6-8 July 05

There are two main ways to get from Iquitos to the border with Brazil / Colombia, and they both involve boats: the speedboat (12 hrs) or the slow boat (day and a half). I had decided to go with the slow boat, and so had Sian, a British girl from the hostel. Since it was necessary to bring our own hammocks, we headed to the Belen market to buy one each, and visit the distinctive river-community.

The market was hot, smelly and busy, but fascinating. I doubt there is a thing you can´t purchase, get fixed or have made there! Being a vegetarian, Sian had issues walking in the midst of stinky chicken carcasses and other meat that had laid out too long, and to be honest, so did I. It wasn´t pretty... Despite this, I had a chicken and rice breakfast and was pleased to find that I didn´t get sick :-)

A young guy took us out on canoe-tour of the floating houses that characterize the Belen area. They were all very basic and small, but each was home to up to 15 people. Toilets were four stilts with plastic around, perched over the water a little away from the house. Often, the only access was by canoe... How convenient!

Hammocks in hand we returned to Iquitos to make some final snack purchases and wait for the boat. Lucho insisted on coming to the port with us, to set up our hammocks and see us off. Arriving at the docks was chaotic to say the least... Immediately after entering in our mototaxi, we had about 15 guys running after the vehicle, shouting destinations and names of boats, and trying to grab our bags. We literally had to push our way through to the Victor Manuel, the biggest (and supposedly the best) of the two boats leaving for the border that night.

Lucho deftly put up our hammocks while we vigilantly guarded our packs - the river boats are famous for thieves. Apparently, the vendors that come aboard in hoardes when a boat is in port make a good living lifting people´s belongings - targeting natives and tourists alike. Lucho stayed for a couple of hours, chatting away, highly out of character, then solemnly said "I may never see you again", gave me a big hug and left. Sian and I were impatiently waiting for departure, which of course was about 4 hours delayed...

Once I didn´t have to watch my stuff all the time, I immediately went into a vegetative state that would last until arrival in Santa Rosa a day and a half later. Doing nothing whatsoever, the evening passed while we seemed to stop in an incredible number of ports. I tried to keep track, but lost count somewhere around 12 (in the first few hours only!). And then there was the rain... Wind howling, it rained non-stop for a couple of hours at first, wetting our hammocks and leaking onto the deck through the open sides, only protected by some raggedy tarp. I feared for the night ahead, and not without reason... Most of the night was passed in howling wind and torrential rains - I was freezing cold on a boat in the jungle! I didn´t sleep until dawn, when we were woken up by the breakfast-man and Sian snugly asked from her sleeping bag "oh, was it windy? I didn´t notice a thing..."

Wearing all my clothes to try to ward off the cold, I dozed and read in my hammock all day, watching my stuff when we stopped somewhere and mostly staring into space the rest of the time. Considering all our stops, I was a bit concerned about how long it would take - having heard anything from 1 1/2 to 4 days. Stops included a fisherman´s hut on a mud bank, different-sized settlements and next to another ship to exchange mail.

Food onboard was basic but not completely horrible, mostly chicken and rice with a 2cm piece of lettuce and some raw onion. The two toilets were very basic and unclean, and there was one sink on the whole boat - shared between the kitchen and the passengers. It was a big relief when we arrived as scheduled in Santa Rosa, one and a half day after setting out. We waited over an hour for the immigration officials to show up, got our exit stamps from Peru and took a boat-taxi to Leticia, Colombia with the other gringo couple on board. The three countries´ border towns are right next to each other, so in a matter of 5 minutes we left Peru, stopped in Brazil to let off a passenger, and entered Colombia.

Needless to say, the first thing I did in Leticia was to take a long shower :-)