I felt nothing of the earthquake, and other things I did in Iquitos.

Ok, so first of all, many apologies to those people that were concerned for my safety after hearing about the earthquake in Peru. I actually heard very little about it. Not only have I not heard much in the way of news but when I see the papers I just gloss over them because the Spanish is too difficult. I was in Iquitos and, from what I can gather, the worst of the earthquake was near Pisco, sort of near where I was in Chala. Also, I thought the earthquake was merely a tremble, nothing to be worried about.



So I was very wrong. I'm ok and I hope no one is worried anymore. Again, sorry for causing stress.





Other things I did it Iquitos other than go to the jungle. On the first day Fernando and I visited the floating suburb of Belén. It is a very poor area and we were constantly reminded to guard everything, even my hat. Houses further away from the river are made of concrete and all have two floors because in the wet season they only live in the top one. The houses closer to the river are built on raft like constructions that rise up off the ground in the wet season, and float.









We also went to a beautiful lagoon called Quitacocha, part animal park, part swimming beach. The best part was the swimming. Refreshing, cooling and relaxing. We rented a boat and, with plates of food, picnicked in the middle of the lake.













After the jungle days, on one day May and I went to visit two villages, Indiana and Mazán. From Mazán we found someone to take us to a beach in the middle of the river. Getting out of the boat was interesting. I encountered some of the softest mud ever. I sunk in almost to my knees. When the boat came to collect us it was even scarier. We must have walked to some even softer mud because I sunk in so far with both feet that I couldn't get out again without May's help. It's like being in powder snow. Once you're in, there is nothing with resistance to push against to get out again. The other thing I saw in Mazán was logs. Logs, logs and more logs. All rainforest and jungle, being cut down, and not replaced.

Another day we went to a village called Santa Clara where they were celebrating the towns anniversary. We were wanting to go to a beach to go swimming, but it seemed like the whole town had the same idea. When we got to the beach, it was like a giant beach party. Two stages with dancing (including a group of men in short shorts), aerobics and drinking competitions, loads of volleyball games, hundreds of people in the water playing with beach balls and countless food stalls.

Just before we left I said I still needed to play volleyball, so I played with some little kids. I managed to split my shorts. All the way. A huge gaping hole showing bright green underpants. The kids thought it was hilarious. Ok, so I did too. Thankfully it was dark by the time we got off the boat and to the motocarro and me back to my hostel.
















It seems all my things are slowly giving up; My lovely cheapo watch from Singapore no longer works, no matter how many times I wack it against the wall; split shorts; I'm up to sunglasses set number 3; my t-shirts have permanent stains but they have to last for another 2 months; and my digestive system is under attack for the forth time. Every time it gets worse I think. This time I have fever. What am I doing wrong?














So anyway, on one of the last days we went to Pilpintuwasi (a butterfly farm). When we got there I was already melting from the heat. We got a tour of the butterflies, their eggs and cocoons, but I was too hot to concentrate on the information, so I just looked at the pretty colours. They had animals there too. Orphaned animals. More tapirs, giant rats, turtles and a puma. They also had a myriad of monkeys, two of which knew how to pickpocket and steal anything you happened to have on your body that wasn't secured. They didn't managed to steal anything from us and were generally very sweet.

One very serious looking monkey(above) was looking through everybody's hair with great concentration.

Another kept coming back to sit on to my lap, like a little child. All of them tried to hang off us like we were some sort of play equipment.

And that was the end of Iquitos and the end of Peru really. The only thing that happened after that was that I got very cold and was in the jungle wearing a long sleeved shirt, a polar fleece and pants, wishing for my down blanket. I had a fever. Under May's insistence, with various drugs we managed to lessen the symptoms but by the time I arrived in Lima that night my stomach had given up. I went to the clinic the next day, a few hours before I fly to Ecuador. 38 degree fever and some infectious diarrhoea. Great. While I'm sure the majority of you don't want to know these things, it's just that it KEEPS HAPPENING to me, so I think it's worth writing about :) More antibiotics. Now I am in Quito, Ecuador. I'm feeling better, but don't have energy to do much except spend hours on the internet writing blog entries and lying on my bed. At least the hostel is quiet and my room is dark so I managed to sleep until 8:30am. That's 2.5 hours more than normal. YIPEE!!!

That is all for now, my dear family and friends. I have done nothing else, so have no more stories to tell. I hope you are all well and I will let you know when I get my act together to actually do something else.

OOPS... I forgot to add, I also went out salsa dancing to a cuban group. In reality, I managed to do all danced BUT salsa. I don't know what happened. I cusco I managed to wing it. In Iquitos, it was just a totally embarrassment. I have never ever felt like I had three left feet, like I did that night. I decided Iquiteños dance salsa differently and that's where the problem lies :)

(the boats at Quistachocha)