la selva peruana

After again spending a long time in Huaraz and its beautiful surroundings, it became time for me to leave. My visa was already overdue and I felt like it was time for me to continue my travels.
Before I left, my boyfriend decided to come with me to the Peruvian jungle. The last days in Huaraz we spent being sick with the flu, but then the day of leaving finally came.
Since we had to leave at 6 am, we decided to spend the night in Huaraz, and ended up going out and dragging ourselves to the bus station without a minute of sleep. On the way there, of course, the boys had to eat their "caldo de gallina", a heavy chicken soup that surely helps a lot with the hangover.
The bus left pretty much on time, but I spent the bus ride sleeping. Only once in a while I opened my eyes and saw the wide mountain ranges and rock walls passing by. With that first bus we crossed the Cordillera Blanca to the East, heading further inland.
After some hours we arrived in a little town called La Union, where we had to find further transport to the city of Huanuco. That transport turned out to be a simple car, where we had to stuff ourselves into the front seat. Still tired, it definitely wasn't the most comfortable ride, but the landscape was stunning. We followed a narrow and curvy mountain road, several times almost crashing into the cars that were coming from the other direction. The snow capped mountains of the Cordillera Blanca were now replaced by a valley surrounded by hills in all shades of yellowish. It was the strangest color, and it was an amazing ride.
After some hours we arrived in Huanuco, a fairly big city, where we first had to decide if we would spend the night there or change transport one more time. We ate lunch at the main square, resting in the grass with our backpacks. After eating we decided to keep on going to Tingo Maria where we would spend the night.
The bus ride was short, and the landscape started changing. In place of the dry and yellow mountains we could now see dense green forests, stretching over the hills.
And with arriving in Tingo Maria we had arrived in the high jungle.

Tingo Maria
Since Tingo Maria is a small town, it didn't take us long to find a place to stay, and after dropping our stuff in the room, we went to find something to eat. After that we immediately fall asleep after this long day.

On the next day we checked out early and went to find breakfast with all our stuff. We passed through the market, where we already found ourselves between "juanes" (banana leaves filled with rice), fish and fruits.
We bought bread and a fresh juice for breakfast, and then we went to find a bus to Pucallpa. But as we had to find out all the buses had already left, and didn't have schedules for later that day. The only other options were taking a bus overnight (which we didn't want because the road was known for its drug traffic and robberies) or go by car which was far more expensive. Only after we had already decided to stay another night in Tingo Maria and find us something to do during the day, we found a combi that was supposed to leave soon and that for a reasonable price.
Although I would have liked to stay in Tingo Maria a little longer (it seemed like a really nice and not too turistic place), we decided to take the combi.
We waited a while for the combi to fill up, and then we were already on our way.
Again the road was curvy, but this time we weren't driving along an edge of nothing, but rather were we surrounded by trees and trees and more trees. It started to rain, and sometimes we could see the fog rising over the deep forests. The first part of the journey we were still in the mountains, but after a while the landscape flattened and mountains became hills and hills became plains.

Pucallpa
Arriving in Pucallpa we got immediately surrounded by mototaxi drivers that wanted to take us somewhere. Situations like that are always stressing me out and in the end we agreed to one to take us to the center. Of course he didn't take us to the center, but to some hostel we he surely would have gotten commission if only we would have stayed there. But we went to find another place and soon we had success. For the better because walking through a loud and busy city like Pucallpa. with a heavy backpack and the sun burning down on our heads, is not something I would call "fun".
The room was clean and had a fan, and shortly after arriving we took off to the port.
Pucallpa surprised me in the way that it turned out to be a pretty big, modern and commercial city, with hectic streets dominated by the loud noise of the mototaxis.
Fortunately the streets along the river side were a little quieter, and so the heat wasn't that bad. It took us a while to find the right port, the one where the boats to Iquitos were leaving from. The company everybody told us about was called Henry, and its big cargo boats, painted in turquoise and orange, reminded me of a circus in some way.
When we entered the boat we had to find our way through the busy men loading huge sacks of onions and other things on the boat. I don't even wanna know how much one of them weight.
The smell of something weird was penetrating and the captain was exactly as you would imagine a captain in the Amazon. He told us that we had to board the boat until 6 pm that same day because it was leaving the following day at an unknown hour.
Since it was already 4 pm, we still hadn't eaten anything or bought food for the trip, we decided to take the next boat and find ourselves something to do in Pucallpa.
We stopped at a restaurant and had ceviche and an ice cold beer as a late lunch. Then we walked through the city, enjoying that the air was finally cooling off at least a little bit.
I spent a terrible night, because I got really sick in the evening and our room had a window to a loud street.

