Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Iquitos

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. This past weekend we went to Iquitos and the Amazon River. It was my birthday, but not a very good birthday. I thought having my birthday in the Amazon would be so cool, but once the trip started, I realized that I really would rather spend my birthday with my closest friends and my family. So I was a little sad. This post is going to have a bunch of photos, so it might take forever to load. I am thinking of redoing my blog to make it more navigable.
Here are some details of the trip.
I went to bed at one thirty on thursday morning because I had volleyball practice until late that night and I had to pack and shower so I only got two hours of sleep before I had to wake up to go to the airport. I asked the taxi driver to come at 3:45, but they always show up ten minutes early. Peruvians are late to everything! I don't understand why every time I specify a time they show up early. I would be fine if they didn't mind just waiting out there and ringing the door bell at 3:45, but they don't wait. They ring the door bell when they show up. So he shows up at exactly the time my alarm went off and I thought that he will just wait, but he kept persisting. So I rushed out of my room and forgot some things that I wanted to take- like my book. My host sister came to get me to tell me the taxi was waiting and she mentioned something about my birthday and chocolate cake, but I was too tired to care about what she was talking about. We walk down stairs to the dining room and kitchen and I see my host sister and the Mexican exchange student in the kitchen eating the cake they bought for me for my birthday! I was so pissed. Who does that? Stupid drunk inconsiderate people that's who! I heard them from my room making way too much noise downstairs when everyone else is trying to sleep, but I wouldn't think they would be that inconsiderate. I was really pissed. The sister, Gaby, said that they were eating it because it wasn't going to last until Sunday- which is true- but why wouldn't they just either hide it from my when I came downstairs so I wouldn't see them eating it, or just wait an hour longer until I left? It wasn't like they had a little slice either, they ate half of it by the time I saw it! Then they offer me a really small slice like that would make up for it. I was so pissed, but I couldn't even think in Spanish at that time in the morning so I just grabbed my centimeter thick three inch slice and left to get in the taxi. For all they knew I didn't even know about the cake's existence (which I did actually know about because I looked in the fridge for my dinner a couple hours prior and saw a big cake box- but they didn't know that I knew). Stupid fatties. I got them back a little, though. On the way to the airport I couldn't find my watch and I thought that I dropped it on the front porch or on the street getting in the taxi so I called the house and asked the mexican exchange student to look for it for me. I found my watch soon after, but I was still pissed and I hope that Gaby and the other student spent awhile outside in the dark looking for it- though they probably didn't, because they also seem lazy.

Well on to the actual trip. We flew to Iquitos, got on our cruise boat and started a two day trip on the Amazon river. The amazon was really beautiful and all the natives were interesting. I am kinda tired of writing so I am not going to give details. We went to this monkey conservation, did a couple little side trips into the actual forest, fished for pirahna, went swimming in the river, and saw native dance shows. Saturday was my birthday and we got off the boat in the morning and were back in Iquitos. Our extremely annoying tour guide, who I am convinced is just full of crap and not actually that knowledgable, decided to take us to a fresh market where we saw some of the most disgusting sights of our lives. I won't post the two pictures I took there, but I have a photo of large tortoises chopped in thirds- and still very fresh. There were way too many people and it was so hot. Needless to say- it being a Saturday- I got sick and skipped lunch to go sleep in the hotel where I found the most uncomfortable, rock-hard bed I have ever slept on. Though I guess it was a good thing that I only got a little bit sick and didn't stick around for lunch, because like eight or nine of the people in our group spent the entire night vomitting. I did miss out on this cool animal reserve that they went to though, but I felt better than most on Sunday morning. Sunday morning we went to a zoo accompanied by the tour guide who is an expert at stating out the obvious. "Yes, I do realize that is a monkey. Yes, and that is a turtle as well. Really? A dolphin? They are difficult to identify, thank you."

I got back to Lima on Sunday and no there wasn't a replacement cake, but they did buy me a t-shirt. So that was nice, but I can't eat a t-shirt. Well, I could, but it wouldn't taste like a chocolate cake.

Photos:
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Our Cruise Liner
Our Cruise Liner

It's like water world
Like Water World
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With Ikea
Ikea is even out here!

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Monkey Island
Monkey Island

Lily pods (look I am like the guide)
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Sloth in the tree in the the last third of the photo
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Aww the Baby Capybara
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