[puckerman]

I arrived in Iquitos on the morning of Saturday 20 May. I went into the jungle two days later. I returned to the city on Friday 2 June and left Iquitos the next day. Iquitos is in Peru and where two smaller rivers flow into the Amazon River. Here is a summary of my experience.

Getting There

You have two options--by plane or boat. It is a city of about half a million that has no transportation by road or railroad. Cars are very rare in Iquitos, but are becoming more common.

If you are traveling to Iquitos from outside of Peru, you will have go through Lima. Four airlines offer flights, with one or two flights a day each way. It is the smallest commercial airport I've ever been to--four gates. Lima is about two hours away by plane.

If you have lots of time, you can go to Yurimaguas and travel downstream by boat. Many of these boats are cargo boats, and you might have to sleep on a hammock. You MIGHT find a boat with bunks. You can travel upstream on the Amazon from Brazil or Colombia, but this is obviously a slower trip.

Transport in Iquitos

Iquitos is still 2,300 miles (3,680 kilometers) from the Atlantic, so cars and trucks are quite rare there because they have to be shipped in. When you get to the airport, you can hail a taxi. Most of the taxis are motorcars or rickshaws and look like this:



You should negotiate a price before taking your trip. Trips to and from the airport are ten Peruvian soles, because only certain drivers are permitted there. Trips around town are two or three soles. In the city, just step off the curb and start waving your hand. You will get a ride in probably five minutes, unless it's a dead time. The drivers only take cash.

Iquitos has lots of grids, so walking is easier than any suburb. However, the sidewalks are poorly maintained and very uneven. If you are in a wheelchair, don't bother going there. You will see holes and trash on them as well. Many places don't have street signs, and numbers on buildings are not obvious either. Have a good pair of shoes.

Be careful crossing streets. People run red lights and disregard most traffic laws. It's hard to predict what drivers will do. Fortunately, most of them are just driving the rickshaws.

Food

Since this is the jungle, good food is everywhere. People stand on street corners and sell fruits out of baskets. You can also find fruit at the Belen Market, where people come from all around the jungle to sell fruits, plant medicines, and many other creations from their homes. You are close to nature, so it will be tough to find bad food.

Restaurants are also good, although they tend to be a lot slower than most in America. Most are also a combination of inside and outside seating.

Drinks never have ice, and I don't know if the restaurants have any ice. You will also pay for any refills.

I never got an official word on tipping customs in Peru. I just tipped the standard 20% anyway.

I went to excellent restaurants. Here is a list:

Dawn on the Amazon--closed on Sunday
Yellow Rose of Texas--open 24-7
Maria's Cafe--I didn't try the coffee
Huasai--great food, open 7:30am to 4pm
Amazon Bistro--great burger; electronic menu in French, English, and Spanish; open 6am to 2am

Small, Independent Businesses

I saw almost no chains or international companies there. The only American business I saw a Western Union office. I have also heard that there is a Best Western hotel. There was also a place to ship on DHL. I didn't see Starbucks or any other corporate junk food.

Since you are tourist and will stick out, prepare to be approached for anything. They will offer rides, tours, homemade jewelry, artwork, and anything else made at home. Remember that these are people just trying to earn a living. The best response is to say politely, "No gracias," and walk away.

I was never approached for illicit drugs or prostitution. Maybe I was just hanging out in the wrong neighborhoods. I also never saw anyone on the street who was just asking for money, unlike America.

Females and Game

I did nothing with regard to approaching women and game. If anything, I tried to game the other travelers I met.

The people of the Amazon are generally quite short. So, it's hard to tell if a person is just a big kid or an adult. If you are going to game, I suggest going to a place where you know the crowd is legal.

Miscellaneous

People in Iquitos tend to be early risers. There are lots of people out and activities going on before eight in the morning. The sun rises and sets around six, and the days and nights are always equal. All of Peru is on Eastern Time in the US, and there is no "daylight-savings" bullshit.

The Plaza de Armas is the center of the social life in town. You will see lots of people there at most times. You will even see parades and similar activities.

The hotel where I stayed three nights was fairly old and still used the old-fashioned keys. American hotels phased these out in the early 1990's.

When you use a toilet, there will be a trash can. I'm not sure how the sewage system works, but they don't want toilet paper in their system. You just throw toilet paper in the trash.

