Iquitos Things to Do Tips by thebeatsurrender

Pirahna fishing in the Amazon is pretty awesome. There were so many fish I totally thought the lodge planted them there. But no, it's just that cool. Sneaky lil' things they are, though. They kept stealing the meat on our hooks and swimming away.

Later, the lodge cooked up our catch for lunch. Kinda like sardines.

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Address: Any Amazon Lodge
Directions: Upriver from Iquitos -- Most Lodges offer this as an activity

Hint: don't wear black. I attracted so many mosquitos my friends had to swat me every 2 seconds like a cow's tail.

We saw a giant Ceiba tree, termites, a catepillar and something called a "Jungle Rat" in a tree. I don't know if that's actually what it was called as our guide didn't speak much English and had a habit of describing all animals by putting the word "Jungle" in front of it ("Look. Jungle Ants!")

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Directions: Upriver from Iquitos. Any Amazon lodge

Does the sun glow hotter four degrees from the equator?

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This one was so cute. Its tail had been nibbled off by pirahna.

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Directions: Upriver from Iquitos. Any amazon lodge. They'll take you on the river at night as one of the activities and the guide will catch the caiman.

Wildlife is all around you in the Amazon. There was a tarantula on the roof of the cabin-tent next door. A group (flock? family?) of monkeys swung into the tree above us while we were fishing for pirahna. A flying fish jumped into our boat while we were birdwatching. And that's when we weren't even looking.

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...in a hammock!

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Directions: Muyuna Lodge or any other Amazon lodge upriver from Iquitos

The Amazon is why most people visit Iquitos. On the river, you can view floating houses and pink dolphins.

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Iquitos is the place to book various jungle lodges, which will allow you to stay in the Amazon and see the jungle close up. There are various lodges to choose from. The more luxury choices are the Explorama lodges, which have the canopy tour and I think one of them even has a water slide. We went with the Muyuna Lodge mainly because its office was across the street from where we were drinking (right next to the main square -- most the other lodge offices are in a different part of town), and because one of the locals we were drinking with said it was pretty good. I got the feeling that Muyuna was a more... granola... lodge than others, what with the kumbaya guitars in the "lobby" cabin, the optional vegetarian fare and the big group of hippies on an ayahuasca trip. The location is excellent -- all the cabins are on a raised platform and the river comes up over the ground in the high season. No electricity, FYI -- the place is lit by lanterns an candles, and good luck keeping secrets as are the walls are basically mosquito nets. Fun fact -- I'm pretty sure that dude from Travel Sick went to the Muyuna lodge as when I saw the Peru episode I was totally like "I know that blue chair!!" My only beef was the main guide didn't really give us much information on what to do (He assumed we knew how to dress for the jungle and how to put on mud boots, etc. Then, when us city kids were all like "huh?" he went off with the two more experienced lodgers because we were too slow).

There are lots of other options, as you will see when you get to the airport as people will try to steer you toward different lodges. The further away you get, the more untouched the jungle is and the more wildlife you will see.

The lodges run about $100 a day, which is pricey, but the jungle is so awesome. Included in the price is a guide, meals and 2-3 activities a day like pirahna fishing, visiting a village, a walk through the jungle and evening wildelife spotting on the river.

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This church lights the main square of Iquitos, illuminating the humid jungle air with its neon meets neo-gothic charm.

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