Iquitos

You’re probably wondering why I haven’t written in many days. Well, I’ll tell you… Our last day in Lima was spent at a wonderful museum full of Incan artefacts. We packed our bags, Patrick interviewed Johnny while I went off to buy a battery charger with Ruben. The next day we got up early and flew to Cuzco.

CUSCO- 4th of July-We were picked up at the airport by a tour guide named Genaro who stopped at Perurail so that we could buy our tickets to Machu Picchu. He then took us to our hotel, a nice little Dutch owned, socially responsible place, in the colonial section of town. Genaro recommended a typical restaurant that served Adobo (beef stew) and chicharron (fried pork w/fat). It was really yummy and there was an accordion player. Patrick was in Peru bliss. I on the other hand was starting to feel the ill effects of 11,000 feet mixed with a belly full of meat. This was the beginning of a 5 day odessey of sickness. I was so sick that I sent Patrick on a tour of the Sacred Valley alone. On Monday I was well enough to take a tour of Cuzco and the surrounding ruins, which was quite impressive. On Tuesday we got up at 4:30 to take the train to Machu Picchu and discovered that the labor strike, which was to start the next day, was starting a day earlier in Cuzco. I went to the Perurail office and got our money back, while Patrick packed all of our bags. We figured we’d better fly out before the strike so we changed our reservations and flew to Iquitos that day. We arrived in Iquitos at sunset and Anthony (former SUNY student of mine and owner of Otorongo Lodge) picked us up from the airport and took us to a small, quaint, family run hotel in downtown Iquitos. I guess I got the opposite of altitude sickness, but I had the same symptoms. I was grateful for a hotel off the main st with a nice tropical garden to be sick during the labor strike. Outside of our little oasis people were burning tires and chanting revolutionary phrases while marching in large groups. This started at midnight and continued until a downpour at dawn put a damper on the protesting.  The next day most businesses and restaurants were closed. We were fed breakfast by our hotel and Anthony and his wife Evey fed us a late lunch. Of course we had to walk to their house to eat it, not very far to walk, but a little disconcerting during a countrywide labor strike. Armed police were very present and we were grateful for their presence. There was no violence in Iquitos, just a few burning tires and some broken glass. Evey said it had been much worse in previous years, but because of the heightened police presence there was no violence and things were back to normal today. That brings us up to date. Today is the 10th of July.  We are in Casa Fitzcarraldo ,a nice place, apparently in the sawmill district, by the ever present sound of chainsaws…Tomorrow I will hopefully write a little more before we leave for the jungle.