Living in Iquitos Peru

The anaconda could have strangled and eaten the youngest child, in the wild. We were on the banks of the Amazon River photographing a scene out of the Garden of Eden. This was an Amazon Cruise to the Triple Frontier. We stopped at Los Boas to handle snakes, very impressive snakes. The Red-tailed boa was beautiful.

We helped eight Polish adventurers. Their Amazon Challenge was an expedition from the source of the Amazon River in the Andes Mountains to the mouth of the Amazon at the Atlantic Ocean. Our job was to get them from Iquitos Peru to the border of Brazil, Columbia, and Peru, Tres Fronteras.

Next stop was an island full of monkeys. The monkeys were afraid of the giant eagle figurehead on our boat, Dawn on the Amazon III. The fear lasted 5 minuets before their curiosity took over, and they ran, jumped, tumbled, and played all over us. We could not get closer to monkeys. The children were not sure being close was good. Neither was I. One Woolley Monkey, determined to be the photographer, tried to take my camera. Monkey prints on the lens.

I like to stop in Pevas. My artist friend Francisco Grippa draws his inspiration from living and painting practically in the jungle. I am not an expert but I think Grippa is great. So did our guests. They purchased four large paintings for $10,000.

We visited a tribe of Ocainas indigenous. One of the young women had a Black-headed parrot perched on her head. Her breasts were partially covered by a string of Paiche scales. She was very exotic.

My favorite destination on this Amazon cruise is my secret fishing lake. I love that place. Some of my most memorable Amazon adventures are from there. It is where I held a baby Harpy Eagle in my hands, caught my first unforgettable Peacock Bass, lived and made friends in a primitive ribereño village for three weeks, learned more about the rainforest than any other place or time. We could not stay long. I did not want to leave, but I never do.

The triple frontier is not the place for me. On this Amazon cruise we lived on the boat for three days across the Amazon River from Leticia Columbia. It sounds better than it is. It is the Wild West, with too many cocaine smuggling pirates out of Columbia, which creates corruption and trouble.

This Amazon cruise from Iquitos Peru to the Triple Frontier covered 536.5 kilometers, one way.

To learn more of the details of this Amazon cruise to the Triple Frontier please read the full story on my Captains Blog.

I made my own version of the Amazon Challenge ten years ago. I never saw anything in Brazil that I liked as well as the upper Amazon watershed of Peru. The river gets too big. You can barely see the shore, not much wild life. Better to stay upstream in Peru.

I recommend an Amazon cruise to Pevas, and as far as my secret fishing hole. Spend as much time in those two places as possible, and then return back upstream to Iquitos. To learn how to build your own Amazon cruise please look at Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises.

Adventure travel story and photos of an Amazon Cruise to the Triple Frontier by Bill Grimes. Let me know if I was interesting by subscribing to my RSS feed, following the two live links and/or leaving a comment…Thanks

G’Day to my new Bootsnall friends. I know a lot of you are looking for a new travel adventure to capture your imagination, and I think you would like to know more about the 10th annual Great River Amazon Raft Race, Sept 20th to Sept 22, 2008, held in Iquitos Peru. The Great River Amazon Raft Race is the longest raft race in the world, held on the largest river in the world. That captures my imagination right there, how about yours? If that is not enough, try this, the rafts must be constructed of balsa logs, tied together with jungle vines, and part of the deal is you have to build your own raft. Incredible.

The race starts over 118 miles upstream, at the village of Nauta, several miles beyond the beginning of the Amazon River and the finish line is down in the jungle city of Iquitos, the largest, most isolated city in the world, with no roads going anywhere. Iquitos is surrounded by jungle and rivers.

The race will take three days to complete, some say it will take three more days to heal up from. This is a difficult endurance contest. The motto is “The faint of heart need not apply”. That says a lot but does not tell the whole story. Every year male and female rafters up in their 70s sign up for the challenge. Most people probably feel like finishing is winning.

Everyone that has participated in past races form a small band of adventurers with great camaraderie. Those who have not attempted this challenge can not know what it feels like to have finished the longest raft race in the world on a primitive balsa raft, just like the indigenous used hundreds of years before, and still use today.

That is why I do not believe an international team will ever win the Great River Amazon Raft Race. How is a gringo team of athletic adventurers going to beat a team that was born and raised on a raft? A team that reads the current so naturally they do not even know they are reading it?

