Mosquito City

Arrived in Iquitos to a waft of warm humid air, and only 8am... and a hoard of motor-bike-buggie drivers desperate to take us to the Centre (and sell us jungle tours, accommodation etc). Found our first choice hostel, clean rooms with mosquito protection windows - cold water showers are a shock to the system! Quick nap, lunch (sound familiar?!) and a long slog around tour companies all offering the same animal viewing options with varying prices, accommodation luxury... after long debate whether to spend money on a good lodge with fully organised day visits or save money on a fully individual package with just the two of us, guide and cook with two nights in a lodge sandwiching two nights camping in the jungle... was this the beginning of the end?

Left the next day with our 23 year old guide who´d never left the Iquitos/jungle... bus ride, boat ride across the Amazon river (grey dolphins spotted from a distance), walk, canoe ride to arrive at a lovely wooden lodge (with mosquito netted windows), double beds with mosquito nets, private bathroom (luxury). Quick nap, lunch in the lodge (the only tourists there) and off to a canoe ride down the little river for the beginning of our animal spotting training.