4th – 7th March
Iquitos, like Manaus made its wealth during the rubber boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and like Manaus there is much architectural evidence of its former grandeur. Many of the larger buildings are still faced with azulejos, (glazed tiles) which the rubber barons would import from Portugal and Italy.
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The main square, the Plaza de Armas is dominated by the Cathedral which unlike some of the other older buildings has been well maintained.
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Aside from the Amazon, Iquitos is completely surrounded by jungle so the only means of transport in or out is by boat or plane. We’d had enough of boats for a while so our next journey was a flight to Cusco. As this didn’t leave for a couple of days we had a bit of time to explore.
Before arriving in Iquitos I’d made a mental note to visit the Yellow Rose of Texas, which our guidebook described as a 24 hour restaurant run by the ex-director of the tourist office, Gerald W Mayeaux with authentic Texan atmosphere and saddle seats. (It also had Sky TV so I was hoping to catch up on the footy.)
We met Gerald who welcomed us with open arms and showed us around his establishment. The food was great and we all had a lot of fun riding the saddles as we ate and drank. If you ever find yourself in Iquitos make sure you pay a visit to Gerald’s home from home.
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One of the other places we visited during our brief stay was the Museo Amazonica which houses the ‘Sons of our land’ exhibition by Felipe Lettersten, who spent time with many of the indigenous tribes of the Amazon and who was able to create lifesize models of many of the people he met. These are complimented by an impressive photo collection and the whole exhibition was well worth a visit.
As ever, the girls were able to find some humour in any situation:
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As we had another early departure we were up in the wee small hours to catch our tuk-tuks to the airport, which despite the time of day was great fun. And so it was that we said goodbye to the Amazon which had been a part of our lives for the past two weeks and flew out of Iquitos for Cuzco and one of my ‘must see’ destinations, Machu Picchu.