Amazon Adventures

Confused? Thought I was in Colombia?!  Well I had been traveling for a while so I decided I needed a holiday! I decided to head to Iquitos in Peru where my veterinary friend from the Nicaraguan Veterinary Project Luis lives. Iquitos is an unusual city in that it has no road connections to the outside world - the only way to get in is via a 15 hour boat journey through piranha infested waters or take a plane -  I took the easy option!!

Coming into Iquitos by air!!

I spent a day or so looking round Iquitos - more that a million people camped out on the edge if the Amazon It is a hectic city - reminded me of India a little especially with all the motorbikes - cars are a rarity here. There are also hundreds of motorcycle rickshaws - Motokars they call them. Iquitos' heyday was in the rubber boom of 100 years ago - today the main industries are oil and Amazon tourism - so it seemed rude not to hop on a boat upriver!

Hectic Iquitos - Motokars lining up at a junction

Iquitos is on the edge of the Amazon

Iquitos has spread onto the water!

I spent 5 days in a lodge about 100km up the Amazon. It was low season so I had the lodge to myself!! - a guide Ricardo, his assistant Chuki not to mention a cook as well!

This is where I was heading!

On my way upriver!

The Lodge

Amazon sunset

Tranquil Taprira Creek - just off the main Amazon River

The lodge was in a tranquil spot in a side tributary of the main river - every morning pink river dolphins would swim past us. Days were spent canoeing around in search of sloths, monkeys and exotic birds.

Morning!

3 toed sloth deep in the jungle

Squirrel monkey high in the trees above the lodge

Of course there were also a fair share of reptiles and amphibians - huge iguanas clinging to trees, giant bullfrogs & cane toads lurking in the undergrowth and a snake that jumped into our boat - it was only after it had jumped out that Ricardo told me it wasn't poisonous!

Iguana sunning itself

The snake just before it jumped in the canoe!

And then there were the creepy crawlies - tarantulas, millipedes, huge crickets and of course lots of mosquitoes!

Tarantula seen on the night walk

My favourite animal moment had to be getting within a few feet of a sleepy 3 toed sloth - as he moved away he turned his head and looked right at me - due to the alkaloid leaves they eat they always have a lovely smile on their faces! Another exciting moment came as we canoed through the flooded jungle - iguanas resting in trees all around us were disturbed by the noise and dropped into the water - for a moment it was raining iguanas!

Even when there were no animals in view the jungle itself was fascinating - it's the end of rainy season here and the land is flooded - trips that in a few months time will be walks are now canoe trips. The jungle was a profusion of huge trees and vines - some if them an instant water source as you can see. The surface of the water was often choked with plants which made canoeing hard work

I have to admit my guide did most of the hard paddling!

Canoe parking deep in the jungle

The main Amazon River

Small lakes form in the Amazon often with giant lily pads that can support 40kg in weight! 

The jungle is also an invaluable source if raw materials - for food, building materials and medicine. We went out daily to a local plantation and gathered plantains, papaya and peppers. Then we went into the small villages to buy fish - mostly catfish and piranha - who needs a supermarket! Building materials were all around us - want to make a raft? Easy when there are huge balsa trees - the trunks were cut into lengths with a machete and bound together with rope made from vines and tree bark

Wearing my jungle backpack that we used to gather food!

Backpack contents!

When you get thirsy just cut a vine and drink - but be sure to cut the right one- only the Cat's Claw Vine is safe!

Logging the Balsa

One man and his log!

Making up the raft and guide Ricardo testing it

The cheap option back to Iquitos!

The jungle also supplies medicines and botanical materials - one particular plant is called Huito - Genipac Americana to give it it's latin name - the unripe fruit can be mixed with sugar and used as a gripe water for restless babies  - the leaves can be processed into shampoo  and when it ripens it has an inky black centre used to dye hair and create tattoos!!


There are several local indigenous communities living along the river - sometimes only in groups of 4 or 5 families. In this part of the Amazon the tribe members don't live in a traditional manner Less and less families are choosing to live this way due to seasonal flooding which year on year is worsening

Local Community

Football is strictly seasonal here!

Soon it was time to head back to the city. I spent the last few days at the zoo where Luis works - see my vet blog for details of my time there. I took in a couple of museums including an excellent one on the Indigenous Tribes of the Amazon - they sold blowpipes in the Museum Shop!! We also had time to visit the craziness of Belen market on the outside of town - more evidence that Iquitos is a displaced Indian city!!

