OK, this this isn't going to cover the enitre 24 hours ( I did sleep, after all.) but this entry in my journal talks about everything that happened between about 6:00AM and 11:00PM. (Most everything in parenthesizes I am adding now for clarity.)
April 2, 2014
Was awoken by my French neighbor being reminded to get up, so I joined in - there wasn't a sunrise, nor many birds. (I was staying for three nights in a ridiculously quaint jungle lodge. It was made of raw lumber, thatch and bamboo and was lit at night largely with kerosene lanterns. During the day there were activities that the guests, never more than five of us, could participate in. I was lucky to have my own guide.)
I set out the piranha jaw to test the cat theory - it was still there this morning. (I was really bummed that the jaw from the one I had caught and ate the previous day was gone. I had set it out to let the ants strip it clean. I thought maybe someone - probably that one guy - had taken it, but I was told it may have been a cat. Maybe, but that one guy...)
We went after breakfast (in a dug-out canoe) to see the "prehistoric bird" (opisthocomus hoazin) - It is very odd looking - like a cross between a pheasant, a peacock and a turkey. Along the way I caught glimpses of bats, blue-morpho butterflies, a red-headed iguana and a window rat, one of which lives right outside the lodge in a tree-hole. At the end of all the canoeing were three-foot diameter lily pads with with lots of wicked thorns underneath. We stopped on the way back to fish and, using small red seeds (that kept falling from the trees), were able to catch six small fish and one catfish-looking thing.
On the return we caught a glimpse of a "dragon bird", but only very briefly. (No idea what that was - a google search doesn't help.)
Half the piranha jaw was gone when I came back. Hmmm.... (Maybe it was a cat.)
Watched a couple pairs of small monkeys from the water tower - one made a flying leap of 15 ft. between the trees!
Said goodbye to Remi (Finally learned the name of my guide.) and Isaac, who found a new jaw for me. (Here I skip the return journey which involved a canoe ride to where we could get to a village with a "speed boat" (speed being relative to the canoe) and go back up the Amazon river.)
I stayed in Iquitos just long enough to grab some clean clothes from my bag and headed for the "bus terminal". (In this part of the world that usually just means a place where the buses congregate. It could be a street, a vacant lot, anywhere.) Along the way I learned that there was another massive strike - the streets were filled with garbage, some of it on fire. Many intersections were blocked with lumber, bricks, and even volleyball nets. (Might as well recreate if you're not working, right?) Finally found a micro (mini-van), but had to wait for it to fill. Then it took another 45 min. just to get around all the blockades out of town, though the driver stopping to make a pay-phone call (girlfriend?) didn't help.
It started to rain along the way; saw one of the biggest thunderheads I've ever seen - it looked like a hurricane. The driver was going way too fast; I knew I should have said something because at one point he lost control while hydroplaning. People screamed, all went white, and then... (This really doesn't do what happened justice. It was pitch black, and we were zipping down a slick two-lane highway (the only one in or out of Iquitos - it doesn't actually connect to anywhere but Nauta - you have to fly there or take a boat) with nothing but jungle on either side of us when suddenly we hit a HUGE puddle. A wall of water, turned white with the headlights, engulfed the front of the vehicle so that no-one could see anything, including the driver. Screams, and then...)
Nothing but lots of yelling at the driver. I called him a Pendejo and reminded him there were children. (From the urban dictionary: "In Mexico´s slang it is used as an insult like idiot or fool, but in Peru´s slang it used to describe a smart guy with few or no scruples." Huh. Had I known that at the time I would have said something worse.)
I wandered around Nauta for a bit - seems to be a genuine port town. I found a hospedaje and the first room I was shown was just being vacated by a fat guy in nothing but a towel and a woman who looked like a prostitute. I opted for a room twice as expensive - $10.
Showered, then went out to eat. Everywhere that looked like a restaurant served chicken. I found some sort of catfish grilling next to a caiman head on the street near the river. Almost got the small 'gator, but a pretty young lady bought it right before I did.
I wound up buying some bread and water since I didn't trust the lukewarm yucca that came with it, which even the mangy street dogs wouldn't eat.
I asked around about Grau. (Miguel Grau , where I was headed the next day because it's the first village after the confluence of the Marañón and Ucayali rivers join to form the Amazon river.) Met a guy who said he would take me for 80 soles - seems like a lot, but he claims it will get me there in half the time, save me money on the mirador (lookout tower) and I'll actually get to see the confluence since the river is high. Couldn't find a firm answer, so I asked where the other gringo tourists stayed in town. A moto-taxi (tuk-tuk) then took me on a wild ride over wooden bridges, down sidewalks, and through the jungle. After a period of being lost, we finally found the place and it looked completely dark. I hiked up the hill until I found one woman siting alone under a gazebo with a single bare bulb for light. Turns out she is from Washington state and has been living here for 20 years. There are four young Europeans staying there, building boats. One girl is planning on taking hers all the way to Brazil.
