Happy Fourth

Turns out we had nothing to worry about when it came to sleeping. We are all so exhausted at night that the heat doesn’t matter. It also seems like our bodies are adjusting to the heat – like resetting what we perceive as hot and cool. It feels very comfortable in the morning even though I know it’s like 90 degrees. Breakfast is excellent. We have assorted breads with fresh marmalades, huge bowls of fruit, eggs, ham, and cheeses. They also gave us fresh squeezed orange juice to go with it.

Yesterday, we walked down to the river to go for a boat ride. Iquitos is surrounded by three major rivers – the Nanay, the Itaya, and the Amazon. We sailed out the spot where the smaller two mix, and officially form the mouth of the Amazon. The Amazon River is essential to the lives of so many people so it was cool to go out and see where it starts. On the way back in, the boat driver stopped suddenly and started whistling, we asked why, and they told us that the Amazon is filled with a unique species of pink dolphins and they were trying to call them. It didn’t end up working, but the driver invited some of us to go Parana fishing with him on one of our days off so maybe we can see them then. We went downtown later that night to exchange some money (1 dollar = 2.8 nuevo soles!!) and see some sights. On the edge of the city where the Amazon runs, one of the professors showed us so buildings that were built by Iquitos’ poorest. They make platforms out of balsa wood, build small homes on top of them, and put the rafts on the river. Since they don’t own any land, they anchor on the river. The platform then moves up and down as the river rises and falls. The difference between when the river is at its highest and when it’s at its lowest has to be something like 50-70 feet. (see my pics on facebook to see the how high the water rises) Right now it’s the dry season, and since the river is so low, there is a ton of exposed land. The poor take advantage of this and go out and plant the land with yucca while it’s available. The water won’t rise again for a few months so they have time to harvest the crops before it does.

Today we stayed at the hotel, and had a series of four lectures by Kat and Dennis. Kat works with the way that Peruvian culture relates to the plants and medicine they use. She looks at the rituals, problems, and needs are met/solved with plants. For example, how reeds can be used to make boats and baskets, how toxic plants are purified for food sources, and how plants fit in to rituals and healing. Dennis on the other hand, studies more of the pharmacology of the plants, or how they can be used for medicinal purposes. Together, the two of them work to try and find natural products that have the potential to be cures for diseases. Dennis also spoke about a large project he is working on right now – the digitalization of Iquitos’ herbarium. The herbarium (library of plants) houses more than 100,000 species of plants found in the Amazon, and their goal is to scan them all into the computer and make an encyclopedia that can be access all over the globe and used for research. Tomorrow we are going to spend the day at the herbarium and see exactly what they are doing there.