Catch-up Part 2: Iquitos to Huancabamba

Ok, now we´re getting a bit more recent.

7/11-7/21 - My first day in Iquitos was a lot of fun. I´m sure it was partly because I was off of the lancha, but still in my journal I was going on and on about it. I decided to explore Belen market as my first activity and was blown away by what I found: First of all, there are huge black vultures all over the market eating whatever meat by-products fall onto the ground. You can also find turtle eggs, turtle meat, wild jungle pig (all technically illegal), all kinds of amazing fish, and stand after stand full of products fresh from the jungle. Some of the meat stands were pretty gruesome, but interesting if you´re into public markets, which I am.

Belen is a district of Iquitos that used to be the slum where all of the workers in the rubber plants live. Although I was there during the dry season, for about nince months out of the year, the neighborhood is all floating or on stilts. Its affectionately known as the Venice of Peru. The market is fairly safe, but venturing deeper into Belen can be a bit dangerous without a guide. Guides are not hard to come by and I found one who would give me a half hour tour for about 3 bucks. He took me out on a boat so I could see the whole neighborhood. Its still very much a slum. There was lots of trash, people bathing, washing clothes, and using the river as a toilet. He explained to me that every morning there are ferries that go into the jungle so the people can hunt, fish, or gather their goods for the day and bring them back to the market. This all happens before the average tourist even wakes up. Its obvious the people in the jungle work incredibly hard to make their living.

I was staying at a really cheap with not many people around, but the following day a group arrived who was attending the shamanistic conference that was in town that week. It was the right week to be in town because the conference brings a pretty interesting group of gringos to Iquitos. Talking with them really brought me back to my sophomore year of college when my friend Doug introduced me to some good literature about different research on hallucinogenic substances. If anyone is interested in a great read, I recommend Food of the Gods by Terrence McKenna. He is a hero to many of the people at the conference, and although he is dead, his brother was speaking there. He writes about the co-evolution of plants and humans and the use of hallucinogenic plants that occurred in throughout history in countless cultures and why it is frowned upon in Occidental society. It was pretty interesting stuff for someone who likes psychology and the type of book you probably won´t find in your average college course. Since Iquitos, my reading has shifted away from the more political things I had been reading for the last year or so back to spiritual, philosophical books.

Anyway, I had some great conversations with the people at my hostel even though I think they are getting a bit ripped off by the conference promoters and the shamans who attend them. Shamanism and business aren´t supposed to go hand in hand, but thats kind of how it goes today. Many people who claim to be shamans are just people who know how to prepare San Pedro or Ayahuasca with no more heightened spiritual awareness than your average Joe.

Iquitos was also the jumping off point for my first WWOOF experience. WWOOF is an organization that helps volunteers find farms to work and live on. I won´t dwell on this for long, but it was basically a bunch of young guys trying to start a rainbow community. A great idea but they were executing really poorly. They didn´t have much food and I immediately had stomach problems from the water, food, or a combo of both and left after three days. Afterwards, I found out from a friend that there were also darker things brewing there as well that might have given me stomach problems. There just was not good energy there and I was really happy and much healthier after I left.

7/21-8/6 - I spent my last couple days in Iquitos with James, a Scottish/Canadian. He was one of the people for the conference and gave me some good book recommendations and was fun to hang out with. From Iquitos, I hopped on another cargo boat, this time to Yurimaguas, to make my way to the Ecuadorian border. After about 5 minutes I knew this would be a better boat ride. There was more space, it was cooler, and it actually took off on time! I quickly befriended a German girl who was also a psychology graduate looking for something else to do with her life. She is in South America to study medicinal plants and has traveled all over the world. It was fun to have someone my age and with a similar background to chat with on the boat ride. I could actually enjoy the view as we went down the river toward Yurimaguas. Food on the Eduardo II ended up being 10x better than the Henry too.

Well, it turned out that my German friend was headed toward the Ecuadorian border too, so we decided to travel together. I had read about a city called Huancabamba which was deep the mountains of northern Peru and off the beaten path. It would be a bit of a journey to get there, but like Iquitos, its also a center for medicical plants and shamanism. We were both up for the challenge and started toward Huancabamba traveling by camioneta (pick-up truck) and camión (big truck). I have to say, this is the way to travel. Its cheap and you´re just out in the open air with whatever cargo the truckers happen to be taking.

I have to talk a bit about Huarmaca. Its a tiny district south east of Huancabamba. Now, the 99% or more of tourists go to Huancabamba from Piura, a major city to the west, but we were coming from the east and it seemed more logical not to go all the way to Piura just to backtrack to Huancabamba, so we took the alternate route. 2nd example of distance meaning nothing in terms of time. After a couple hops on camionetas, we were somewhat stranded in Huarmaca.

Well, we were the talk of the town in Huarmaca. We were 2 of 5 gringos that had been through that town in the last 5 years or so and people were fascinated by us. My friend is tall, blue-eyed, with long blonde dreadlocks and I have a beard and my hair is getting long, so its not like we were going to hide anywhere. Whereever we went, a crowd followed us, whispering, snickering, and it was just bizarre how they acted toward us. I felt like an animal on display. They would watch us eat like they had never seen people eat before. She had it worse because people all wanted to touch her dreadlocks and I think they just generally gave me more space because I was a man. One kid even threw a rock at her and everywhere kids and adults shouted GRINGO! Its probably the most uncomfortable I have ever felt in a town.

Although it was very uncomfortable, I was introduced to the greatest drink ever in Huarmaca, so I will always have one positive memory there. EMOLIENTE. Oh man, emoliente is a kind of herbal tea made with flax seed, aloe vera, and all kinds of other healthy natural ingredients found all over Peru. Each person who has an emoliente cart makes it a bit differently, but its always delicious. I can´t believe it took me 3 months to find it. I think its kind of like platform 9 3/4 in Harry Potter. You can´t see it until someone tells you about it, but now its the first thing I seek out in the morning I´m in a new city. They have it here in Ecuador too, but its called aguita de sabila (Aloe vera tea) and its generally not as good.

The next stop was Tunas where we stayed with an amazing Peruvian family. They were so generous toward us and everyone in this tiny town was polite, friendly, and intelligent. Mingas, the son of a farmer who had worked in the town since it was an hacienda owned by a Czech family cooked for us, took us on a hike, and let us stay in their house without asking anything from us. They also grow all natural coffee all over the region and I enjoyed the best cup of coffee I´ve ever had in my life there. I later visited him again in Piura where he works and goes to school.

After about 5 or 6 days and a marathon 7 hour ride on the back of a truck, we finally arrived in Huancabamba. It was well worth the wait. Beautiful scenery, friendly people, a beautiful market, and high quality emoliente. We also found a hostel for about 2 bucks a night. We were there 5 days and I ended up staying for free by trading a couple t shirts and my basketball shorts for my accommodation. It was a good way to make some space in my bag. I also bought my first real souvenier, a handmade wool poncho which I mainly use as a yoga mat. It hasn´t been cold enough yet to warrant a poncho. After that, she headed to the coast and I made my way to the border of Ecuador to avoid a big fine by overstaying my visa.

Well, I still haven´t covered my two weeks in Ecuador, but I´ll do that in a few days. I hope this isn´t too sloppy. I don´t really have time to edit it.