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Tourism in Iquitos and Amazon River
Iquitos and Amazon River are an ideal places for
lovers of the eco-tourism, and for the ones who want to feel an intimate contact
with the virgin nature of the Amazon forests. From the city you will be able to
go to jungle lodges, and for the most adventurous and fearless you can arrive to
parks and natural reservations, full and plethoric with exuberant flora and
fauna, with many undiscovered places, and many alive species unknown by science.
Iquitos city is the capital of the department of
Loreto, located in the heart of the Peruvian rainforest, less than 4°
south of Ecuador, and next to the left river bank of the Amazon River. Iquitos
is the world's largest city that cannot reached by road.
Iquitos was a village inhabited by the wild tribe
called the "Iquitos" from whom the name was taken in the moment of its
foundation in 1864. During the Spanish Colony and the gold fever caused by the
legends of "El Dorado" (The Golden) and the "País de la
Canela" (Country of the Cinnamon), Iquitos never had historical
figuration. In 1883 began in this city the era and peak of the rubber, the
exploitation of their latex and trade made that some reached immense fortunes,
it brought the prosperity of the city and the construction of splendid houses
began, some with tiles brought from Portugal.
In those days, Iquitos had better communications,
with Europe, through the Amazon River, better than with the city of Lima. Part
of the characteristic of this time was the acquisition of a house built by
Gustave Eiffel in Paris and today located in the Main Square of Iquitos, the
House of Iron. The end of the era of the rubber arrived in 1912.
From then on, Iquitos has always been the main
fluvial mean and principal Amazon port of Peru; its economic activity has been
centered in the commercialization of its natural resources and lately the
exploration and production of petroleum.
Near to Iquitos city exists a zoological park of
the Amazonian fauna, spas and resorts in "cochas" (lagoons). Almost in the same
city you will be able to visit "Belen", the Peruvian Venice, or go for a walk by
the pier and observe the mightiest river in the world, the Amazon River.
The population of Iquitos in its great majority
are natural descendants of regional aborigines tribes and of the
miscegenation. The people's temper is very noble and cheerful, lover of the
amusement. Iquitos is also famed by the quantity of men that arrived to the city
and lost their bachelorhood, because of the affection that women in this region
give to the visitors. The population has many myths and legends, some occult;
there is a great diffusion of the folkloric medicine and the faith to be cured
with those medicines based on the great quantity of medicinal plants that exist.
In the city you will be able to find crafts of
the native tribes, as well as enjoy an excellent cuisine and typical drinks and
beverages.
The typical public transportation in the city is
the "mototaxi" or "motocar", it is a motorized tricycle used for passenger
transportation with a very economic rate. There are also taxies in conventional
cars that generally don't have air-conditioning. In the city you can rent a
motorcycle or an automobile.
Visiting Iquitos
and Amazon River
Pacaya Samiria National Reserve: With 2 million hectares, it is the
biggest National Reserve of Peru, also it is the largest protected flooded
forest of the world and one of the richest places in biological wealth on the
planet. Between its biological diversity we find 449 of tropical bird species,
102 of mammals, 256 known species of freshwater fish, 69 of reptiles and more
than 1000 varieties of plants, as well as species in danger of extinction like
the giant otter, the black lizard, the manatee and the pink dolphin of the
Amazon. The place's beauty, as well as its biological wealth makes the reserve a
particularly important destination for scientific investigators, nature lovers
and bird watchers.
Eco-Tourism in the Amazon basin - Iquitos: The Amazon basin
is the natural reserve of more extensive and more variety life of the Earth.
Abundant botanical and zoological species, in lustful landscapes in those in
which you can go and be lodge for some time, or in the Parks and Natural
Reservations. Or if you prefer a cruise by the Amazon River, or a simple ride in
a boat or canoe.
Iquitos City: The city has as axis of its social and
economic life in the Main Square, and around it, famous houses of the era of the
rubber as Iron House. The Main Square is very near the riverside called
Tarapacá, its commercial center in the Próspero Street, and the traditional
neighborhood of Belén with its floating houses on the river.
Municipal Museum located in the Távara
Street block 2, small and modest museum with handmade works of the natives,
ethnographic and with regional fauna.
Iquitos city has a modern hotels and international
airport.
Around Iquitos: You will be able to visit the tourist
complex of Quistococha Zoo for a first encounter with the regional fauna and
flora, Santo Tomás a picturesque neighborhood. Also you can visit a native
communities as Boras and Yaguas at the Momon River.
"For all those are always dreaming of escaping
from their routine to distant adventures, all of those living in mass consumer
societies dream of escaping and discovering adventure in exotic lands, Iquitos
is an ideal place. If you want to have a close encounter with paradisiacal
place in the pristine jungle of the Amazonian, without any other noise than the
one the birds, monkeys or insects make, Iquitos is a great opportunity and an
excellent selection."
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