!
Super fancy appetizers and live music – now THIS is a luxury jungle lodge!
After dinner, we got into a small longboat and headed back out onto the Marañón River. We had a cloudless sky and the moon hadn’t risen yet, so the star were absolutely breathtaking (especially with the silhouette of the jungle framing the sky – just WOW!). We wanted to capture a picture, but the movement of the boat in the water would distort the long-exposure image, so it will just have to live in our memories.
Our driver, Fernando, drove us into the “black water” flood plains where we had been fishing earlier – now we were on the hunt for caiman. Martín would shine a flashlight into the tall grasses, looking for the red reflection off the reptile’s eyes. There wasn’t much activity today, but after about 20min, he finally pointed out some little dots of red. “Oh, cool!” we said – thinking that would be the extent of our caiman viewing. Fernando drove the boat over to the grasses where the red eyes were – suddenly Martín leaned over the front of the bow. At first we thought, maybe we were stuck on the bank and he’s just pushing us off? Then he turns back to us and we see he had just PULLED A BABY CAIMAN OUT OF THE WATER WITH HIS BARE HANDS. “Do you want to hold it?” He asked. “YES,” Igor says immediately.
I think our plan is backfiring – instead of making us want to go home, the Amazon around Iquitos is so awesome we want to stay longer!
Our guide pulls a Crocodile Dunee-move and grabbs a baby caiman out of the water!