The Wild Amazon
March 2016, Iquitos (Peru)
Going deep into the Amazon and visiting the largest inaccessible by road city in the world.
Humidity: 95%
I’m flying to Iquitos – the world’s largest city that is inaccessible by road. It could be reached only by boat from any Amazon navigable port, or by plane from Lima, with an exception of a road to Nauta, a small town nearby. As usual, I’m full of enthusiasm upon arrival at any new place which manifests in capturing this special moment. Unfortunately, not this time. In just a few seconds the camera lens got wet outside so nothing is visible anymore. The humidity doesn’t fall below 80 percent over the year as august is the driest month. But March is the driest month along with April and this year’s El Nino increased rainfall so I found myself on a place with 95 percent humidity in the air. On the next day I got used to new levels of oxygen content in the air, ready to explore the area.
Motortaxies instead of cars
I quickly noticed that my taxi to the hotel is one of the few cars on the road. Most of the vehicles are motortaxies or ‘tuk-tuk’ (the same as Bangkok’s). They are more fuel efficient, driver explained to me, and that’s the most important in Loreto, one of the poorest regions of Peru. On the other hand, vehicle transportation to Iquitos is a more complicated process and last but not least, the lifetime route of any car here is limited to few blocks along the main street. So it really doesn’t make sense to have a car here.
Already in the hotel. There are just a few good hotels to stay in the city and saving money on accommodation could cost a lack of many things used elsewhere. Most of the tourists arrives in Iquitos because of the famous healing centers around so they don’t stay long in the city. That’s why hotels are like this while the best and most expensive accommodations are outside the city, accessible only by boat. Actually, the main tourism developed area in Peruvian Amazon basin is Puerto Maldonado. It’s close to Cusco and quite far from Iquitos. Right there the government is improving the touristic infrastructure, unlike Iquitos. Here everything is as neglected as your stay will turn into a survival lesson in another era.
It seems that time has stopped in some parts of Iquitos. Typewriters are still used on the streets and ‘professional typists’ offer some paid services. Even the computer clubs are equipped with 90s like PCs that brings me back to my childhood. And while the technologies do evolve, albeit slowly, there is a place here that will hardly change...
Belen Market
It’s called Mercado de Belén – the largest market in Peruvian Amazon, located in the floating neighborhood of Belén. It‘s close to the river coast and thousands of farmers and fishermen come here every morning to sell their production. Here you can find all these strange fruits and vegetables of Amazon that indigenous people eat. Restaurant owners and Iquitos citizens are the main consumers here, as well as locals from nearby villages along the river. It took me only a few minutes in Belén to realize that it’s the weirdest market I’ve been and ever will be. There were giant arapaimas, fried alligators, bloodthirsty piranha, turtle meat, hallucinogenic plants for shamanic rituals and many more unusual products for an open market. It was not enough for me so I continued to wander around the market until I found myself in a clogged by discarded meat street. I tried to ignore the vultures around me but a local guy pulled me into his home-made alcohol producing workplace. I didn’t have a choice and had to drink a cup of Siete Raices straight from the alcohol fermentation drums. That’s a sugar cane distillate infused with the root and bark of seven local plants and it’s meant to be a super drink to fix everything. In my case, it helped me to follow my inner wisdom so I finally left this place and got back to the city.
Rubber barons and 'Fitzcarraldo'
Among the few worth visiting places in Iquitos are the river walk and Plaza de Armas (or Plaza Mayor) area. The mansions owned by European rubber barons of the early 20th Century based in Iquitos still stand impressive. La Casa de Fierro (The Iron House) is probably the most famous of them, it’s been designed by Gustave Eiffel for Exposition Universelle (1889) in Paris among with the Tower. The Spanish rubber baron Anselmo del Aguila purchased it and brought in pieces to Iquitos to assemble it one year later.
European’s Industrial Revolution made demand for raw rubber to grow and that’s why many Europeans came in Peru and Brazil. As the main port in Peruvian Amazon, Iquitos became the center of First Rubber boom (1879 – 1912) in Peru and grew quickly. Many people made a fortune until the collapse of Anglo-Peruvian Amazon Rubber Company due to investigative report by Roger Casement. Thousands of Indians slaves were killed or died from mistreatment and disease (it’s believed that at least 100 000 died) during the rubber boom. The British board of directors were investigated by British government, while the Peruvian owner Julio Cesar Arana escaped from justice and became a politician in Loreto department. Basically nothing changes except that rubber trees were cultivated in Malaysia for Second Rubber boom and barons move on.
Carlos Fermín Fitzcarrald were one of them. He had an intention to build an opera in Iquitos and forced native workers to transport his steam ship over the hills. His story is the inspiration of the German’s ‘Fitzcarraldo’ by Werner Herzog, awarded at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. Fitzcarrald was based in Iquitos and today many places here bears his name. Though the extravagant stories abound, most shocking is about rich family who sent their laundry each week to Paris on a ship instead letting locals to wash.
Amazonian Cuisine
Iquitos gastronomy is another unique experience and in my opinion, is the best one. Prepare a space in the stomach, because It takes time to try what Amazon brings to local people. But It absolutely worth it, because it’s quite possible that what you try here won’t be available elsewhere. The most popular fish is Arapaima, or also known by locals as ‘paiche’ or ‘pirarucu’. It’s the largest fish in the Amazon River basin and one of the largest freshwater fish at all. Arapaima’s weight is up to 200 kg and almost 5 m length. As a predatory fish, arapaima feed primarily on other fish, but also on birds. Among with the fish, instead of fries, you will get a portion of so called ‘patacones’ made from cooking plantain. Although plantains looks like green bananas, they taste differently and it really could be compared to potato. Of course, I can’t miss the ice cream! It’s hot year-round here and considering the high levels of humidity, it’s hard to survive without ‘heladerias’. Right in the center there are some ice cream parlours and you can chose between many different Amazonian fruits. The best ones are made from so-called here ‘Aguaje’ (or Moriche Palm, grows in whole South America) and ‘Ungurahui’ (or ‘Oenocarpus bataua’, grows only in Amazonia).
Coming up next...
Exploring the city is just a small piece of real life in Peruvian Amazon. And no matter how long you stay here, it’s a mandatory to take a boat on Amazon river and go deep in the jungle. In the next issue I will share my adventure on the upper stream of most voluminous river worldwide, what kind of indigenous people live around and how to become a shaman.
This article was originally published in The Economist's magazine Bulgarian issue No. 19, May 2016 in the series 'Cultiral Travel Guide'.
Credits: Eduardo Cuellar (Photo Journalist, Iquitos), Joel Huaymana Sangama (Boat Owner, Bellavista–Nanay Port)
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