Being a huge nature and animal love myself, the idea of the Amazon rainforest always seemed like a fantasy land to me, something not quite real, something hard to grasp. I was just always fascinated by the fact that the Amazon could be that vast and hold so much of the world's biodiversity within it. But, take it from me, the Amazon really is that big and really is that wondrous.
In today's world it is hard to imagine an area so sparsely populated, an area not hardly touched by humans (although sadly this is becoming less and less true), because so many areas of today's world are heavily populated and well developed. The Amazon is a different story. For my trip, we traveled from Lima by plane to the city of Iquitos, the largest city in the world accessible only by boat or by plane. Then, by bus we traveled down the only highway in Peru's state of Loreto to the town of Nauta where we took a boat up river to finally arrive at our EcoLodge for the weekend. Our guides shared with us that this Amazon Region of Peru, the state of Loreto, is about the size of California yet only has about 1 million habitants, almost all of which live in the city of Iquitos or the port town of Nauta. Furthermore, because Iquitos is only accessible by boat or by plane, this area is very isolated from the rest of Peru and the rest of the world. Due to this, for many people that live in this area, the Peruvian Amazon is all they have ever known. Most either don't have the money to travel by plane out of the region or don't have the time it would take to travel by boat out of the region. In Loreto, but outside of the city of Iquitos, there are many villages that line the Amazon river and its tributaries with inhabitants that still live a very antiquated lifestyle. That is, they live in thatched roof huts and without electricity, indoor plumbing, or running water. The village we visited had a school house but it relies entirely on volunteer teachers that must commit to a time period of volunteering and move to the village to teach because the city is to far away to commute daily. And, although there is a school house and volunteer teachers, many of the teenagers and young adults quit going to school and become hunters or fishermen to provide food for their village. Can you imagine living in one of these villages all of your life without any of the luxuries that we take for granted? Electricity, indoor plumbing, running water, transportation, good education, a walmart nearby for groceries and anything else you might need? The difference between their way of life and ours is absolutely incredible.
Here are some pictures of my weekend in the Amazon, including the villages, the wildlife, and our piranha fishing competition! :)
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| THE MOUTH OF THE AMAZON RIVER |
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| Typical Amazon Tree...they are huge! |
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| Is that the biggest snail you have ever seen?! |
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| Amazon Sunset! |
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| Drinking naturally filtered Amazon water from a vine cut in the forest |
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| A local spearing sardines for us to use as bait for piranhas! His canoe is a hollowed out tree. |
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| My Prize Piranha! We fished using a stick, line, hook, and our sardine bait! Mine was too small to keep but the bigger ones you can eat. |
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One of the "houses" in the village that we visited
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