February 22, 2001- Loving Light Lodge, The Amazon, Peru

Although the Amazon River is mostly found in Brazil, it actually begins in Peru where the Ucayau River and the Maranon River come together. From there it snakes its way past Iquitos, the largest city in the world inaccessible by road. That’s where I began my Amazon adventure.

I made arrangements to visit the Loving Light Lodge for three days and two nights. It is located 140 km. downriver from Iquitos. The creation of the establishment and its name were inspired by a psychedelic experience the founder had during an Ayuawasca ceremony with a native Shaman. 

A similar ceremony can be arranged upon request for the guests of the lodge. I decided pass on that experience in favor of fun in my new rubber boots!
 
I got a buzz just tromping in the mud and sloshing through streams in my fashionable footwear. I had made other jungle visits with the ideal foot gear and my new boots made all the difference in the world. Staying perfectly dry without any fear of losing a shoe deep in the mud and protected from crawling critters of all sorts! Freedom and comfort! Who could ask for more from a pair of boots? I felt like a kid set free in his playground!

 
At the lodge, an indigenous guide was available to me during my entire stay. We made excursions day and night, by land and by water. The nighttime expeditions were wonderfully mysterious. The same other worldly experience I get from scuba diving. Sounds from every direction and eyeballs everywhere reflecting colored light back at you!

Plant life was dense and intertwined to such an extent that a trees’ own leaves could be confused with 4 or 5 vines that shared the same space. I was treated to sights of monkeys, crocodiles, dolphins, even piranhas! (I had piranha for dinner one night!) And that’s not to mention the multitudes of multicolored birds, insects and frogs.

February 19, 2001 - Iquitos, Peru

A city of 400,000 yet cut off from the world by jungle all around except for the its northern border, the mighty Amazon. The river will become many times mightier as it accepts its many tributaries on its way to the distant Atlantic.

To call the river a border of Iquitos is a bit imprecise. There is a portion of the city that extends past the changing banks of the river onto the water floating on logs, rising and falling according to the whims of the river.

At the junction of Belen, the floating portion of the city and the fixed remainder of Iquitos, there exists a market with exotic wares certainly not found anywhere else.
I had considered myself an open-minded eater until I encountered the gigantic grubworms for sale. About the size of my thumb in both length and girth, they are available live, raw and wriggling in a big blue bowl or skewered over charcoal. Just watching the preparation was an unforgettably visceral experience. Eeehh. Not a chance. Not even a taste.

There were many other living creatures for sale in the market. For cooking or companionship was at the buyers discretion. Some of them could probably be found on the endangered species list.

The medicinal herb and root section had and extensive array of choices. A friendly woman at one booth was not at all shy about discussing the bodily and sexual dysfunctions curable by her wares. Huge phallic shaped branches of a particular tree had some curative power although she did not explain their exact use.

February 12, 2001- San Miguel de Cayapas, Ecuador

Saying goodbye to our new friends in San Jose, Tim and I continued three hours up the Cayapas River to the town of San Miguel. It is situated on the boundary of a large reserve in the Ecuador Cotohatchi Cayapas. Our connection there was a smiling young man and a gracious host.

He is the only one from his remote village to go away to school and return. He entered the seminary to become a priest then changed his career path to return to his village to contribute as a conservationist. His goal is to preserve the jungle and his peoples’ relationship to it.   

A number of international conservation and humanitarian groups and foundations including CARE have field offices in San Miguel because of its proximity to the reserve. Hector befriended many of the visiting researchers and because of his sincere interest in the local environment they sponsored him on a trip the to Miami to continue his studies and improve his English.

At the end of our stay in San Miguel my Canadian Comrade went his own way. With a spare seat in Baby Blue I was happy to give Hector a lift to Quito and help him to obtain his visa to the U.S. It is not easy for an Ecuadorian without a certain financial status to get a permit. Even with the support of several American organizations he still had to jump through lots of hoops the get a permit. With his visa finally in hand, Hector was one happy camper. I was very happy to have helped.