Farmer's Market?

Iquitos, Peru is in the heart of the Amazon rain forest. Although it’s a large, modern city, it certainly isn't far from its jungle roots. I managed to find those roots at the local outdoor market.

This market sells many items found at farmer’s markets in other big cities.

But some of the meats for sale aren’t readily available where I come from in Chicago – such as turtles, caimans, snakes, and peccaries (local wild boars).

Aside from food items, the market had all sorts of other "interesting" jungle items for sale.

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A River Runs To It

Rather than exit Colombia via traditional means (by bus or by plane), I decided to approach via boat – on the Amazon River. 

The “Amazon” has such dramatic associations. It’s huge, there are exotic people living along the banks, it plunges through the rain forest, and it’s full of unique and interesting wildlife. All things that made me want to see it firsthand. And rather than just take a peek, I decided to spend a few days really taking it all in.

The Amazon River is the second longest river in the world (after the Nile in Africa – although the length of both is continuously disputed). However, the amount of water flowing through the Amazon is more than the next 7 largest rivers combined! This one river accounts for 20% of the world’s freshwater flow. The river, in parts, is over 300 feet deep and at its widest (during rainy season) the river is over 30 miles across! Where it enters the Atlantic Ocean, the mouth of the river is over 50 miles across. And, due to the remoteness of any settlements along the Amazon, there are no bridges which cross it. This isn’t a river like the river down the hill from my house where I used to skip stones and this certainly isn’t something I wanted to miss.

I bought a ticket on a four day river “cruise” into Peru. Although I should note that I use the term “cruise” liberally. We slept in hammocks tied up on the upper deck of the boat:

I certainly didn’t have a private bathroom:

And the shower facilities were. . .basic:

The water was brown and cold, pulled straight up from the river below us.Oh,and this spigot, was just over the toilet you saw in the last picture. . .

All that said, I wouldn’t trade this trip for anything! I enjoyed four days of lying in a hammock watching the Amazon go by. 

We certainly weren’t the only boat on the river. . .

Every few hours or so we’d pass a few homes or a small town. And the houses are built on stilts since the Amazon rises over 30 feet in rainy season.

A boat leaves one of the main ports every day and the daily boat brings the only supplies to these towns from the outside world. As the boat approaches, the people of the town gather to see who and what today’s shipment is bringing.. .

In one town, a group of teenage boys excitedly hopped aboard the boat when it docked to unload supplies. They ran up to the third level of the boat and gathered along the rail. . .it seems the boat brought the entertainment for the day – diving off the third story “high dive” into the river below!

My trip ended in Iquitos, Peru. This jungle town is accessible only by boat or plane (there are no roads leading this deep into the jungle), yet the city has over 100,000 inhabitants. Quite different from the small towns we passed en route. 

Welcome to Peru, indeed! 

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Cascadas de Colombia

Well, I’m sad to say this will be my last post about Colombia. I’m heading down the Amazon out of Colombia toward Peru. But I won’t say Adios to Colombia, only Hasta Luego!

I have really enjoyed my time in Colombia -- for so many reasons. First and foremost, the people are very friendly and so welcoming to visitors. And the country itself has so many places of natural beauty, from the Caribbean Sea, to the mountains, to rivers to jungles. . .

And I have been so lucky to enjoy so many of these amazing places. As I think back on the past few months, some of my favorite memories have been of waterfalls. Not, grandiose ones like Iguazu in Argentina (http://bothsidesnowblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/poor-niagara.html), but the small ones you find while walking through the jungle. I’ll never stop enjoying going for a hike and unexpectedly swimming under a waterfall, so I thought I’d share a few of those memories.  While photos aren’t the same, I hope you enjoy some of the hidden gems of Colombia!

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Last Men Standing

Five-thousand years ago, two primitive cultures lived in the southern part of Colombia. Both used the nearby river as their primary mode of transport and met in the river valley to trade, worship, and bury their dead. The only remains of these cultures can be found near the modern-day small town of San Agustin, Colombia.

These ancient people had no written language and completely disappeared before the Europeans arrived in South America. However, they are not completely forgotten. They left behind more than 500 life-sized statues of people, masked monsters, and animals like eagles, jaguars, and frogs.

These sculptures are made of local volcanic rock and were left around the river valley, mostly to guard tombs.

The largest of these is over 20 feet high!

Today, over 130 of these statues are on display in an Archeological Park outside of San Agustin.

Is it just me, or do these two look like they’re playing baseball?

And is this guy the umpire?

Okay, maybe it’s just that the Cubs are playing back in Chicago and I’m missing them a bit??

Regardless, it’s a bit eerie to wander through the forests and over the hills looking at these faces that have been looking out over the valley for over 5000 years!

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