Back along the same crazy path, I was dropped back at the plaza - I was able to find an internet place and update people where I was. There apparently was a bad earthquake in Chile and people are worried about me. (If only they knew.)
What a day.
April 2, 2014
Was awoken by my French neighbor being reminded to get up, so I joined in - there wasn't a sunrise, nor many birds. (I was staying for three nights in a ridiculously quaint jungle lodge. It was made of raw lumber, thatch and bamboo and was lit at night largely with kerosene lanterns. During the day there were activities that the guests, never more than five of us, could participate in. I was lucky to have my own guide.)
I set out the piranha jaw to test the cat theory - it was still there this morning. (I was really bummed that the jaw from the one I had caught and ate the previous day was gone. I had set it out to let the ants strip it clean. I thought maybe someone - probably that one guy - had taken it, but I was told it may have been a cat. Maybe, but that one guy...)
We went after breakfast (in a dug-out canoe) to see the "prehistoric bird" (opisthocomus hoazin) - It is very odd looking - like a cross between a pheasant, a peacock and a turkey. Along the way I caught glimpses of bats, blue-morpho butterflies, a red-headed iguana and a window rat, one of which lives right outside the lodge in a tree-hole. At the end of all the canoeing were three-foot diameter lily pads with with lots of wicked thorns underneath. We stopped on the way back to fish and, using small red seeds (that kept falling from the trees), were able to catch six small fish and one catfish-looking thing.
On the return we caught a glimpse of a "dragon bird", but only very briefly. (No idea what that was - a google search doesn't help.)
Half the piranha jaw was gone when I came back. Hmmm.... (Maybe it was a cat.)
Watched a couple pairs of small monkeys from the water tower - one made a flying leap of 15 ft. between the trees!
Said goodbye to Remi (Finally learned the name of my guide.) and Isaac, who found a new jaw for me. (Here I skip the return journey which involved a canoe ride to where we could get to a village with a "speed boat" (speed being relative to the canoe) and go back up the Amazon river.)
I stayed in Iquitos just long enough to grab some clean clothes from my bag and headed for the "bus terminal". (In this part of the world that usually just means a place where the buses congregate. It could be a street, a vacant lot, anywhere.) Along the way I learned that there was another massive strike - the streets were filled with garbage, some of it on fire. Many intersections were blocked with lumber, bricks, and even volleyball nets. (Might as well recreate if you're not working, right?) Finally found a micro (mini-van), but had to wait for it to fill. Then it took another 45 min. just to get around all the blockades out of town, though the driver stopping to make a pay-phone call (girlfriend?) didn't help.
It started to rain along the way; saw one of the biggest thunderheads I've ever seen - it looked like a hurricane. The driver was going way too fast; I knew I should have said something because at one point he lost control while hydroplaning. People screamed, all went white, and then... (This really doesn't do what happened justice. It was pitch black, and we were zipping down a slick two-lane highway (the only one in or out of Iquitos - it doesn't actually connect to anywhere but Nauta - you have to fly there or take a boat) with nothing but jungle on either side of us when suddenly we hit a HUGE puddle. A wall of water, turned white with the headlights, engulfed the front of the vehicle so that no-one could see anything, including the driver. Screams, and then...)
Nothing but lots of yelling at the driver. I called him a Pendejo and reminded him there were children. (From the urban dictionary: "In Mexico´s slang it is used as an insult like idiot or fool, but in Peru´s slang it used to describe a smart guy with few or no scruples." Huh. Had I known that at the time I would have said something worse.)
I wandered around Nauta for a bit - seems to be a genuine port town. I found a hospedaje and the first room I was shown was just being vacated by a fat guy in nothing but a towel and a woman who looked like a prostitute. I opted for a room twice as expensive - $10.
Showered, then went out to eat. Everywhere that looked like a restaurant served chicken. I found some sort of catfish grilling next to a caiman head on the street near the river. Almost got the small 'gator, but a pretty young lady bought it right before I did.
I wound up buying some bread and water since I didn't trust the lukewarm yucca that came with it, which even the mangy street dogs wouldn't eat.
I asked around about Grau. (Miguel Grau , where I was headed the next day because it's the first village after the confluence of the Marañón and Ucayali rivers join to form the Amazon river.) Met a guy who said he would take me for 80 soles - seems like a lot, but he claims it will get me there in half the time, save me money on the mirador (lookout tower) and I'll actually get to see the confluence since the river is high. Couldn't find a firm answer, so I asked where the other gringo tourists stayed in town. A moto-taxi (tuk-tuk) then took me on a wild ride over wooden bridges, down sidewalks, and through the jungle. After a period of being lost, we finally found the place and it looked completely dark. I hiked up the hill until I found one woman siting alone under a gazebo with a single bare bulb for light. Turns out she is from Washington state and has been living here for 20 years. There are four young Europeans staying there, building boats. One girl is planning on taking hers all the way to Brazil.
Back along the same crazy path, I was dropped back at the plaza - I was able to find an internet place and update people where I was. There apparently was a bad earthquake in Chile and people are worried about me. (If only they knew.)
What a day.
