Internet at Last...And its Raining in the House

Sorry about the long wait. I know you are sitting on the edge of you chairs, or beach towels, or poolsides (or wherever it is that you are) waiting to hear about the adventures of "las dos Sara(h)s"... But where to begin? Let's see.. we have been here in Iquitos for approximately one week now. In that time we have met amazing people with whom have started to form wonderful relationships, gone swimming in the Nanay river, eaten fish brains, and had our fair share of stomach aches, but are yet to see a pygmy marmoset. As you can see we have had quite a few unforgettable experiences (minus the lack of marmoset spottings) so pardon my word vomit and bear with me, at least until we get caught up on the happenings of the last few days.


A Little Bit About Iquitos
         When we last left off I was deliriously typing away in the Lima airport, coincidentally, I am once again deliriously typing away but this time 600 some miles northwest in the comfort of own little dormitorio in the center of Iquitos. Just to give you some background on Iquitos, it's probably the best city in the whole world. Okay, maybe thats a slight exaggeration, but it really is a pretty cool place (chevre). The city is surrounded by two rivers, the Itaya and the Nanay, which both have freshwater piranhas (stories to be told later), and the latter of the two which leads in to the Amazon (Las Amazonas). As you can imagine (or maybe after some help from some pictures) it is absolutely beautiful filled with all kinds of exotic animals, enormous insects (Sarah's favorite), and unusual plants that grow the richest most succulent (ew I hate that word) fruits in the world (not an exaggeration). However, from the months of December to May it pours (more stories to be told) , and the rivers overflow, leaving the areas close by flooded several feet deep. While the center of the city is dry, you go out to the barrios on the edge and at this time of year the houses appear to be floating on the river (just wait until you hear about El Porvenir). Some slowly sink into the water while on others just the frames pop out of the water, evidence that they didn't finish building them before the weather changed. The nature is not the only cool thing about the city, but the people and the hustle and bustle of Iquitos is charming in itself. In the main city you get around one of several ways, You can take a motorcycle, a bus (little different than at home), a mototaxi, or you can walk. As you can guess, I prefer the last option, however he mototaxi or motocarro is pretty neat too. For 40 cents or so you hop in the back of a little cart pulled by a motorcycle and off you go past little markets, stray dogs and cats, wandering children and (my favorite) juicy plantains (platanos) sizzling on the grill. Okay I need to take a bit of a break now because we are working on a presentation and then heading off to El Porvenir. I promise there is more to come tonight, but I couldn't keep you waiting any longer. Hope you enjoyed, don't think I'm too much of a tool. Maybe you even learned some Spanish words at least the most important (cool, amazon, plantain, motocarro)