All roads lead to Rome, and none lead to Iquitos... You can only get in and out of this weird city by air or river - I chose one day flying over one week or more overland. Iquitos hosts a bunch of "characters", many of whom have set up businesses in town and all of whom seem to talk shit about each other as soon as they get the chance. Locals don`t miss a chance to whistle and otherwise try to catch the attention of passing girls - the police being no exception. It is hot, humid and slooooow. After three months of wearing long underwear and fleece even to bed, I loved the heat!

I wasn`t sure whether I wanted to do a jungle tour from Iquitos, but shopped around a bit nonetheless between naps and cold drinks. Nothing tickled my fancy as they all seemed to be along the same lines as my trip in Ecuador. After speaking to the agency located at my hostel, the receptionist introduced me to the owner. A slightly wacky American who for some reason got stranded in Iquitos a few years ago, his opening line was something like "So you wanna do something different? I`m thinking of sending some guys out on a hunt. Pay the expenses and you´re in." After a bit of a chat I was in and so was Jevon, an American guy staying at the hostel.

There wasn`t much of a plan... but the GIST of our conversation was that we would travel in the owner`s speedboat 8 hours upriver to a town called Bretaña, from where we would rent a canoa and enter a more remote part of the Pacaya Samiria Reserve. With the help of Lucho, a native tracker / hunter and Juan, his little helper, we hoped to see huge crocodiles and the monstrous fish Paiche, over 2m long. We would bring in some staples such as platanos & rice and have Lucho supply the rest of the food. We hastily applied for entry permits, hoped they would go through by the next morning, and prepared ourselves for an adventure. In the mighty jungle anything is possible...