The locals will generally try to help visitors. Most of them are quite generous. When I asked for directions, people helped the best they could.

I went to three gyms. Equipment wasn't very well maintained at any of them. You can go to a gym for about eight soles. They also use much smaller locks, so the lock I use here in the USA didn't work. Finally, they are all closed on Sunday.

Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve

I spent eleven days in the heart of this reserve. You can find a great map of it here.

We were on the Nanay River, which is a blackwater river. It's more acidic than other rivers and attracts different forms of life. Apparently, the mosquitoes weren't as bad. I didn't see any dolphins, alligators, or piranhas. I heard some interesting birds, and some people apparently saw monkeys. It was about the size of the Ohio River and didn't have any dams or other regulation.

We went on a couple hikes of over a mile. The jungle didn't seem all that much different from a forest in Appalachia, at times. We walked some established paths, and the government had even built a long walking bridge in the reserve.

Straight-line distance to Iquitos was only about thirteen miles. I wondered if we could have had a helicopter in case of an emergency. Another person said that the air currents from a helicopter's propellers would destroy the buildings in the little community where we were. So, we were still well over an hour from a medical facility if any medical emergency had arisen.

It was good to get away though. I was disconnected from everything, so I got a good recharge.

Amazonian Plant Medicines

I mainly traveled there to go to an ayahuasca retreat. There are centers everywhere. I have heard that you can also find retreats in the area for fifty soles, which is about one tenth of the price you'll get on American soil. We also went to a cool little shop where we bought other plant medicines which I took home with me. Only buy from recommended sources, and be careful.

[birthday cat]

Iquitos is about a half million people and the largest city in the world that is only accessible by boat or plane. I think there are a couple flights per week coming from Panama City with Copa Airlines but everything else is flights from Lima or a boat.

Iquitos might be one of the strangest cities in the world. There is a lot of weird and unsettling stuff in this city. It's a hub for the cocaine trade so there is drug money, there is massive poverty in some areas, there are different types of cheap but lethal drugs, child prostitution, the Iquitos people are a bit different (according to other Peruvians) as they drink a lot and there are a lot of homosexuals. There are odd tourists there for ayahuasca and it's not uncommon for people to try to do ayahuasca without a shaman and end up running around the city naked or killing themselves. The ayahuasca crowd is sporadic people who are in town for one or two days and then they go their retreats but some of the ayahuasca regulars live in the city and those folks are quite odd as well.

There is a small town close by called Nauta which is really off the beaten path and next to the river where most people go into the jungle. Then there is the jungle and you can as far and as deep in the jungle as your money and time allows. You can go where no gringo has gone before and meet indigenous people who have never seen gringos. It's simply a different world out there and it's difficult to describe.

I don't know what to say about the girls. I didn't spend any time looking for girls but I did see some attractive girls there and I've met other attractive Peruvian girls in other cities who were from Iquitos. There were plenty of ugly girls as well. The people in Iquitos don't put gringos on a pedestal like most Peruvians. The people in Lima claim that the girls from Iquitos love sex and love foreigners but I've yet to meet a foreigner who had that experience. They aren't as into foreigners and I think it has something to do with USA and British companies owning slaves there during the rubber boom which was about 100-125 years ago.

I couldn't imagine anyone going there for just the girls but I think a crazy adventure guy with game could go there and crack the code with 7s and even 8s because there isn't much gringo competition. Of course the town is small so there would be lots of drama if the guy was banging several girls.

(07-08-2017 04:56 PM)puckerman Wrote:  

be careful

This can't be emphasize enough. Iquitos is not a place to fuck around. Human life doesn't have a high value in Iquitos.

PM me if you ever go to this place. I've got interesting stories and contacts in Iquitos for vetted forum members.

[Coveyleader]

Wow, flashbacks. I was there in the early 90s all oil based. Used to fly out of Iquitos up to the border of Ecuador. It was drug infested then but it was a cool place.

All of the crew guys had girls in town. We used to stay in the center. Not a lot to do but the word then, and I'm sure now is the jungle girls are hot blooded.

It was a place that didn't have a lot of foreign guys.