The next day in the morning I felt a little better, but as soon as we left the room and had gotten out into the heat, my stomach started hurting again and it cost me a lot to keep walking.
Again we went to the port to find out about the next boat. To our surprise (it shouldn't even have surprised me) the boat was still there, and the men loading it even busier. We were told that it would leave in the afternoon and that we could still board.
Which we did.
We went to the market to buy some fruits and water, packed our stuff, took the last shower for a while and went back to the port.
When we got there they even searched our bags and then let us go up to the part where the passengers were traveling. The first floor was already full - it was an incredible image. Hammock after hammock filled the space, things where stacked underneath and between them, everybody was talking or organizing something. Whole families had spread out their blankets on the floors and on the benches on the sides people were selling food.
Fortunately there was another floor and we went up there. Most of the space was loaded with matresses, but on the sides was still some space where we could put our hammock.
At that moment we were the only ones on that floor, but soon it filled up as well. Luckily not as bad as the one downstairs and since we had a spot on the "hallway" we always had some wind and no immediate neighbors next to us.
Soon after a Japanese girl joined us, accompanied by an Englishman. The two of them were a little confused at first, thinking that they had booked a private cabin. But those things didn't exist on our dear "Henry 10", so they put up their sleeping spots next to us in the hallway.
After we had settled down on the spot where we would spend the next 6 days, we watched the final loading of the boat and waited for its departure.

Rio Ucayali, Rio Amazonas
It´s difficult to describe the time on the boat - it all just became one, and I can´t divide it into single days anymore.
The boat was full of people, hammock next to hammock next to hammock - underneath blankets with whole families and their bags. Most of the people were locals.
Sometimes I felt like in a social experiment, testing with how much you can deal. The heat was incredible and the personal space limited.
The only relief was the wind, that, from time to time, stroke our faces.
The only diversion were the little villages where we stopped. In one of them we got off the boat to walk around a little bit, but usually just a lot of people selling fruits, drinks or shampoo came on the boat. Passengers got on or off the boat, cargo was being unloaded. Our neighours changed. The wind stopped.
And then we left again, following the wide river, surrounded by nothing but the dense trees of the Peruvian jungle.
We mostly ate fruits, and a little of the food of the boat. Usually the rice and the bread. We got up early in the morning, when everything started moving and the heat was still bearable. The afternoon was the worst. The the hour of the sunset the best. That was when it finally cooled down, and everything appeared in the magic orange light of the sinking sun.

6 days we lived in this ocean of faces, smells, sounds, bugs, heat, trees, sunsets and sunrises. Falling into the rythm of the boat. Time passing by.

And then, suddenly, we arrived.

Iquitos
We arrived in Iquitos in the afternoon, pretty much the worst hour. A mototaxi took us to the center, where we spent a lot of time finding a place to stay, being followed by one of those annoying taxi drives that want to take you somewhere.
After finally arriving at some hostel, we took a desperatley needed shower and left for the city. I felt as tired as after a really long busride.
Since we needed to eat we decided to go to the market of Belen, hoping to find something there.
The Belen market was as extreme as being on the boat. Two rows of stands, selling everything, in the middle of trash and big birds, waiting for their turn of food. Men drinking and playing cards. Children sleeping in hammocks over the table. And, still, the incredibly sticky heat.
After all those impressions and the offer of food we found, we decided to look for a restaurant. Soon we found a cevicheria with a late lunch menu. Salad, fish, rice and a cool drink was just what we needed!
Then we started our way back to the center - first through the chaotic comercial streets, and then along little plazas along the riverside. We stopped at a museum where they had an exhibition by female artists about traditional legends, and a foto spread about the explotation and trade of rubber.
We passed by the tourisitc restaurants, and the beautiful old houses of Iquitos.
At the end we stayed in a little park, where an open air stage was built up in the street and there was to be a concert. We ate some fries and drank a beer and waited for the concert to start, only being bothered by the mosquitoes.
Until then I was already surprised by Iquitos - I never really felt the urge to go there, and in reality we were just passing trough. But I actually really liked it. The open spaces, the old houses, the people, the market, the art. And what was more, I had a lot of respect for it. Just imagining that almost everything we found to see had to be brought by boat or plane made my head hurt.
When the concert started we found out that it was being organized by some university students who were quite active in politics. They acually tried to change something in the middle of all the corruption and explotation of natural ressources. And it was quite entertaining - we saw pretty much anything from hip hop over rock and electro to cumbia. I loved it, and even though we were tired we stayed until late at night and danced in the street.

