Amazon Princess Warrior

This Amazon Princess Warrior is currently a sad one. She deleted her photos from her camera before she copied them over to her computer. Yep. She must rely on her friend L., with whom she traveled to the Amazon Jungle this week, and the photos on L's trusty digital Canon. When L. returns from the center of Lima today, we will upload photos, and I (switching verb tenses now) will share with you some lovely shots of the pink dolphins (Yes! Freshwater dolphins! They did tricks for us!) and the baby anaconda, the strange fruit, the bungalow, our cool guide May, and the city of Iquitos itself.

Our lodge was about 200 kilometers from Iquitos, a 1.5-hour car ride and a 1.5-hour boat ride away. We drove down this road:

http://www.cresc.ac.uk/peru/roads/iquitosnata.html

and we launched the boat from Nauta, this trippy little river city that kind of haunts me. I really hope that's not an omen. I hate when I get the haunts from a place, or a person, and it means it's going to follow me around like a fly-bitten dog for like 10 years, and then I'm going to end up living with it or in it or what have you, and feel like I'm in prison. Just a glimmer of a horrible future ... but I digress. Again.

Nauta

We peed in Nauta before the long boat ride. They charged un sol (about 33 cents) for the privilege, and in their tiny dank bathroom, a cricket fell on my head while I was in mid-pee. It scared the piss out of me.

In the jungle, L. got more mosquito bites than anyone I have ever seen, while I got away with a couple horsefly bites (they call them cowflies there) and a mild parasitic infection (I think). Regardless, I feel slightly better now, but I'm taking a really strong anti-everything pill for 5 days, and I can't have my beloved wine for 6 days in total. Yogurt is the new wine anyway.

As an aside, I do love that we can get antibiotics, et cetera, in Peru and other countries without having to see a doctor first. There comes a point in our lives when we know a yeast infection from a non-yeast infection (not that I have a yeast infection - I don't - it's an example), and you know which damned pill you need.

However, I'm not so keen on the drug tourism. Ayahuasca is the hip hallucinogen to which new-agers (young and aging both) trek for "visions" and "healing" with the guidance of a shaman. I believe the shaman is real and maybe even wants to help people heal themselves via age-old wisdom and plant knowledge. But I also think it's tacky, to say the least, for gringos to rush the jungle with their clumsy too-big sandals on, and om their heads away after drinking a tea they don't understand, with people they don't understand, eroticizing and exoticizing a place they'll never get. How else to say it: it's not cool to go to a place and hang out with people just to do the cool new drug. It's their heritage. They'll feed it to you. They'll help you do it, they'll show you their way. They have good hearts, and they know their plant can help you with your demons. But you're not really going there for that, are you? You're going because you want to feel like you're getting away with doing mushrooms or acid, because it's legal here. You want a story to tell your friends. You did ayahuasca in the jungle with a shaman. It's a good story. But it's lame. Because it's sacred to them. And you're just using them.

One of the best parts of the trip, aside from the dolphins, butterflies, rain and parrot sounds, monkeys, and bright stars at night in formations unavailable in the Northern Hemisphere, was to be away from electricity for so long. That is why we saw Mars, Pleiades, and other constellations I hadn't seen since I lived in Huaraz.

Pleiades

We were unplugged for a total of 4 days and 3 nights. A lot of my friends believe I'm "addicted" to the Internet, but I'm not. It's just that I get about 70 non-junk emails each day, about 1/3 of which need a response. If I don't answer quickly, they really do accumulate fast. That causes me stress. I digress.

The jungle was pretty damned amazing. Worth every penny and every parasite. Our tour was, I guess, pretty similar to all the other tours, but I really liked our guide and the general vibe of the place. Here's the link for when you go:

http://www.fuentedelamazonas.com/S_Programs_1.htm

Iquitos. Rocks. But. It's. So. Freaking. Humid. That. I. Could. Never. Ever. Live. There. The thing that stands out most is that there are no cars. Well, maybe one car per 100 motos (motorcycles, mopeds, and motorized rickshaws). It's super cool, considering how much it rains there. I made friends (me?) and went to one of the coolest bars EVER:

www.camiri.pe

and it has rooms to rent (brilliant?).

I apologize that this blog reads something like a travelogue, but I just can't muster the strength to be political/editorial/sexy/witty/whathaveyou, but I'm doing my best! Be well. In the interim, I shall kill the wormies.