We finally made it Iquitos, 12 days after we left Chachapoyas. I felt like we had lost a sense of time and left all that we knew far far behind. Being in the Amazonas makes you feel very isolated, even when you are surrounded by tons of people. Life is so laid back out here, but people have jobs and lead real, full lives. There are many foreign tourists in Iquitos, enjoying a laid back life. I couldn't help but wonder, how will I ever move back to busy corporate world after this?
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| Main street, Lagunas |
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| Jungle tour office information |
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| Boat office timings - Lagunas |
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| Breakfast at Lagunas |
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| Near the "port" |
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| Village boys throwing water balloons at the boat to Iquitos |
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| Our boat |
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| Waiting to get off! |
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| Finally, Iquitos! |
When we finished our jungle trip in Iquitos around noon on 31st Jan, 2012 - there was a moto waiting to take us back to Lagunas, a 25 minute ride through extremely bumpy roads. We walked right up to the port, only to discover that there are no boats the following day! Apparently, this is very normal. There are simply no boats to Iquitos on all days! And here we were, stuck in charming, but severely limited in choices Lagunas. Its very important to find out the boat timing schedule ahead of time. The rest of our travel companions were still in the jungle, choosing to stay one day longer than that. So, we decided to chill in Lagunas. There are power cuts here and there is no internet, so really not much to do other than read, write or just hang out.
Lagunas is so unlike any other place we have ever been to. Its incredibly basic and hot and there is nothing much to do except walk around. There are a few stores on the main street leading to the really small "port", and a few hotels for people who work on development projects. There is a plaza de Armas and the restaurants are really hole in the walls or homes converted into makeshift eateries.
Amazing! Iquitos is such a cool place and you're right, it feels super isolated in the Amazon because of the lack of road/rail connections. Also, the rain there! Man it REALLY pours! I can't wait to meet you all. Btw, nice new design on the blog. Looks quite slick!
ReplyDeleteAshray - thanks for the comment. :) I am so glad you feel the same way - I just cant accurately put into words the sense of rest I got while I was there. And the rain really takes getting used to. I cant wait to meet you guys too. Especially now that we are in the same country. You guys should come to Bangalore sometime and explore this part of the world. BTW, the design is Blogger's dynamic view. I really like how I dont have to play around with it and the user gets to try out different styles at their end.
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