On the next day we first went to the port where the boat to Yurimaguas was supposed to leave. It was easy to find but a long walk, all along one of the busiest roads.
And again, we landed in a completely different part of Iquitos.
We found the boat, and were being told that it would leave the next day. And also that it would cost a lot more that what we had expected. But it was the only way to get out of there, and so we didn´t have another choice.
The rest of the day we spent in Belen and the center. We went to the market again, this time to the part of the witches. The amount of strange plants, seeds and magic potions to cure whatever illness, acompined by a mix of smell,s was incredible. At one of the posts selling tabacco we stopped for a while, trying a cigarette with pure tabacco and chocolate. There we also bought some pure cacao.
From the market we went to the famous port of Belen, the poor and more indigenous part of Iquitos. It was very different from the center - dirty, smells of food on every corner, and drunk men sleeping on the street. But apperantely the activist art had even reached this part of the city, and we saw some graffities about nutrition and education. Again, Iquitos had surprised me.
We didn´t spent much time at the port, because it wasn´t the saftest part, and the heat had started to burn our faces. So we started our way back, passing food stands and the whole comercial part again. First we were trying to find something to eat, but then decided to go back to hostel first. At the end we found a little restaurant just on the corner of the hostel.
In the afternoon Rodrigo had to work, so I went to walk around a little by myself. I went to the handicrafts market, and one of the main plazas on the river side. Since it was Sunday it was full of people.There were games, music, and a lot of kids playing. I met a French-Argentinian couple, which had also been on the same boat as us. I talked with them for a while, and then went to the little park again where the concert had taken place, to write and read for a while.
Then I returned to the hostel and waited until Rodrigo had finished with his work. At night we went out together, this time to one of the residencial parts of Iquitos. There we found a Chifa restaurant, which was cheap and the plates huge.
Getting back, exhausted from the day and the heat, we just fell into our bed and passed out.
The next day in the morning we went to another market, to have breakfast and buy fruits for the journey. This market was way more organized than the market in Belen, but also more expensive. Still, I enjoyed walking around there and taking some pictures of the strange things like turtle shells.
After finishing we went to organize our stuff and passed by the artesania again.
And then it was already time to eat lunch and get going to the port.
When we got there we found ourselves being lucky because the price for the ticket had changed overnight. We got on the boat, which this time was a little smaller and seemed a lot more relaxed, and set up our spot again - we were gonna spend another couple of nights in the hammock.
This time we had a little more space, and I liked the boat. Also our spot was outside, so we would have more wind.
We waited and waited, and the boat started to fill up. But it didn´t leave. When night started to break in we were told that we would leave the next day. For whatever reason.
So we had to spend a whole day on the boat in the port. It was just waiting for departure. As before we passed time writing, reading or playing cards.
And then at around 6 pm, finally, we left the port of Iquitos for Yurimaguas.

Rio Marañón
This time the trip should only take about 3 days, and as I already said, the space we had was much more relaxed. We had a French couple as neighbours, but other than that most of the people were locals again. I enjoyed watching the people, seeing all different kinds of personalities. For example, close to us was also a group of 3 Peruvians going on vacation. They were from Iquitos and completely different from the people of the Andes. Much louder, obviously enjoying their vacation and playing cards with full commitment.
Again the days passed, and were diversed by eating, the little villages and playing cards with the French couple.
I got stung by a wasp, so for about 2 days my hand was double sized, but I guess that´s part of traveling the jungle. At least I didn´t get stung by some infected bug.

The last sunset was probably one of the most beautiful ones we had seen - we stopped at an idyllic village, with an open space in the middle and little wooden houses on the sides. And just right there, before the sunset, the boat got surrounded by dolphins. A lot of dolphins, and all of them really close. So for a while we just stood there and watched, feeling the air slowly getting cooler and watching the sun going down behing the river and the deep forest.

The journey went by quickly, and soon we already arrived in Yurimaguas.

Yurimaguas, Munichis

Yurimaguas is a small town where there´s neither much to see nor much to do. The most important part is probably the port, for its connection to Iquitos.

We arrived there with the plan of finding a quiet place to put up a tent. First we ate and then we started searching, which turned out to be more difficult than it should have been.

At the end we decided to go to the small village of Munichis and just camp on the beach next to the river. It was a nice spot, with some boats passing by, but still quiet. The people we met were nice and the village seemed safe. As if never anything would happen there.

Soon night fell in, and without the wind the heat kept being unberable. That made it a little hard to sleep, but in the end the tiredness won.

In the morning we got our stuff together and then went for a swim in the river. It was nice to cool down a little, before walking in the heat again. 

We found a nice lady in the village who was selling juanes, and she also agreed to make some eggs for us. It was probably the best breakfast we´ve had until then, and after it I felt like I had a lot more energy.

