The Amazon riverboat Dawn on the Amazon I, has been redesigned, longer and wider, with better balance. A large aluminum gas tank was added to the bow for better balance and efficiency. One of the best boats in Iquitos Peru has been improved. The Dawn on the Amazon crew have been busy.

I have been enjoying a visit from my son. Matt has guided a day trip and helped on two Amazon cruises. We cruised to Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve, and later we went to Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. This was his second visit to Iquitos Peru, and we enjoyed each others company a lot.

Do you know about the Amazon Golf Course in Iquitos Peru?

The Amazon Golf Course is the only golf course in the upper Amazon in Peru. It has been under construction off and on over the last 4 years. I have been working on the web site. That has taken a lot of my time that I could have used posting here. I will tell you about the details in a later post.

My fiancée Marmelita and I work too much. We took the afternoon off in the middle of the week to go swimming and relax. The pool at La Casa Fitzcarraldo is one of the best swimming pools in Iquitos Peru. The house is historically significant as the place the director, executive producer, the actors and crew that filmed the movie Fitzcarraldo used as their base of operations. Marmelita and I lived there for several months. I will post some of that story later here in the Captains Log.

It is a pleasure to be in Iquitos Peru.

Thanks for your attention.

Bill Grimes

Iquitos Peru

Dawn on the Amazon

Dear Friends, from Iquitos Peru remains copyright of the author DawnAmazon, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Fortunately for me, a family of Polish adventurers chose Dawn on the Amazon III to carry them on an Amazon cruise for one segment of their "Amazon Challenge". Their adventure began in the Andes Mountains of Peru, at a place considered by some, including the Geographic Society of Lima, to be the source of the Amazon River, and ended at the Atlantic Ocean, over 4,000 miles down stream.

They hired me to guide them to interesting, photogenic locations along our Amazon cruise to Santa Rosa. They were documenting the Amazon Challenge with professional quality photography and semi professional video equipment, with the idea of recording and promoting them selves, possibly for a book titled, you guessed it, The Amazon Challenge. They each bought two Dawn on the Amazon T-shirts to go with their several Amazon Challenge T-shirts. I hope at least one photo with my T-shirts makes it into the book.

We had a good time at a little place I know called Los Boas, photographing them holding a twenty foot anaconda, and a spectacular red-tailed boa, with a macaw on their shoulders. I am smiling thinking about that photo in their book.

Another good photo scene was Monkey Island, where semi-wild pet monkeys swing down out of the trees to get their pictures taken, and to smear fruit pulp on the cameras.

We saw fresh water pink river dolphins, fishermen casting nets, a beautiful dawn on the Amazon, and sunsets. They captured dozens of photos of tropical birds. An Amazon cruise presents countless opportunities to practice the photographer's art.

One of my favorite stops was the village of Pevas at the confluence of the Ampiyacu and Amazon Rivers. Our famous Amazon artist Francisco Grippa lives and works in Pevas. Francisco is a charming host, and entertained with great conversation while touring his gallery and studio. He has built an observation tower with an inspirational view of the surrounding jungle, river, and village.

A little farther downstream the Ocaina indigenous performed their traditional dances in costume, and showed us some of how they preserve their culture.

We entered a small river to stop at a ribereño village. Our guests enjoyed jumping from the observation deck into the river for a swim. The youngest boy must have jumped twenty five times.

Then we caught several small piranhas in the very same place we swam.

Then we set out for Santa Rosa. We wanted to arrive in time to take part in the Fiesta de la Confraternidad. We lived on the boat for three days, at Santa Rosa, crossing back and forth to play at the fiesta. It is a spectacular annual festival that presents the best of each countries ethno-culture, including dug out canoe races and other sports, folk-lore, cuisine, a beauty contest, art, music, dancing. The Brazilian beauty won.

The day after the grand finale we escorted our guests to Tabatinga Brazil, where they made plans to continue the Amazon Challenge. We went shopping for a few duty free items, took on some supplies and cast off for the second half of our Amazon cruise back upstream to Iquitos. When we arrived three days later we had covered 1073 kilometers.

There is so much I have not told you about our Amazon cruise to Santa Rosa and back. If you would like to read a more complete account of this adventure story, please click this link, An Amazon Cruise from Iquitos Peru to a Festival at the Frontier.

