The Pink Dolphins and the Brown Water

On the Río Marañón

Christmas and the New Year were getting closer. Bimbino and Bambina had a plan to get till New Year's Eve to Cusco. They had to take a boat as soon as possible. Luckily the boats from Iquitos to Yurimaguas depart daily. The trip would take two and a half days, which was perfect. The monkeys would reach the land just at the right time to celebrate Chrismas in Tarapoto. They got to travel with a boat called Bruno.

The trip from Iquitos to Yurimaguas on the Bruno was quite different to the one with the Arabella-I on the Río Napo. Even that the two boats looked quite similar a lot of factors could not have been more contrary: space, food and hygiene.

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Welcome to the Jungle - Iquitos

Iquitos, Perú

With roughly 600.000 inhabitants Iquitos is one of the biggest Peruvian cities, nevertheless it is situated completely isolated in the Amazon basin, and only connected to the rest of the world by air and water.

Bimbino and Bambina arrived in Iquitos at a port on the Río Itaya, only a couple of hundred meters away of its confluence with the Río Amazon. It was shortly after midnight and still dark outside. Luckily they were able to stay longer on board so they left the Arabella-I only in the early morning hours when the sun was rising. They found ashore a busy harbor side. All cargo had already been landed during the night, not only from Arabella-I but also from a couple of other boats that lay side by side. The embankment seemed to consist from nothing else but plantains, life-stock and barkers looking for the nearest buyers to sell their goods. A scenario that reminded of old pirate movies, a picture that was only altered by the presence of cars and motor-taxis. Motor-taxis are the counterpart to the Tuk-Tuks of Bangkok and can easily be described as a bastard of a rickshaw and a motorbike.


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Instructions How To Get From Coca To Iquitos By Boat

The whole trip we divided in three parts according to three boats you have to take.


Coca (San Francisco de Orellana) => Rocafuerte

In Coca you'd better spend one day preparing for the trip. You can read about Bimbino and Bambina's preparations here.

First, you have to find a boat to Nuevo Rocafuerte. There were two companies offering this route.


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From Pantoja to Iquitos

The boat was supposed to depart on Sunday around 4 a.m., so it was easier to stay there that night. In fact the monkeys were allowed to board and sleep on the boat from the very first day, but they preferred to enjoy the comfort of the clean toilette and shower of the hotel a while longer. On Saturday evening Bimbino and Bambina packed their bags, and stepped on the board of Arabella-1. They hanged their hammocks at the level under the roof as it seamed more spacious and fresh. It was their first experience sleeping in a hammock. To their surprise, it was fairy comfortable.


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To The Other Side

It was one of the most beautiful boat rides they had ever had in their life: stunning, a little bit scary, smooth, and chanting. Bambina had to get used to the feeling of instability of the boat, it took some time. But, when she finally could confide in the captain and trust in his knowledge of the river, she was able enjoy the ride. Being so close to the water changed their perception of the river and nature around. It's like the difference between going by car and by bicycle on land. This boat was a bicycle. They were so much more in contact with the surroundings, they could easily touch the water, they saw white birds flying around, and the jungle seemed much closer this time.


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Paracas: Romance at the Sea

The Poor Man's Galapagos

Most people dream of visiting the Islas Galápagos when travelling to the west coast of South America. The majority of these people, however, never reach that goal. Instead they end up taking a trip to Peru's Islas Ballestas, another marine fauna sanctuary and a place that few people have heard of before travelling to South America.


The reason for this is simple:
While the Galápagos are located nearly 1.000km west of continental Ecuador, the Ballestas are only a stone's throw away from Paracas, a little town in the Ica region on the Peruvian coast. Reaching the Galápagos is really expensive, but it is rather cheap to get to the Ballestas. That's why they are often called the “poor man's Galápagos”.


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Lima: Grey, Strange, and Way Too Big

Transatlantic

Getting to Lima was slightly easier for our two little Monkeys than getting to Madrid had been. Luckily they did not need to hitchhike as they’d found a cheap open-jaw flight over the Atlantic.

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