Back to the airport for the next phase of our journey - the flight over the Andes to Iquitos where we would board our riverboat for our Amazon Basin adventure cruise. Although cloudy much of the way, a few glimpses of the snow-capped Andes were possible on the flight to Iquitos. Soon we were looking down on vast expanses of rainforest interrupted only by meandering rivers and oxbow lakes. The prospect of what lay ahead was very exhilarating. Iquitos, a large city of 400,000 inhabitants, is unique in that it is accessible only by boat or airplane.
Cars are uncommon here but motorcycles and motorized carts are abundant.
In Iquitos representatives of JungleX, the company that owns and runs the riverboat on which we would take our journey into the Peruvian wilderness, met us. Here we were introduced to the two Peruvian guides, Edgar and Juan, who would be our teachers, companions and good friends for the next week. Both grew up in the rainforest and have great knowledge of the culture and natural history of the area. On the way to the dock, we were given a quick bus tour of Iquitos. As it turned out, the river is at its shallowest at this particular time of the year and the riverboat, despite having a shallow draft, was not able to navigate directly up to the city dock.