I hope some of you prove me wrong. I believe the only way to do that is to come to Iquitos a few weeks before the race, build a prototype balsa raft, and practice reading the river currents. I have spent a lot of time on the River and can share some of my hard earned lessons. If anyone is interested leave a comment below. Maybe we can get a team together and test our skills against the best balsa rafters in the world.

The Amazon Rafting Club are the organizers of the Great River Amazon Raft Race. You can check that blog at;

The Great River Amazon Raft Race Blog

There are already several comments on their official blog. This could be a good way for one or two adventurous paddlers to hook up with one or two others and form an international team.

Dawn on the Amazon

If your imagination has been tweaked by this story, please tell your friends about the Great River Amazon Raft Race, and leave a comment. I will be reporting back here with more details regularly about Living in Iquitos Peru. Please subscribe to the RSS feed at the top of this page. Thank you for your consideration. Best wishes, Bill

Digital art by my son, Matt Grimes

I am going to take you behind the scenes of the Amazon Animal Orphanage and Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm in Iquitos Peru. Most people know a little bit about the Butterfly Farm. I have earned my insights studying and photographing at the Butterfly farm.

Tony Piraña using new friend Tom for a salt lick, Butterfly Farm, Iquitos Peru

First, let me introduce you to the cast of characters:

Tony Piraña thinks she is the star of the show at the Butterfly Farm. Tony is a White-fronted Capuchin Monkey, raised by street children in Iquitos Peru. Capuchins are considered to be the smartest monkeys in Central and South America, with many documented cases of habitual tool use. Tony uses tools. She uses sweaty gringos for salt licks, supplementing her diet with daily mineral licks. She is a talented pick pocket and a good photographer. Keep one hand on your camera and the other on your sun glasses.

Chavo is the boss. Everyone does what he says. How an endangered Red Uakari Monkey took over the Butterfly Farm is another story. Chavo nurtures and grooms the young monkeys, and carries them around on his back. He does not seem to care what species they are. He protects them all, so don’t attack any little monkeys, otherwise he will do the same to you. Something that he likes is to groom the guests, and then he wants you to return the favor.

Chavo Grooming Gabriela

Zeke and Florian are Saki Monkeys. If you are lucky they might let you touch their luxurious tails.

Junior is a Black Capuchin and is Tony’s pick pocket protégé. No offence to Tony but Junior is cuter, nicer and has much better manners. He likes to come and play with you and be coquettish, wiggling his eyebrows up and down, as he crawls under your shirt or blouse, ha, ji. Here the people joke that the man would like to be the monkey…

Rosa is a Giant Anteater, also orphaned and an endangered species. To me it is a great treat to see this animal up close. Until you have seen how long her tongue is, you will not believe me.

Gudrun is a human. Her job is just to work hard and make enough money to feed the animals.

Gudrun showing a Blue Morpho at the Butterfly Farm

Igor and young Argus are Red Howler Monkeys and are among the most polite characters at the Butterfly Farm.

Two new members of the Butterfly Farm family are Pauly and Wicky. Pauly is an immature Red Uakari. Wicky is a young Saddleback Tamarind.

All of the characters listed above are free to roam at will around the Butterfly Farm

Lucas is a tapir that lives in a large fenced in jungle pasture. He eats $1,000 worth of fruit and vegetables per year.

Pedro Bello, the magnificent Jaguar, lives in a huge cage that cost $10,000 to build, with a big pool of water, plus he eats $3,600 worth of red meat, chicken and fish, per year. I did not realize how large Jaguars get until I stood close to Pedro. His paws and head are huge.

Roblar is another human. Like Lucas, he rarely leaves his fenced in area. He works hard every day, leading tours and preventing the monkeys from eating the caterpillars and butterflies.

The monkeys forage for most of their food except for peanuts which they seem to love. The monkeys cost around $250 per year to feed.

Four macaws and nine parrots eat around $600 per year of fruit and nuts.

The manatee eats 22 pounds of lettuce per day for a cost of over $1,000 per year for a sea cow that only shows you its nostrils.

Add a few hundred dollars to feed the agouti, turtles, and caiman.

Had it not been for Gudrun’s and Roblar’s intervention, all of these other “characters” would most certainly have died long ago.

These two humans need help. I do not know how much the veterinarians charge them, or how much is spent on labor and maintenance, INRENA fees, taxes, and miscellaneous expenses, but I think it is a lot.

Don’t expect me to be unbiased about the Amazon Animal Orphanage and Pilpintuawasi Butterfly Farm in Iquitos Peru. Gudrun is one of my best friends in Iquitos. I know how hard she works. In addition to the Butterfly Farm she works at the University teaching German and English so she can afford to buy enough food for Pedro Bello.

