Mar 8, 2013 - Day 3 in Peru

Hey everyone, I just had another amazing day in north east Peru. We flew in to Iquitos after last night. We had to ride a motorcycle in to Iquitos because they did not have any paths for cars. I had a hard time breathing because of the humidity. We had to stay in a small cabin type of thing that was located right next to the Amazon. I felt kind of nervous that there would be some kind of storm that would blow our house in the river. Good thing that did not happen. The amazon looked kind of dirty and scary. I decided to face my fears and...

Mar 7, 2013 - IQUITOS

Dear, Everyone Today we visited Iquitos it is in the amazon region. It is humid here 90 % of they time. I feel so sticky and sweaty. You have to take a motorcycle to the city because there are no paved roads for cars. There are boat rides in they amazon. The most amazing sight was the wildlife. I saw pink DOLPHINS! Iquitos. Is a great place like the food and culture. I love how they pacahamic pasta and all this tremendous culture. It sure has been amazing here in Iquitos. But now comes my sad face I have to leave!

Dec 27, 2012 - Pink dolphins, piranhas and other adventures

In the interest of full disclosure, we were only on the Amazon River for about an hour out of the more than 70 hours we recently spent exploring the jungle by river in Northeastern Peru. Wide (2 kilometers across) and silty, the Amazon River felt more like a big, muddy lake. In contrast, the river we traveled on for 3 and ½ days, the Rio Nanay, was a graceful, undulating, slow moving river that took us into the Allpahuayo-Mishana Nature Reserve, notable for its unique white sand forest and a remarkable biodiversity of trees. Our vessel, the...

Dec 26, 2012 - The Villages

I originally wanted to do a camping trip in the jungle, but the fact that it is the rainy season made that logistically impossible. Instead, Miguel and I were housed in a small village at the home of his cousin, Olin, and family. Their house, like all the houses in the jungle villages, is a simple wooden structure with a thatched roof. There is no plumbing, just a pit toilet outside with no seat and a ragged curtain hung for privacy. Cooking is done over a wood fire in the kitchen. In order to control mosquitos the grass surrounding the...

Dec 26, 2012 - The River

Iquitos, with a population of 400,000, claims to be the largest city in the world with no road access. It is located deep in the jungle near the confluence of three rivers---the Maranon, the Ucayali and the Amazon—and can only be reached by air or boat. It began as a Jesuit missionary outpost in the 18th century, but it owes its large size in such a remote location to the rubber plantations that were established nearby in the late 19th century. In reality, the lack of road access is a bit exaggerated. While it’s true that there are no road...

Dec 26, 2012 - The Wildlife

The jungle is certainly a birdwatcher’s and butterfly collector’s paradise. There is no end to the beautifully colored specimens one can see. Unfortunately, capturing that beauty on camera was virtually impossible because those particular animals were always just a bit quicker than me. After a while, I just learned to enjoy the moment and not worry about trying to capture a picture. Despite the beauty of the flora and fauna, the jungle also remains a dangerous place. There are poisonous frogs, plants and snakes; there are anacondas; and...

Dec 26, 2012 - The Jungle

The wooden boat remained our sole means of transportation. There are simply no roads, and probably no footpaths, connecting the remote villages. Miguel did a very nice job of adding variety to our 5-day excursion. We hiked, fished, bird watched, dolphin watched and sometimes simply went for a boat ride to see what we might find. Our hiking destinations were always reached by first boating to a different location in the jungle. Miguel proved to have eagle eyes in spotting plants and wildlife, and he was quite informative. He speaks very...

Dec 22, 2012 - Christmas on the Amazon

After a long hiatus, I am resuming writing my blog about our life experiences in South America. Katie has joined us in South America for the holidays, midway through her sophomore year of college and so we are together again, all five Clarks, in the Peruvian city of Iquitos, located on the left bank of the Amazon River in Northeastern Peru. In a couple of hours, we will board a small boat called "Dawn on the Amazon" for a 4 day cruise on the Amazon and some of her tributaries. Iquitos is a bustling city, the 6th largest in Peru, and...

Dec 18, 2012 - Upcoming Jungle Excursion

Today I returned to mainland Ecuador and I will spend the night in Quito with the same family I stayed with on the way out. In the airplane we had a special treat as we reached the mainland--we had a bird's eye view of a volcano erupting! The volcano is not far from Quito in the Andes. It first erupted on Friday, but continues to spew smoke and lava. The skies were clear and luckily I had a window seat on the correct side of the aircraft. (Unluckily, my camera was tucked away in my bag) I knew nothing about the volcano beforehand but...

Feb 22, 2012 - Peru Jungle Adventure #2

When I arrived in Iquitos on Friday with my fellow boat travelers, I was without a plan. I thought about continuing on to Tarapoto, but the idea of spending another night on a boat was unbearable. I hung out with my friends for a few days in Iquitos, staying in Hostal Charapas and eating food that wasn´t rice milk. They were all parting ways in directions I´ve already been, so I went out and signed up for a 3-day jungle trek. Luchi picked me up at my hostel at 8 AM on Monday. We walked over to nice hotel to pick up a Peruvian couple and...

Feb 17, 2012 - The Launcha

The lancha deserves an entry in itself. Let me begin by directing you to the first photo. That is what I found when I arrived in Pantoja, Peru. It was my home for four days and four nights. At first I was optomiistic that the inside wasn´t as scary as the outside, but then I went inside. It was really like living in a tin can. I got to Pantoja on Monday morning, and the lancha wasn´t leaving until Tuesday so I had a day to hang out. After walking the entire town in three minutes, I found a bench to sit on for the rest of the day. We´re...

Nov 27, 2011 - Amazon

Just some information .... I ran out of original thoughts: Less than 5% of the suns light actually reaches the jungle floor. The amazon contains the highest species of diversity in the world. A million years ago mankind had an estimated population of 50 000. That has now grown to 7 billion. In the course of the past century humans have destroyed half of the worlds rainforest. Europeans have long viewed the amazon as a storehouse of raw materials setting the stage for the vast destructive influence we have now. The quinine found in the...