Belen Market

Food but not as we know it!!

Floating City of Belen

Banana Man!

Traditional Wear in the Musem

Luckily the tribes have now stopped the practice of poking out your eyes with this special stick!

All too soon it was time to pack up my bag again for a last few days in Bogota.... 

Comments? Questions? Suggestions? email me at iain.mcallister@googlemail.com 

Coffee Country

A short bus ride south brought me into the Zona Cafetera - coffee country The land required to grow the coffee has the added advantage if being picturesque - lots of little towns often beautifully situated in a "bowl" of hills. My first stop was El Jardin where I spent the end of Holy Week - Semana Santa. El Jardin is a small town of about 30,000 but it has a cathedral and plaza which would grace a capital city!

El Jardin

The Cathedral

The night I arrived was Good Friday and there was a service and procession called "Las Seite Palabras" The seven words of Christ - the whole town seemed to have gathered in the plaza and the cathedral spilled over. At the end of the service a figure of Christ was taken down from the cross and paraded round the town - amazingly atmospheric!

Jesus being taken down from the cross...

...and paraded in the streets

The rest of my time there was spent hiking in the hills above Jardin - the best scenery of Colombia so far!

View from the hostel kitchen window

A view over beautiful El Jardin

Friendly local

This is coffee country after all....

 

A rural paradise but with a military presence - the further south you go the more guerilla activity there is..  however FARC have promised not to come into the towns

 

 My next destination was Salento - 3 buses and 7 hours south The first bus ride was one of the bumpiest I have ever taken - unmade roads, massive potholes and vertigo inducing drop offs added to the fun! Salento is another cute pueblo - what wasn't cute was the arrival of a rainy cold front - very English weather 6 degrees above the equator!! It didn't put me off my hiking as you can see but I did get soaked to the skin for my trouble!

The road to Salento!!!

Lots of creepy crawlies around....

 

Hummingbird in Corcora Valley

I was due to take a little trip to Pijao just a couple of hours away but sadly the lady with the only hostel there had closed it up for three months -  I mean what kind of person gives up their job and goes off for months on end...? ;-)

Corcora Valley

Tejo - a bit like boules but when you hit the little triangular papers they explode -  they are packed with dynamite you see!!

 Plan B took me to Popayan - the furthest south this trip would take me. It  also brought me in touch with more Scottish people than I had seen in the last 5 months! The hostel I stayed in was run by Scots - the guy in the next bed to me in the dorm was a Scot and that evening we went out to a bar run by - yeah you guessed it another Scot! Colin the bar owner twisted our arms at the end of the night and took us to a Pena - an Andean dancing club! It's difficult to describe Andean dancing - suffice to say I am no better at Andean than I am at Salsa!! It was a great experience though made all the better by the friendly locals dragging us uncoordinated gringos onto the dance floor!

Popayan Plaza complete with resident Shetland Pony!! The Scottish connections are everywhere....

Gotta be the cutest dog of the trip!!

 After 3 hours sleep I had to hop on another bus - this time east to the strange land of Tierradentro - this translates as "The Land Inside" a name given to it by the Spanish because it's landscape seemed so unusual it didn't resemble the lands around it. The scenery here was stunning - huge wooded valleys and gorges. A great hike took me around the town and from one valley to another. Dotted around the countryside are amazing underground tombs some from the 6th century - amazingly some had original paintings inside.

Gorgeous scenery here in Tierradentro

Ancient sculpture

Another ancient sculpture with my faithful hounds Mokus and Mono who followed me round the valley for 7 hours!!

Inside of the tombs with preserved artwork

The descents into the tombs were pretty steep!

Mokus waiting for me at the tomb entrance...

Colombian Army - nice smiley guys!

There is still some FARC sympathy down here - these stencils on a wall glorifying these terrorists...

 The plan after Tierradentro was to move onto San Agustin - another area with archeological parks but Colombia's farmers had other ideas - they called a "Paro"  - literally a stoppage - tractors and combine harvesters blocked the road and nobody was going anywhere! The Paros can last weeks so I felt myself lucky in some ways that I had not got to San Agustin as I could have been trapped there! Every seasoned traveller has a Plan B - in this case the B stood for Bogota and I hopped on the bus to Colombia's capital!

The Paro is here - don't I know it!!

Yeah - no passe!!

Comments? Questions? Suggestions? email me at iain.mcallister@googlemail.com