What did I just eat? Is that a cockroach in my backpack?

My monkey and Me

I just got back from my trip to Iquitos. And like I said in my last post, Iquitos is suppose to be one of the “‘most exotic cities’ in all of South America according to my guidebook”—and it is. One could say it was my most interesting trip so far.
In Iquitos, I spent three nights and four days in the rainforest. In the lodge where I was staying there were only eight people including myself…so it was, in my opinion, pretty close to an “authentic” jungle experience. My stay included eating alligator, turtle, and fish from the Amazon River, swimming with piranhas, (trying to) sleep while monster-size cockroaches overtook my room, and almost stepping on one of the most venomous snakes in the jungle. Our guide explained to us that he has seen people bitten and within five minutes, “they bleed out of their eyes and are in excruciating pain.” However, he did kindly remind us after this scary story: “that’s why we were these rubber boots.” This made me feel a little better, but I had little faith the flimsy, old boots would do anything if I were bitten…so for the rest of the hike I looked twice before I stepped forward.

I then arrived back at the lodge, sweaty from the hike, and decided to take a swim in the river. As soon as I dove in I felt small pinches all over my body, I assumed it they were just little minnows, which I had seen swimming on the top of the water, but my guide was nice enough to tell me “those are just piranhas.” I didn’t believe him at first, and thought he was kidding, but his piranha story proved to be true the next day when we went piranha fishing and we were able to catch a bucket-full in little.

Finally, the best story I have from the trip was our boat ride back to the city from the rainforest. Now, I’ve been on a lot of boats in my life—sail boats, motor boats, little boats, big boats, canoes, and kayaks—but this hour and forty minute boat ride in a small metal boat was easily one of the scariest experiences of my life. It started as a rainstorm, but within twenty minutes, we were attempting to recreate the movie “The Perfect Storm” on the Amazon River; luckily, this boat ride didn’t end the same way. Lightning bolts were striking all around us and it was pouring so hard the rain hurt as it smacked against my body. I was saying the Rosary while others in the boat were crying. During all this, we also hit a log in the river…and if you ever played the computer came “Amazon Trail” in elementary school, you know that the boat flips over and sinks when the boat hits the log. Lucky for us, it only just made a scary noise and there was no sinking or dying involved.

The Storm...

One hour and forty minutes after we left the rainforest we arrived in the city, Iquitos, and I had never been so happy to get off a boat.

Now I am back in Lima, alive in well. Even though my trip to Iquitos was “eventful” and at times scary, it was a good trip (in retrospect) and I did enjoy myself. As always, it is nice to get out of Lima and see a different side of Peru. Everything here in Lima is great and I cannot believe I only have about five weeks of classes until finals! The semester has just flown by. The next couple of weeks I will be reading and studying for my final quizzes and then my final exams. The semester has been fantastic so far and I am looking forward to the next couple weeks as I wrap up my semester and prepare for summer break…and the sun, which is just starting to come out in Lima!
Ciao,
Peter

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