[puckerman]

(07-12-2017 03:03 AM)birthday cat Wrote:  

Iquitos is about a half million people and the largest city in the world that is only accessible by boat or plane. I think there are a couple flights per week coming from Panama City with Copa Airlines but everything else is flights from Lima or a boat.

The four airlines are LATAM, Peruvian, Star Peru, and Avianca Peru. The flights on Copa have been cancelled. All flights to and form IQT are domestic now. The runway is 2,500 meters or 8,202 feet. That's really not adequate for the big planes that are used on most intercontinental flights.

Cusco's new airport is scheduled to open in 2021. I suspect when this opens, going through Cusco might be an option. Cusco is apparently trying to get more intercontinental flights because people go to Machu Picchu.

Quote:

Iquitos might be one of the strangest cities in the world. There is a lot of weird and unsettling stuff in this city. It's a hub for the cocaine trade so there is drug money, there is massive poverty in some areas, there are different types of cheap but lethal drugs, child prostitution, the Iquitos people are a bit different (according to other Peruvians) as they drink a lot and there are a lot of homosexuals.

I suspect a lot of people in Iquitos never go to the other parts of Peru and that the other people never get to Iquitos. It really is in its own little world.

I went down by the water and saw people living in places that looked like public-storage units. These are also places that would have been underwater sometimes during the year. This is one thing consistent in every city around the world--the poorest people always live in the flood zones.

Quote:

There are odd tourists there for ayahuasca and it's not uncommon for people to try to do ayahuasca without a shaman and end up running around the city naked or killing themselves. The ayahuasca crowd is sporadic people who are in town for one or two days and then they go their retreats but some of the ayahuasca regulars live in the city and those folks are quite odd as well.

There was one guy who showed up on a Saturday morning to hang out with travelers. He immediately declared that he had been in a fight with a lesbian over her girl friend. He was bragging about it. He did seem kind of crazy.

Quote:

There is a small town close by called Nauta which is really off the beaten path and next to the river where most people go into the jungle.

Nauta is about 60 miles or 100 kilometers away. Google Maps says it's about an hour and 45 minutes. If/when I go back, I would like to make that drive. I have also heard that most of the retreat centers have opened on that road. It's also very close to the confluence of the Marañon and Ucayali Rivers, which form the Amazon.

That being said, I'm not sure if car rental is even an option at the airport. I didn't look.

Quote:

I don't know what to say about the girls. I didn't spend any time looking for girls but I did see some attractive girls there and I've met other attractive Peruvian girls in other cities who were from Iquitos. There were plenty of ugly girls as well.

Generally the women were in decent shape. The women were almost too short for my tastes. I like legs a lot, and it seemed like a lot of them women just didn't have very long legs and seemed wider than they should be. Of course, attitude is still more important than all that other stuff.

The guy in charge of the retreat told me that he didn't want to raise his daughter in Iquitos. He told me that the women are trying to get married and pregnant by the time they are 20. That's why he lives in Lima now.

Quote:

The people in Iquitos don't put gringos on a pedestal like most Peruvians. The people in Lima claim that the girls from Iquitos love sex and love foreigners but I've yet to meet a foreigner who had that experience. They aren't as into foreigners and I think it has something to do with USA and British companies owning slaves there during the rubber boom which was about 100-125 years ago.

There isn't anything special about gringos anymore. Ten years ago, they might have been a novelty. Now that novelty has worn off. When we got off the bus at the boat dock outside Iquitos, a child of about four or five looked at us and said, "Hola, gringo."

It doesn't matter where you go. Kids are still kids.

Quote:

I couldn't imagine anyone going there for just the girls but I think a crazy adventure guy with game could go there and crack the code with 7s and even 8s because there isn't much gringo competition. Of course the town is small so there would be lots of drama if the guy was banging several girls.

In a way, Iquitos felt like a much smaller town. That's only because I bumped into some people seemingly by accident. I ran into one person who was just a Facebook friend by random chance. We both met at the Yellow Rose. It wasn't planned--just dumb luck.

I think this is where we bought some of the good stuff, by the way:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/24+De+...73.2627101

(07-12-2017 03:10 PM)Coveyleader Wrote:  

Wow, flashbacks. I was there in the early 90s all oil based. Used to fly out of Iquitos up to the border of Ecuador. It was drug infested then but it was a cool place.