I am going to reveal another behind the scenes secret. There is a new character in the plot. Gudurn and Roblar have saved an Ocelot. The Ocelot must have a larger cage to be happy, and to make Gudrun, Roblar, all the rest of us, and you happy.

I am not authorized to speak for the Butterfly Farm, but please, donate money toward a larger cage for the Ocelot, and to help with food costs. Do not ask to see the ocelot without making a donation.

In case you think a Butterfly Farm sounds boring, lots of exciting natural events happen here. Boa Constrictors slip into the Agouti cage for a meal, and then can not get back out. Giant larva, big around as a sausage, hatch into huge beetles with samari swords for pinchers. Pedro Bella hurtles after a monkey silly enough to get on top of his cage. When Pedro is very lucky he gets a live agouti turned into his lair, or a live fish released into his pond.

The Butterfly Farm is located in the jungle near the village of Padre Cocha, and the life and death drama of the food chain plays out here every day. I observe and photograph something new and unexpected every time I go to the Butterfly Farm.

Join me the next time Dawn on the Amazon visits the Butterfly Farm. There you will find a lot of what you came to Iquitos Peru to see in the first place. I didn’t even mention the 40 species of tropical butterflies and their host plants in the botanical garden.

Amazon Animal Orphanage and Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm, Iquitos Peru,
Bill Grimes, Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises

Iquitos, Peru, is surrounded by grand rivers and lush rainforest. This charming city has been my home port for adventure cruises on the magnificent Amazon River for three years. Please allow me to share my love for this frontier town with you.

Your first impression is the warm, oxygen rich, moist air. It feels good and is easy to breathe. Your second impression is there are thousands of motorcycles and three wheel rickshaws called moto-kars whizzing around. Be careful. The biggest adventure most travelers experience in Iquitos is racing through the streets perched on the edge of their seat in a moto-kar weaving in and out of traffic.

The rules of the road are different from what you are used to, so a bad wreck seems inevitable. Be sure to keep your arms, legs, and baggage inside the steel frame. When the moto-kar arrives, make sure you get out on the sidewalk side, never the street side. Pedestrians have no right of way in Iquitos, Peru.

Iquitos has no roads connecting to other cities making it the largest, most isolated city on any continent. Cars are status symbols. I do not have one. Boats are important. I have four river boats. I walk or take a moto-kar, and I spend a lot of time in my boats.

I want to attempt to correct a mistake perpetuated by the travel industry, and the guide books, and found on the internet. Their combined wisdom is that the best time for the traveler to come to Iquitos, Peru, is during the “dry season” from June through November.

There are two seasons, but they are not dry and wet. What is called the “dry season” should actually be called the low water season when the water level can be 40 feet lower than the high water season. High water levels are from December through May.

The rise and fall of the water has little or nothing to do with rainfall on Iquitos. It is the snow melt and rainfall on the east slope of the Andes that causes our rivers to rise. In my opinion the only activities that are better in the low water season are fishing, collecting ornamental fish, and walking on the beach. Everything else is better in the high water season.

The most important historical event in Iquitos, Peru, was the rubber boom, which caused an explosion in population and prosperity from 1880 through 1912. The legacy from the rubber era can still be seen in the architecture of the city and the elegant mansions, as well as the Iron House and bandstand designed by Eiffel.

Most of the mansions are decorated with exquisitely painted ceramic tiles imported from Portugal, and with mahogany elaborately carved by the most skilled Italian artists. You could love a tour of the historical buildings of Iquitos. Be sure to visit the Museo Amazonico, constructed in 1863 to admire the many sculptures by Felipe Lettersten, as well as the old photographs from the turn of the 19th century.

Shopping is not good in Iquitos unless you want to buy tropical fruits, natural medicines, or other jungle extracts, in which case it is great. I wish every traveler would take a special tour with a knowledgeable guide to the Belen market in the morning for an unusual shopping experience. In the alleyway known as Pasaje Paquito there is a natural medicine to cure every imaginable illness, and in the lower Belen Market you can buy anything that can be sold.

The Plaza de Armas has a wonderful fountain. We like to buy ice cream cones from across the street and eat them in the cool mist from the fountain. It can be very romantic.

Another good place to hang out is the Malecon, also called the boulevard, or river walk, with the best view of the sunrise over the Itaya River. Perhaps we will meet. I live on the third floor of the corner building across the street from the historic chapel and seminary. My office is on the ground floor. Look for the sign that says Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises. Stop in and say hi.

