2. Return to Lima and Iquitos, 7/17/06

Monday, July 17, 2006

Upon arrival in Lima we passed swiftly through immigration and retrieved three of our bags. Unfortunately our fourth bag containing all of our extra clothes and toiletries failed to arrive. As I filled out the usual forms with our forwarding information in Iquitos, I had great hopes but serious doubts we would see our bag before the end of our trip.

We were supposedly only going to have a four-hour layover before catching the 5 am Lan Peru flight to Iquitos, but while waiting at the gate we were first told the flight being delayed because of rainy weather in Iquitos. As more tourists arrived we were eventually told the flight was cancelled.

This announcement caused somewhat of an uproar among the waiting passengers. People were then divided into three groups. We were put in the first group that would be rebooked on the next flight due to leave at 4:30 pm. The second group would be scheduled for the 7 pm flight. And the others? Well, they were given a number to call to see if they could leave the next morning. In the interim, I chatted with two Americans who worked for an environmental engineering firm. They were bound for an oil drilling site in the jungle to help with a long-term clean-up in the wake of some bad soil and water contamination. I passed their names along to former colleagues at Amazon Watch.

Since we would now have the whole day in Lima, I tried to use the time for some more networking. I called the office of AIDESEP, the network that represented indigenous associations in the Peruvian Amazon, but no one answered. Marissa was also understandably feeling very tired so we decided to just stick it out in the airport. We camped out for a awhile in the eatery section to write letters and do some studying. I half read and half slept through an airline magazine with articles in Spanish and English. While the eatery had a comfortable temperature, its only sockets seemed to accomodate a floor cleaner. I finally found a coffee shop with a regular plug where I could plug in my computer. We moved our roving office into there and ordered the minimum amount possible. I had one coffee, and Marissa had nothing. I finished writing a review of an article about the harvest and economics of a plant used for making handicrafts in some Brazilian communities. I saved my piece onto a jumpdrive and sent it off from a pricey internet cafe.

After another meal or so we were able to board the afternoon flight to Iquitos. This time things went smoothly. Getting off the plane, it felt great to be back in the Amazon. The green, the heat and the informality was all pleasantly familiar. I saw my name on a sign for our hotel in the baggage claim area and within minutes of getting our bags we were loaded in the funky hotel van and ready to head to town. Just as we were pulling out, our friend Angel ran up to the window, reached in his hand to shake mine, and said hello as we drove away. We then saw he and Victor waving. I felt bad that we had missed greeting them more in person, but didn’t know that they had come back to the airport on their own. Marissa seemed to enjoy her re-entry to the tropics, it wasn’t Brazil, but the sights of the palm trees, “rustic houses” and the like were very reminiscent of her memories of our time there.

The Hotel Europa was much like I remembered it. Very basic but clean with amenities such as a private bathroom (with a tiny shower), air conditioner, TV, and refrigerator. Marissa hung out in the room while I went out with Angel and Victor to chat and eat. I was sad to learn that my favorite restaurant in town – the Casa de Fierro had been closed for some months. Apparently the owner just left for reasons unknown to Angel.

We went to my other previous Iquitos hangout – the Fiztcarraldo that is on the corner by the public plaza overlooking the water. As we arrived, there was an Indian looking girl doing a dance with a rather large boa constrictor – definitely a tourist kind of thing. Angel was ready and willing to join me for the whole trip. Victor would accompany us for as much time as he could. We left it that Angel would contact Cesar at IIAP (our partner institute) to meet us the next morning. We would try to get hold of our other colleague Nestor to make sure we'd be ready to leave on the 5 pm boat to Jenaro Herrera. I had a very good sleep that night – the first in several days.