I met a guy at the airport who was a professor at Oklahoma State. He said he had been going there every year since 2001 to study plants. He said that the airport used to be hangar. I suspect people flew in and out of the military base there.

Quote:

All of the crew guys had girls in town. We used to stay in the center. Not a lot to do but the word then, and I'm sure now is the jungle girls are hot blooded.

These people have less inhibitions. Clothing is a Christian superstition.

A lady who graduated high school with me said she went to Iquitos in 1998. She loved it there--spent a month there, including Christmas. She had never heard of ayahuasca.

I also met a backpacker at the hotel. On the blog written by him and his wife, they posted that when they got a taxi from the airport, the driver's first question was to ask them what retreat center they were going to.

[Spectrumwalker]

(07-12-2017 03:03 AM)birthday cat Wrote:  

The people in Lima claim that the girls from Iquitos love sex and love foreigners but I've yet to meet a foreigner who had that experience.

I once dated a gal from Iquitos but living in Lima and she was by far the kinkiest Peruana I've ever been with. Iquitos looks cool to visit. I'd like to go piranha fishing.


PSAD pill...

[Australia Sucks]

Spectrumwalker I went to Iquitos and that video looks very selective and misleading. Iquitos is a chaotic shit-hole with mediocre women. I remember walking around solo for 2 nights and both nights I was approached by groups of young prostitutes. The only reason to go to Iquitos is as a resting/transit point before you do a tour of the amazon jungle which I would highly recommend.

[MajorStyles]

(07-16-2017 05:33 AM)Australia Sucks Wrote:  

Spectrumwalker I went to Iquitos and that video looks very selective and misleading. Iquitos is a chaotic shit-hole with mediocre women. I remember walking around solo for 2 nights and both nights I was approached by groups of young prostitutes. The only reason to go to Iquitos is as a resting/transit point before you do a tour of the amazon jungle which I would highly recommend.

Indeed. I was in Iquitos and I bailed my buddy out of a jam. He took one of the hookers to his hotel, and the bitch slipped him a Mickey and stole his wallet.

[puckerman]

That video is quite selective. Most of them women in Iquitos are not as white as the females in the video. I didn't see any big boats either.

Some of the ponds, lakes, and beaches didn't look like Iquitos either. Quite simply, the city isn't that clean.

The video had a Miller Beer sign it. I don't think I ever saw a sign for any foreign beer in Iquitos.

I also talked to the facilitators at the ayahuasca retreat about life in the jungle. It sounds like a lot of them don't spend much time in Iquitos. When they want to go to the city, they end up going to Lima. The retreat center has one retreat a month, and they are two or three weeks. So, the facilitators have breaks to go do other things.

I suspect the ayahuasca boom is going to have a huge impact on the city though. Unlike the oil boom and the rubber boom, the locals might actually benefit from it. I hope they do. It will be interesting to see it in ten or fifteen years.

[Spectrumwalker]

(07-16-2017 06:07 AM)MajorStyles Wrote:  

[quote='Australia Sucks' pid='1612588' dateline='1500201237']
Spectrumwalker I went to Iquitos and that video looks very selective and misleading.

If I could import gifs from my device I'd choose one of someone facepalming himself. Obviously it is. All the guy's videos are, but they're still cool. They're tourism videos. You think he's going to make tourism videos of stray dogs, slums, garbage burning in the streets, deformed homeless, robberies, stoned out gringos, shady hookers, cops sleeping in their patrol cars, and mothers begging for money with their kids? So what, he chooses the good highlights. There's lots good and equally lots of bad in every city of Peru. I prefer the good times.

[churros]

Iquitos is perhaps the most surreal place I've ever visited. It has an air of madness. There is a main square, which you can easily get trapped in, because it is surrounded by constant streams of motorbikes.

On this square, a gringo approached me with perfect queen's English. His hand was hideous and mangled He had been in an accident and needed money to return to his mother in England. This guy seemed authentic, and I felt sorry for him.

But the previous night, I overheard people in the hostel speaking of this very man. His picture was up on the wall. He was a con-artist. So I tolerated his spiel while we crossed the plaza, and then explained to him I knew he was faking. To do so almost pained me, because this guy was convincing.

