Written by: Cathie
Monday, September 24, 2007

Iquitos - Otorongo Lodge 8am Breakfast at Ari´s Burger on the corner of the Plaza but before then...digital photos need copying onto CD´s, buy supplies for the team at the mini supermarket and more money needs to be got. Will have to return in
4 days to pick up DVD x 6 for girls.

A fast boat this time took 2.5hrs to get to Otorongo Retreat hidden amongst the jungle way down the river. In comparison to yesterday the fast boat would take 20mins to get to monkey island. Otorongo is where you find primary rainforest – just a 1.5km walk from the lodge. The long bamboo thatched roof mosquito proof bungalow was nestled back from the water amongst the palms. There was no electricity so we all had kerosene lanterns at night in our own rooms.

Lunch was ready soon after arrival so we sat down to beans, lentils, rice, and a salad of shredded heart of palm which looks like fettucini but has the light softness of filo pastry without the heavy pasta stomach afterwards. I´m now in Tuesday cos i´m writing a day beind and Raul has just showed me the baby tree where the heart of palm comes from and metres away a 5yr old one 20ft tall, skinny and ripe for the picking. We chatted about his wealth of knowledge on medicinal plants as a baby hawk ate a banana piece and tossled with the maccaws in front of us. Freshly picked sugar cane was a first for me. Sweet mmmmm.

To finish off Monday after that digression. After lunch we all ventured out for our first real taste of the thick sweaty jungle. And that it was.
Uphill first in secondary rainforest, mostly thick but scattered forest plus very thick undergrowth. Saw lichen, monkeys, mushrooms (yes the magic kind and a thousand others), birds, stinging insects, fruit, the whole David Attenborough although it was Moises instead famed for guiding the author of the book The Journey of the Pink Dolphin. Such a sensory overload for us. Anthony (our upstate New Yorker guide) says he´s been living there for years and still learns new things about and within the jungle. It´s massive and fully teeming with life. Our lodge has the sights and sounds of animal life all around. The air is alive. Lying in bed at night under the cosy comfort of the mosquito net protected from the plethora of crazy sounds outside you listen and drift off immersed in the beauty of life.

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