DAY 50: You would think that Amazonian city of Iquitos, the largest city in the world without any connecting roads, would be reminiscent of a lost Shangri-La or an ancient city out of a Tarzan set. The fact is, Iquitos, the Amazon River's first port during the rubber industry boom, now has over 500,000 residents and is a bustling modern city -- it was evident as soon as we arrived at the port.

With a ship full of bananas, vendors scrambled to buy them at 5 soles a bunch to sell on the street for higher prices. Some people were so adamant at getting the first bunches, they boarded an adjacent ship and jumped through windows to get to our stash. It was like a Walmart on the "Black Friday" after Thanksgiving in the States.

Marita, Madalon and I split a mototaxi into town where we got rooms at a hostal that Marita recommended. They helped me bargain down the price from 35 soles to 30 soles (about $9), which was a steal because the room was very nice -- one of the nicest I've had so far -- with a nice big bed, bathroom, fan and cable TV. There was no hot water, but in the past fifty days, I've learned to live with cold showers.

Marita got a recommendation from a friend for a tour guide we could trust that could take us around the city. He was Richard, a young, short man who lived in Iquitos -- more specifically, in the poor neighborhood of Belen, which looked much more like the image of an Amazonian jungle city. Richard led the three of us through a crowded market full of vendors selling everything from fruits to cooking oils in little baggies to meats to caterpillars to special potions made from plants and roots in the jungle for various ailments.

The Iquitosian people looked very Filipino to me, and I blended in pretty well, even though I could only make out about 20% of what they said. Madalon on the other hand, understood everything but stuck out like a sore thumb. I didn't know which was worse.

THE SHANTYTOWN OF BELEN is district of Iquitos almost completely on stilts for when the river's high water season came in. I say "almost completely" because some of the houses were actually built on rafts that could float and rise with the river tide (picture above) -- sort of like dry Cheerios before you pour milk in the bowl. It being the low river season, we were able to walk on what was usually the riverbed as houses on stilts towered above our heads and villagers looked down on us.

Richard negotiated a canoe for us, and the oarsman rowed us down the river to see the houses in the lower waters. Kids swam in the cool waters of the river while big condor-like birds soared above our heads. Huge lilypads -- able to support the weight of a baby according to Richard -- floated near us in the water. I wondered how many bottles of beer I could get on those suckers for a pool party.

Back in town, Richard brought us to his friend, a potion maker, who let us sample some of his goods. Potions, as magical as they sound, more or less taste like rum -- a rum that can mess you up really fast after just one shot; I already started to feel its effects with just a sip. Afterwards, I was introduced to a recommended an adventure tour company that could take me on a jungle expedition, which was good because my abridged Lonely Planet book didn't have any good advice.

After a first but final lunch with the girls -- they were leaving for Lima the next day and only journeyed to Iquitos to experience the cargo boat ride -- I walked around town a little bit, seeing the more-odern-than-colonial Plaza das Armas and the riverfront area overlooking the Amazon River itself. Most of the places in town were closed for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception holiday and the streets were essentially empty -- except for the occasional mototaxi driving by. The inactivity of the city was fine by me because I had been more or less in transit for eight consecutive days and just wanted to rest. I had a lot of catching up to do on The Blog anyway.

THE SUN SET OVER THE AMAZON with another picturesque pink sky, just before a big lightning storm came in with its lightning bolts so fast I couldn't take a picture of them. Indoors and out of the rain, I worked on The Blog until the wee hours of the morning while flipping through the channels on cable TV.

It was weird to see a documentary on Discovery Channel about the jungle villages of South America, knowing that some of them were just down the river, not too far away.