That's all fine – but who the hell is this guy? Why is an English guy begging in Iquitos? What could he possibly be doing there? Such are the resident freaks of Iquitos.

There are many homosexuals in the city because the Peruvian government banished them here at some point. I'd be interested to learn more about this culture of sexual deviancy. In Leticia, a fat Colombian lawyer tried to bring me back to his place. But that's another story.

These amazon towns are surreal; you just have to see them.

[birthday cat]

^^^ That is Brian, a famous British con-man in Iquitos who messed himself up on a drug called pasta. This blog post is long but it's worth reading if you are interested in going to Iquitos. It tells Brian's story but it's also a good introduction to Lower Belen which is one of the poorest areas in Latin America. I suggest doing a guided tour of Lower Belen in the morning, especially during rainy season when the streets are under water and everyone travels in small homemade canoes. Do not go at night or without a guide.

(07-16-2017 11:59 AM)Spectrumwalker Wrote:  

[quote] (07-16-2017 06:07 AM)MajorStyles Wrote:  

Spectrumwalker I went to Iquitos and that video looks very selective and misleading.

If I could import gifs from my device I'd choose one of someone facepalming himself. Obviously it is. All the guy's videos are, but they're still cool. They're tourism videos. You think he's going to make tourism videos of stray dogs, slums, garbage burning in the streets, deformed homeless, robberies, stoned out gringos, shady hookers, cops sleeping in their patrol cars, and mothers begging for money with their kids? So what, he chooses the good highlights. There's lots good and equally lots of bad in every city of Peru. I prefer the good times.

This is the attitude you need to have to spend more than a few days in Iquitos. You should probably be an experienced traveler or speak Spanish. Otherwise you might not like it.

I didn't have a great time when I was in the city of Iquitos but I realize that I wasn't ready for it. I will have a great time if I go back.

I had a great time doing various activities outside of the city but I was expecting hot weather and bugs. I was not expecting expecting air conditioning and five star customer service. For example, I went crocodile hunting in the jungle, at night, in a tiny canoe, with river people who didn't speak English while I didn't speak Spanish. It was scary and we didn't see any crocodiles but it was still an amazing experience.

I meet a lot of forums guys who are traveling and can't get their minds off of the Tinder girls they are chasing and I kinda feel sorry for them. I don't have any problem with online game. To each his won. I've done online game and will probably do it again sometime. However, something about online game and chasing all those girls is very distracting. Guys get tunnel vision and forget that there are so many other great things to experience.

Iquitos is a unique, crazy, difficult, and sometimes dangerous place. It's a place for adventure and getting out of your comfort zone.

[puckerman]

(07-16-2017 01:58 PM)birthday cat Wrote:  

^^^ That is Brian, a famous British con-man in Iquitos who messed himself up on a drug called pasta. This blog post is long but it's worth reading if you are interested in going to Iquitos. It tells Brian's story but it's also a good introduction to Lower Belen which is one of the poorest areas in Latin America. I suggest doing a guided tour of Lower Belen in the morning, especially during rainy season when the streets are under water and everyone travels in small homemade canoes. Do not go at night or without a guide.

That blog is from 2012. Is Brian still around? He certainly had to overstay his visa by now.

[birthday cat]

^^^ He's probably still there unless he is dead. I don't think he would go home even if he could. I think he owes a lot of money to drug dealers in the UK.

[puckerman]

Here is a very interesting addition to the story of Brian. It appears to be from early 2013. It also mentions Gerald, the owner of the Yellow Rose.

https://calebwhitaker.wordpress.com/2013.../#comments

[puckerman]

In 2012, Miss Peru was from Iquitos. Here are some photos:

[puckerman]

While the women aren't the greatest, they do have beautiful smiles. Here are some pictures from a picture book I saw:

[cazadoress]

(07-12-2017 03:10 PM)Coveyleader Wrote:  

Wow, flashbacks. I was there in the early 90s all oil based. Used to fly out of Iquitos up to the border of Ecuador. It was drug infested then but it was a cool place.

All of the crew guys had girls in town. We used to stay in the center. Not a lot to do but the word then, and I'm sure now is the jungle girls are hot blooded.

It was a place that didn't have a lot of foreign guys.

I hope "condoms" is/was in your vocabulary.