On Saturday and Sunday night the boulevard is the place to be, where people gather to see and be seen. You would love to visit with some of the “characters” from the ex-pat community, drink a cold Iquiteña Extra beer (locally brewed), and watch the action. Clowns on stilts, mimes, slapstick comedians, capoeira, a brass band, street musicians, a dog and monkey show, and beautiful women all compete for your attention. My favorite is the group of capoeiristas that performs the capoeira, an acrobatic martial arts dance, every Saturday at 8 p.m. I have the best seat in the house from my balcony.

You would love going with me in one of the boats for a few hours. The port area is one of the most interesting parts of the city and most travelers never see it. I like to cruise slowly close to shore and watch the tugs and barges, the colectivos, llevo-llevos, lanchas, lanchitas, canoes, and rafts, all so full of people, livestock, fruit, charcoal, and other jungle products they look like they would surely sink. Coming and going, loading and unloading…not many places in the world have more interesting maritime traffic than the Iquitos ports.

The best way to experience the most picturesque area in Iquitos, the Barrio de Belen, is from a boat during the high water season. The houses are built on balsa rafts and float up and down as the water level changes. The floating houses are laid out in streets of water.

This area is known as the Venice of Peru. Everyone has a canoe or llevo-llevo with a peque-peque motor. We like to cruise through slow and easy watching life being lived in a different way. One of my boats was built here so I know the neighborhood very well. This is one of the most interesting places I have ever been and I think you would love it to.

A short boat ride away from Iquitos are some of my favorite places, the Amazon Animal Orphanage and Pilpintuasi Butterfly Farm, the Momon River, a small winding stream with the jungle close on both sides, a petting zoo where you can wrestle a giant anaconda, the Bora and Yagua indigenous villages, and a good place to watch the pink river dolphins. I think you would love to spend part of a day cruising around the rivers of Iquitos with me.

The best of Iquitos Peru are the people!

The most important components of Iquitos, Peru, are the friendly non-violent people. The streets are the safest of any city I have known, and are swept by hand every night so they are usually clean. Violent crime is nearly unheard of, but of course there are plenty of hustlers so please use common sense like always.

The population census shows far more women than men. You have probably never see so many people smiling and laughing, ready to dance, drink, play, and flirt for fun. Every holiday is thoroughly celebrated and there are a lot of parades and parties. Plus we are blessed with eternal summer.

Iquitos, Peru, is known as The City of Love. If you are not in love when you arrive, there is a good chance you will be when you leave…

Dawn on the Amazon

“Es él muerto?”

I jump out of my seat and gape at a Peruano man standing in his
canoe in the rain. I brush mosquitoes from my face. I thought mine
was the only boat around for miles, but here’s this man in a canoe
pointing to the front of my boat.

“Es él muerto?” he says again.

He looks worried. He’s standing in the rain in his canoe, pointing. It’s
not just any kind of rain, either. It’s rainforest rain. It’s coming down
harder and faster than you’ve ever seen rain. It’s thick. It has sound.
It’s coming down so hard, it hits the surface with such a splash, it’s
like it’s raining up. I look to the front of my boat, to Mark laying on
the fishing platform in his rain gear. Rain bouncing up off of him.

Where I am, in the relative dryness under the thatched roof by the
wheel, are a million mosquitoes, buzzing about their good fortune of
shelter and food. I’m doing my best to put mind over matter, to kind
of hum at a frequency sympathetic to theirs and confuse them enough
to stop the frenzy. I’ve always tried to make a point of ignoring them
and going about my business. It is not working.

There didn’t have to be mosquitoes. Really. It depends on the
water. Black, tannic acid, no mosquitoes. Clear sweet water, Deet
won’t do it. When we were back in Iquitos planning the trip, we knew
this, but we wanted to come here. We packed the boat, threw the
chickens on the roof, and took off. We meandered around
adventurously and wound up here, with a guy standing in the rain in
his canoe pointing to Mark, laying on the fishing platform in his
rain gear to escape the mosquito fest under the thatching.

“Hey, Mark,” I call. “What’s muerto mean?”

Mark sits up on the platform. “I don’t know. Dead, I think,” he says.
“Why?”

I look back out at the rain falling in an unbroken curtain, like looking
out from behind a waterfall, no sign of the Peruano man or the canoe.
“No reason,” I say. I brush at the mosquitoes.

