Day One

We got in to the hotel around noon today. After travelling for 29 hours with little sleep, I would have been happy to be in a one room apartment, but the hotel is spectacular! The seven girls are in a pretty 3 room/2 bath bungalow. It’s clean, pretty, and well furnished, but unfortunately it’s also hotter than hell. Air conditioning is nonexistent here. Sleeping should be interesting…

The hotel consists of a court yard, the main house, an outdoor kitchen and dining room, a huge patio area with several enclosures, a pool, and a tree house. The house is where all of our rooms are with the exception of two guys who are in a separate building. The house has a camp cabin feel to it – in furnishings and design. It almost seems like a family summer home on the water. In front of the house is the courtyard which is landscaped with native plants. It is also houses the cage of what we believe to be an ocelot. (medium sized wild cat) The outdoor kitchen runs along the side of the house with the outdoor dining room in the back beside the pool. The pool here is the only chilled pool in Iquitos. (yes…. chilled) Surrounding the rest of the pool are several wooden huts with woven roofs. Some have multiple stories with ladders up to other levels. Toward the back of the estate there is the tree house. It has seven stories that wind up a tree and when you get to the very top you can see straight out across the city. After exploring the area, you can go relax in one of the 30+ hammocks that are scattered through the compound.

When we did eventually venture outside, it's impossible to miss the sheer poverty that the majority of Iquitos' citizens live in. Only about half of the population even have real roofs (made of tin), the rest have woven roofs that are reinforced with plastic underneath. The homes themselves are small, and some are held up on stilts to withstand rising river water. Children play outside in the dirt, or more commonly help their parents try to make a living selling items such as fresh fruit, juices, eggs, or other goods. Emaciated animals are all over the place, and garbage is common. The sidewalks are ridiculously uneven, and pedestrians have no rights in the road making it dangerous for the many small children. Also, the heat is nearly unbearable at the height of the day, and these people have only a few fans to stay cool. Despite all this, from my interactions today, the Peruvian people are very pleasent and happy. The children play with what they have, and groups of people will gather to watch a soccer game on any tv they can find. They are very willing to help out travelers as well.

And now it's time for a good long sleep.