Iquitos Peru

A couple of weeks ago I was able to go to Peru on a Medical Mission with some folks at my hospital. It was an eleven day trip so it took some negotiating with Emily too. Iquitos is in the middle of the Amazon rain forest and in a part of Peru that I have never been to before. My role was mainly to shepherd people around and make sure everyone got where they were going. Because I'd been to Peru before I got asked a million questions about Iquitos, and I kept having to explain that while I'd lived in Peru, I have never been to Iquitos so I don't know what it will be like. By the end of the trip I think everyone got it.

The city is experiencing a 20 year flood.  Much of the lower and poor parts of town are flooded.  Most of the houses are built on stilts here but some aren't tall enough to be all the way out of the water.  Others are designed to float up with the river and are anchored to anything that looks stable.

We took a little boat tour of the flooded part of town in little boats. 

This is probably my favorite picture of the whole trip.  Nothing beats jumping into water.  Now that is something I can wrap my head around.

Here is an example of a floating house and you can see the sticks it is anchored to.

When your house consists of one room, being outside is a big part of life in Peru.

Even the chickens have to adapt.

I guess on the plus side when it floods you don't have to go far to do laundry.

A picture of the recovery room.

Surprisingly we were able to do some arthroscopy cases with the help of one of the Peruvian doctors who personally owned some of the required instrumentation.

Things weren't quite up to US standards but the OR functioned well enough.

A shot of a boat coming into a little dock.

A view out of the boat showing the Amazon River.

Look I was there!

After the week in Iquitos we headed down river to an eco tourism lodge, that had this taper roaming around.

A view of the jungle.

There was a vine that was hanging from a 200 foot Ceiba tree, I just had to swing, others followed suit after I gave it a shot and the vine didn't come crashing down.

Another jungle path

Fishing boats on the Amazon.

Small village on the bank of the Amazon that was flooded to about 3 feet deep in the town center (a soccer field)

We visited a local tribe that shows off traditional dress and blow guns.

I jumped right in at a chane to shoot the 6 foot long blow gun.  I missed the target on the first shot, but on the second I was able to stick the reed dart into a wooden post.

Evidence that I got mine in.  Not quite on the dot but not bad from about 15 feet away.
 

A little boy from the village that was willing to have his picture taken, it earned him a dollor, more then his Mom/grandma made selling trinkets.

This lady was nice enough to let me get a picture of her pet slough.

A view looking up in the jungle

A small posion dart frog.

Exlporeing up side rivers of the amazon.

A giant lily pad called a victoria regia

A good sized iguana swimming for cover.

There is a slough in this picture.

It took some serious navigating skills to get our 15 foot boat though this.

The pink dolphin of the Amazon. - Not so pink and they don't jump like their grey cousins of the ocean.

As you might imagine I've got a few more photos.  But those will have to wait for another post.