Dawn on the Amazon

An Amazon Cruise to Santa Rosa at the Triple Frontier remains copyright of the author DawnAmazon, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Your first impression is the warm, oxygen rich, moist air. It feels good and is easy to breathe. Your second impression is there are thousands of motorcycles and three wheel rickshaws called moto-kars whizzing around. Be careful. The biggest adventure most travelers experience in Iquitos is racing through the streets perched on the edge of their seat in a moto-kar weaving in and out of traffic.

The rules of the road are different from what you are used to, so a bad wreck seems inevitable. Be sure to keep your arms, legs, and baggage inside the steel frame. When the moto-kar arrives, make sure you get out on the sidewalk side, never the street side. Pedestrians have no right of way in Iquitos, Peru.

Iquitos has no roads connecting to other cities making it the largest, most isolated city on any continent. Cars are status symbols. I do not have one. Boats are important. I have four river boats. I walk or take a moto-kar, and I spend a lot of time in my boats.

I want to attempt to correct a mistake perpetuated by the travel industry, and the guide books, and found on the internet. Their combined wisdom is that the best time for the traveler to come to Iquitos, Peru, is during the “dry season” from June through November.

There are two seasons, but they are not dry and wet. What is called the “dry season” should actually be called the low water season when the water level can be 40 feet lower than the high water season. High water levels are from December through May.

The rise and fall of the water has little or nothing to do with rainfall on Iquitos. It is the snow melt and rainfall on the east slope of the Andes that causes our rivers to rise. In my opinion the only activities that are better in the low water season are fishing, collecting ornamental fish, and walking on the beach. Everything else is better in the high water season.

The most important historical event in Iquitos, Peru, was the rubber boom, which caused an explosion in population and prosperity from 1880 through 1912. The legacy from the rubber era can still be seen in the architecture of the city and the elegant mansions, as well as the Iron House and bandstand designed by Eiffel.

Most of the mansions are decorated with exquisitely painted ceramic tiles imported from Portugal, and with mahogany elaborately carved by the most skilled Italian artists. You could love a tour of the historical buildings of Iquitos. Be sure to visit the Museo Amazonico, constructed in 1863 to admire the many sculptures by Felipe Lettersten, as well as the old photographs from the turn of the 19th century.

Shopping is not good in Iquitos unless you want to buy tropical fruits, natural medicines, or other jungle extracts, in which case it is great. I wish every traveler would take a special tour with a knowledgeable guide to the Belen market in the morning for an unusual shopping experience. In the alleyway known as Pasaje Paquito there is a natural medicine to cure every imaginable illness, and in the lower Belen Market you can buy anything that can be sold.

The Plaza de Armas has a wonderful fountain. We like to buy ice cream cones from across the street and eat them in the cool mist from the fountain. It can be very romantic.

Another good place to hang out is the Malecon, also called the boulevard, or river walk, with the best view of the sunrise over the Itaya River. Perhaps we will meet. I live on the third floor of the corner building across the street from the historic chapel and seminary. My office is on the ground floor. Look for the sign that says Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises. Stop in and say hi.

On Saturday and Sunday night the boulevard is the place to be, where people gather to see and be seen. You would love to visit with some of the “characters” from the ex-pat community, drink a cold Iquiteña Extra beer (locally brewed), and watch the action. Clowns on stilts, mimes, slapstick comedians, capoeira, a brass band, street musicians, a dog and monkey show, and beautiful women all compete for your attention. My favorite is the group of capoeiristas that performs the capoeira, an acrobatic martial arts dance, every Saturday at 8 p.m. I have the best seat in the house from my balcony.

You would love going with me in one of the boats for a few hours. The port area is one of the most interesting parts of the city and most travelers never see it. I like to cruise slowly close to shore and watch the tugs and barges, the colectivos, llevo-llevos, lanchas, lanchitas, canoes, and rafts, all so full of people, livestock, fruit, charcoal, and other jungle products they look like they would surely sink. Coming and going, loading and unloading…not many places in the world have more interesting maritime traffic than the Iquitos ports.

The best way to experience the most picturesque area in Iquitos, the Barrio de Belen, is from a boat during the high water season. The houses are built on balsa rafts and float up and down as the water level changes. The floating houses are laid out in streets of water.

