We started from Yurimaguas and boarded a cruise type ship called Eduardo I. After a friend got his camera stolen i was a bit sketched out when stephen left to go to the bathroom on night 2. i told him i would lock the door behind him and that he should knock three times so that i knew it was him when he came back. He just looked at me, with those sleepy 3am eyes, and said... Babe, you will know its me, because I speak english.
Oh. Well, whatever, it is good to be safe.
The port in Yurimaguas is seedy. How I would imagine a sea port anywhere in the world might be. It smells of bodies and sweat, ripened fruit, and animal feces. The sea men are raudy and racoucious - drinking thier fill of cerveza on the out door patio tiendas that line the road to the docks. The belly of this squarish steel whale was filled with bag after bag of rice and salt... and still its unsatiable hunger was not satisfied. They were loading 40lb bags, two or three at a time, when i fell asleep. And in the morning they were loading crates of avacados and limes. the same men!
At night the Amazon River slips by. It seems as if it were silent, all noise of the movement of water is overpowered by this immense high pitched buzzing of god knows what kind of bug. It pulsates from the dark shores and apparantly from the ship itself...?
Captains log.....´we have only been on this ship for near 24 hours and it feels as if we will never again reach dry land! Where the hell is Iquitos?! It is noisy, full of 120+ passengers, animals, music and miscellaneous shifting of steel in the night. It gives me deeper appreciation for Navy friends. (I appreciate you Dave Leeroy!). I have also determined that 12 hours of completely interrupted sleep, whether from the boards we are sleeping on, the Peruvian Ballads played every time we port (even if we port at 3am), or somone slamming into our cabin door - is the equivalent of 6 hours of somewhat consistent sleep.´
Not very deep journal musings for my first glimpse of the Amazon, but I was exhausted and we had Chicken and rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner, for two days. it was Epic.
We arrived in Iquitos sticky, hungry, and passed out promptly for a two hour nap. Today we organized a jungle trek, and were sold into a 5 day excursion... i am not sure if this will prove to be a good idea or not, but i am willing to give it a go. 500 soles man! That is the rough equivalent of 40$ US a day, for meals, crazy animals, hiking and Pirahna fishing...
If I dont log back in again in 6 days, well, i am sure the alligators, hand sized catipillars, pink dolphins or three toed sloths got a good meal out of it
.... to be continued.
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