We took a mototaxi back to Yurimaguas, and in the middle of the way it started raining like hell. But so I got the chance to see the drivers protection - a thick blue plastic sheet, covering the whole front part of the moto, only leaving a small space to watch the road. That confirmed that for me a mototaxi is the scariest form of transportation. 

But we arrived undamaged and went straight to the bus terminal where the combis for Tarapoto were leaving. The combi soon left, and we traveled about two hours. It was raining but still the landscape was beautiful, and reminded me a lot of the part between Tingo Maria and Pucallpa. Green hills full of trees, spotted with waterfalls.

Tarapoto

Arriving in Tarapoto was relaxed. Just next to the bus stop we found a good and cheap restaurant and finding a hostel wasn´t too difficult as well. We stayed a little outside of the center, in a nice and quiet neighbourhood.

In the afternoon we walked to the center, trying to find out where to go and what to do.The center was loud and comercial, and I was glad we had found a quieter place. 

Again we were looking for a camping spot alongside a river or something, where we could spend a couple of days. The tourist information wasn´t really very helpful, and so, in the end, we decided to go to San Roque, a village close to Tarapoto, that Rodrigo already knew from a few years earlier. 

At the terminal we had to wait forever for the combi to leave, but since it was only a one hour trip we had plenty of time. When we left it felt good getting out of the city, and the road to little San Roque was beautiful as well.

San Roque de Cumbaza

We got to San Roque some time in the afternoon, and spent the rest of the day in a park next to the river. It was full of kids playing and San Roque seemed like the most peaceful place on earth. We found some fresh bread and had pasta and veggies for dinner. We put up the hammock and watched the kids play, until it got dark. The people left and we put up our tent. 

When we were just about to go to sleep we heard someone coming close, and then a voice asked to talk to us. I stayed in the tent while Rodrigo went to talk to the man, and I have to admit I was a little scared. But it turned out that it was just our neighbour, from the house across the soccer field, who invited us to stay there. We told him to stop by the next morning, and found peaceful sleep in this beautiful place.

In the morning we packed our stuff and brought it to Jorge´s house. We could leave it there for the day and so we went for a hike that was supposed to lead us to a waterfall.
The trail led us out of the village into the woods and up the hill. From there we followed the ridge, from where we had a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains. Then we were inside the jungle again, between trees and plants of all kinds, with only a little bit of light that broke through the thick cover of leaves.
The trail was clearly marked, but the first part was quite steep and uphill. We came to a crossing that was marked with arrows, and followed them downhil. There we already heard the waterfall, so we thought we should be close. 

But after a while the sound disappeared and it started to rain. Within 10 minutes we were soaked. 

We got out of the woods, into a clearing with banana trees. There we found refugee in some kind of a hut and thought of what to do. We´ve already walked more than 4 hours, and the walk wasn´t supposed to be that long. Also the sound of the waterfall had disappeared and we weren´t sure if we were still on the right trail, even though it had been clearly marked. 
We decided to walk a little more and, if nothing changes, return. When we got to that point it was already afternoon, and the both of us were tired. We didn´t bring a lot of food and water, and after a while Rodrigo´s blood sugar dropped and it cost him a lot to keep walking. I also started to get worried about the hour, because I really didn´t want to be in the jungle at night, when all the animals come out and there´s no light anymore. So I rushed and tried to keep Rodrigo going, also being concerned about his condition. What would I do if he broke down in the middle of the way? 
But at the end we go to the view point where we rested for a little bit. My body felt really tired as well and it was only will and fear that kept me going. But from the view  point it wasn´t far anymore, and as soon as we got to San Roque and ate and drank something we felt better. Rodrigo´s color returned to his face, and he seemed less exhausted than I was.
When we got back to the familiy´s house we told them about our little adventure. They gave us food and told us that we weren´t supposed to follow all the arrows becasue they mark a circuit back to San Roque. So we didn´t even have to walk back all the way, because apparently we had only been an hour away from the village!
But fortunately everything turned out fine, and the family was very nice. We put up our tent in their back yard and had breakfast with them the next morning - fried plantains, one of my favourites!
We packed our things and walked around a little, rested on the rivershore, and then went back to Tarapoto to catch a bus to the coast.

Chiclayo
We arrived in Chiclayo in the morning and first went to organize everything. I was gonna take a night bus to Cuenca, Ecuador, and Rodrigo was gonna visit a friend in Trujillo and go back to Huaraz from there.
After buying the tickets, we went to the beach and spent our last day together there, eating Ceviche.
And then it was time to say goodbye. Even though I´ve had a lot of goodbyes during my travels, that was definitely the hardest one...I just had to cross the border as fast as possible, otherwise I don´t think I would have made it.
But after such a long time in Huaraz, it also feels good to be moving again.