This area is known as the Venice of Peru. Everyone has a canoe or llevo-llevo with a peque-peque motor. We like to cruise through slow and easy watching life being lived in a different way. One of my boats was built here so I know the neighborhood very well. This is one of the most interesting places I have ever been and I think you would love it to.

A short boat ride away from Iquitos are some of my favorite places, the Amazon Animal Orphanage and Pilpintuasi Butterfly Farm, the Momon River, a small winding stream with the jungle close on both sides, a petting zoo where you can wrestle a giant anaconda, the Bora and Yagua indigenous villages, and a good place to watch the pink river dolphins. I think you would love to spend part of a day cruising around the rivers of Iquitos with me.

The best of Iquitos Peru are the people!

The most important components of Iquitos, Peru, are the friendly non-violent people. The streets are the safest of any city I have known, and are swept by hand every night so they are usually clean. Violent crime is nearly unheard of, but of course there are plenty of hustlers so please use common sense like always.

The population census shows far more women than men. You have probably never see so many people smiling and laughing, ready to dance, drink, play, and flirt for fun. Every holiday is thoroughly celebrated and there are a lot of parades and parties. Plus we are blessed with eternal summer.

Iquitos, Peru, is known as The City of Love. If you are not in love when you arrive, there is a good chance you will be when you leave…

Dawn on the Amazon

You Could Love Iquitos Peru remains copyright of the author DawnAmazon, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The Price of Gas, and the Exchange Rate in Iquitos Peru

This series of posts should help answer some of the questions I get asked all the time. What is the exchange rate? How much for a gallon of gas in Iquitos Peru? How much does it cost to outfit a major Amazon expedition? How long does it take to get organized? How do you know how much pure water to stock? How much food? How much does your insurance cost? How much would it cost to build a boat like Dawn on the Amazon?

This post is about the price of gas and the exchange rate. On October 18th 2007, the exchange rate for one United States dollar was S/2.98 soles. Eight years ago I would never have predicted the exchange rate would fall below three soles for a dollar. I prefer not to speculate about what that says about the United States economy, but I know it is not good for my personal economy.

We are organizing a six day expedition up the Nanay River into Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve.

For part of our preparation I purchased 215 gallons of diesel fuel priced at S/8.20 per gallon, ($2.75 per gallon) which equals S/1763 ($592).

We also purchased 90 gallons of 90 octane gasoline priced at S/10.32 per gallon, ($3.46 per gallon) which equals S/9,288, ($312).

We purchased 3, ten-kilo tanks of propane gas for cooking priced at S/33, per tank, ($11.07 per tank) which equals S/99 ($33).

S/1,763 ($592) + S/9,288 ($312) + S/99 ($33) = S/11084 ($937), total price of fuel.

This is not the total cost to take on petroleum products for this expedition. We changed the oil in three motors, hired moto-kars to take us back and forth after gas and oil and filters, filed a form called a zarpe with the Captain of the Port, bought my crew breakfast for starting work early to get the diesel fuel, and other miscellaneous nickel and dime costs. For the purpose of this blog we can round it off to $1000.

If the expedition was to the Triple Frontier or the Pacaya River entrance to Pacaya Samiria National Reserve the expedition would travel three times as far and would cost approximately three times as much, so the cost for petroleum products alone would be more than $3,000.

There you have it; the purchasing power of the dollar is falling while the price of fuel is rising. I have been asked by several people if Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises will raise the prices in 2008 to reflect the low exchange rate and the higher price of gas? The answer is no, my prices will remain the same for 2008. The reason is Dawn on the Amazon has great reviews in the Lonely Planet Travel Guide, the Moon Travel Guide, Iquitos, Gateway to Amazonia, and others, as well as various places on the internet quoting today's prices.

In future posts we will examine the costs of food, labor, insurance, taxes, fees to access the reserves, the help we provide the native villages, and the permits necessary to operate a boat on the Amazon River in Peru. Another question that I am asked over and over is how much would it cost to build a boat like Dawn on the Amazon?

I hope you will check back here as I attempt to answer those questions, and tell stories about what we see and do operating out of Iquitos Peru.

The Price of Gas, and the Exchange Rate in Iquitos Peru remains copyright of the author DawnAmazon, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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