Dawn on the Amazon

This series of posts should help answer some of the questions I get asked all the time. What is the exchange rate? How much for a gallon of gas in Iquitos Peru? How much does it cost to outfit a major Amazon expedition? How long does it take to get organized? How do you know how much pure water to stock? How much food? How much does your insurance cost? How much would it cost to build a boat like Dawn on the Amazon?

This post is about the price of gas and the exchange rate. On October 18th 2007, the exchange rate for one United States dollar was S/2.98 soles. Eight years ago I would never have predicted the exchange rate would fall below three soles for a dollar. I prefer not to speculate about what that says about the United States economy, but I know it is not good for my personal economy.

We are organizing a six day expedition up the Nanay River into Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve.

For part of our preparation I purchased 215 gallons of diesel fuel priced at S/8.20 per gallon, ($2.75 per gallon) which equals S/1763 ($592).

We also purchased 90 gallons of 90 octane gasoline priced at S/10.32 per gallon, ($3.46 per gallon) which equals S/9,288, ($312).

We purchased 3, ten-kilo tanks of propane gas for cooking priced at S/33, per tank, ($11.07 per tank) which equals S/99 ($33).

S/1,763 ($592) + S/9,288 ($312) + S/99 ($33) = S/11084 ($937), total price of fuel.

This is not the total cost to take on petroleum products for this expedition. We changed the oil in three motors, hired moto-kars to take us back and forth after gas and oil and filters, filed a form called a zarpe with the Captain of the Port, bought my crew breakfast for starting work early to get the diesel fuel, and other miscellaneous nickel and dime costs. For the purpose of this blog we can round it off to $1000.

If the expedition was to the Triple Frontier or the Pacaya River entrance to Pacaya Samiria National Reserve the expedition would travel three times as far and would cost approximately three times as much, so the cost for petroleum products alone would be more than $3,000.

There you have it; the purchasing power of the dollar is falling while the price of fuel is rising. I have been asked by several people if Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises will raise the prices in 2008 to reflect the low exchange rate and the higher price of gas? The answer is no, my prices will remain the same for 2008. The reason is Dawn on the Amazon has great reviews in the Lonely Planet Travel Guide, the Moon Travel Guide, Iquitos, Gateway to Amazonia, and others, as well as various places on the internet quoting today’s prices.

In future posts we will examine the costs of food, labor, insurance, taxes, fees to access the reserves, the help we provide the native villages, and the permits necessary to operate a boat on the Amazon River in Peru. Another question that I am asked over and over is how much would it cost to build a boat like Dawn on the Amazon?

I hope you will check back here as I attempt to answer those questions, and tell stories about what we see and do operating out of Iquitos Peru.

Dawn on the Amazon

This is an account of my interaction with a character I worked with years ago. I hope to develop more stories about Jose and some of what he taught me as I explored the upper Nanay River over 300 kilometers from Iquitos Peru.

Jose

“Pescado fresco?” Jose brings his fingers to his mouth in the age-old sign of eating. “Comer?” He keeps his canoe steady with a one-handed swirl of his paddle, easy as breathing.

He wants to know if we keep the fish we catch today or throw them back. He does not understand catch and release or the crazy gringo who hired him to guide his boat to good fishing on the Nanay River. To come all this way, to expend this energy for nothing is foolish decadence.

“Si,” I say. “Fresco.” Fresh fish to eat will be nice.

Jose smiles. He is happy. This is what a man does. He catches fish. Eats his fill and salts and dries the rest. Then works his yuca patch.

Dawn on the Amazon

Greetings, I am Bill Grimes, writer, photographer, naturalist, and jungle guide. I live and work in Iquitos Peru, on the rivers, and in the rainforests. I am also the owner and president of Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises, a small but cozy adventure outfitter for independent travelers.

This blog will focus on the charming port town of Iquitos and on my expeditions on the upper Amazon watershed of Peru. You will find travel planning strategies designed to help you save money and time.

I have recently been to Pacaya Samiria National Reserve, Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve, the newly enlarged Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve, Pevas, Nauta, the triple frontier, and many other exciting river and rainforest destinations. I will post details of those travels and will offer advice that will be valuable to help you build your own Amazon Adventure. I will be posting about the behind the scenes work that goes into a successful major expedition into the jungle.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask by going to the contact link on our web site at;

http://www.dawnontheamazon.com

My most recent photos can be viewed on line at;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dawnontheamazon/

Thanks for visiting my blog. Stop by regularly for more information about Amazon cruises, Amazon tours, and the bio-diversity of the rainforest near Iquitos, Peru.

Dawn on the Amazon, Iquitos Peru

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