Peru

Hello my fellow travellers. I know many of you are wondering what your next travel adventure will be. Let me share this news with you about the Great River Amazon Raft Race. It may be your next big adventure that you did not even know about until now. This sounds like the equivalent of a tropical Iditarad. The longest raft race in the world on the largest river in the world got my attention, but wait till you hear this. The rafts are made of balsa logs that you build yourself, tying the logs together with jungle vines like the Amazon natives have done for a thousand years. The paddles are carved with machetes from a Remo Caspi tree, which means paddle tree, because the wood is strong but light, the best wood for paddles, the same wood the Amazon natives have used for 1000 years.

The Great River Amazon Raft Race is like going back in time to a way of life that no longer exists in the civilized world. Sixty teams of four persons will be taken upstream beyond the headwaters of the Amazon River and dumped off at a small, ribereño village on the Marañon River to construct their rafts. Sounds like Survivor, only better. If you think things are too civilized and you want to disconnect and unplug for a week, this could be for you.

The length of the race will depend on water levels. High water opens up the possibility of more short cuts, if the water is lower the rafts will have to stay in the channel more. If the water is lower the race could be 133 miles, if it is higher the race could be 118 miles. Either way it is the longest raft race in the world. The race is divided into three days with the total time of all three days to determine placement. The finish line is in Iquitos Peru.

Iquitos is famous for having no roads connecting it to any other city, and as the jumping off point for Amazon adventures. The Great River Amazon Raft Race is one of the biggest adventures available for you to choose.

The 10th annual Great River Amazon Raft Race is organized by the Amazon Rafting Club, in Iquitos Peru and will be held September 20th to September 22nd 2008. You must be in Iquitos on September 19th for the orientation meeting. The motto of the Great River Amazon Raft Race is, "The faint of heart need not apply", which I think describes the degree of difficulty very well.

The official blog site of the Amazon Rafting Club is The Great River Amazon Raft Race Blog

If you would like more information about this great raft race either leave a comment below or on the raft race blog site above. It can be difficult to get a 4 person crew together but the Amazon Rafting Club always has one or two persons wanting to join a team so they can probably hook you up with other people wanting to participate.

Several teams have already signed up, including the Brotherhood and Sisterhood from the UK. They are groups of adventurous young men and women that use exotic adventurous settings to promote sponsors into donating large amounts of money to their favorite charitable foundations, usually to help disadvantaged children. They recently paddled dragon boats across the English Channel for publicity and charity. Every year this race gets bigger and better. I hope you will decide to be part of this 10th year anniversary.

The photo above is of The Over the Hill Gang, led by 74 years old Mort Caplan, seen celebrating being the oldest person to finish the Great River Amazon Raft Race by enthusiastically chugging a large Iquiteñan beer.

If the Great River Amazon Raft Race seems interesting to you, please tell your friends and use the social bookmark icons below this article. A StumbleUpon, a del.icio.us, a Reddit, a Digg can bring hundreds of new readers to Travellerspoint, and to this article, The Great River Amazon Raft Race, Your Next Big Adventure.

I hope you will check back with me. I will be writing more on the Great River Amazon Raft Race, and articles about my other adventures on the Amazon River and the rainforest. Thank you for your consideration, Bill

Dawn on the Amazon

Digital art by my son Matt Grimes

My favorite place to enjoy a great steak in Iquitos Peru is La Querencia Parrillada, located on the first block of Napo # 138, a half block towards the river from the Plaza de Armas. The phone number is 225785. English menus are available on request.

I always order the small (250 gr.) Lomo Fino, (beef tenderloin), with perfect french fries and a heart of palm with tomatoes and cucumber salad, for S/20 (less than $6.75). I prefer my steaks medium rare, but here I order medium and it comes out perfect for me.

They serve an excellent half bottle of Peruvian reserve red wine (vino tinto) for another S/20, or a house wine by the glass for S/6.

La Querencia offers a choice of four of the best homemade table sauces in Iquitos. My favorite sauce for the steak is the fresh basil, fresh oregano, sweet pepper and garlic in a small amount of olive oil. On the French fries I enjoy the tomato, chive, spicy pepper sauce. The sauce that looks like it might be homemade mustard is hot, be careful.

The last time I ate at La Querencia, I was the only gringo among 18 customers, the time before that I was the only gringo among 25 customers. After my meal I always go to the kitchen counter and tip the chef one or two soles. He seems to appreciate the compliment.

Most people would consider the steak, French fries, and sauces at La Querencia to be excellent in any city or country. I am pleased to give it my highest recommendation.

What is your favorite restaurant to eat steak in Iquitos Peru?

Dawn on the Amazon

I am going to take you behind the scenes of the Amazon Animal Orphanage and Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm in Iquitos Peru. Most people know a little bit about the Butterfly Farm. I have earned my insights studying and photographing at the Butterfly farm.

First, let me introduce you to the cast of characters:

Tony Piraña thinks she is the star of the show at the Butterfly Farm. Tony is a White-fronted Capuchin Monkey, raised by street children in Iquitos Peru. Capuchins are considered to be the smartest monkeys in Central and South America, with many documented cases of habitual tool use. Tony uses tools. She uses sweaty gringos for salt licks, supplementing her diet with daily mineral licks. She is a talented pick pocket and a good photographer. Keep one hand on your camera and the other on your sun glasses.

Chavo is the boss. Everyone does what he says. How an endangered Red Uakari Monkey took over the Butterfly Farm is another story. Chavo nurtures and grooms the young monkeys, and carries them around on his back. He does not seem to care what species they are. He protects them all, so don't attack any little monkeys, otherwise he will do the same to you. Something that he likes is to groom the guests, and then he wants you to return the favor.

Zeke and Florian are Saki Monkeys. If you are lucky they might let you touch their luxurious tails.

Junior is a Black Capuchin and is Tony's pick pocket protégé. No offence to Tony but Junior is cuter, nicer and has much better manners. He likes to come and play with you and be coquettish, wiggling his eyebrows up and down, as he crawls under your shirt or blouse, ha, ji. Here the people joke that the man would like to be the monkey…

Rosa is a Giant Anteater, also orphaned and an endangered species. To me it is a great treat to see this animal up close. Until you have seen how long her tongue is, you will not believe me.

Gudrun is a human. Her job is just to work hard and make enough money to feed the animals.

Igor and young Argus are Red Howler Monkeys and are among the most polite characters at the Butterfly Farm.

Two new members of the Butterfly Farm family are Pauly and Wicky. Pauly is an immature Red Uakari. Wicky is a young Saddleback Tamarind.

All of the characters listed above are free to roam at will around the Butterfly Farm

Lucas is a tapir that lives in a large fenced in jungle pasture. He eats $1,000 worth of fruit and vegetables per year.

Pedro Bello, the magnificent Jaguar, lives in a huge cage that cost $10,000 to build, with a big pool of water, plus he eats $3,600 worth of red meat, chicken and fish, per year. I did not realize how large Jaguars get until I stood close to Pedro. His paws and head are huge.

Roblar is another human. Like Lucas, he rarely leaves his fenced in area. He works hard every day, leading tours and preventing the monkeys from eating the caterpillars and butterflies.

The monkeys forage for most of their food except for peanuts which they seem to love. The monkeys cost around $250 per year to feed.

Four macaws and nine parrots eat around $600 per year of fruit and nuts.

The manatee eats 22 pounds of lettuce per day for a cost of over $1,000 per year for a sea cow that only shows you its nostrils.

Add a few hundred dollars to feed the agouti, turtles, and caiman.

Had it not been for Gudrun's and Roblar's intervention, all of these other "characters" would most certainly have died long ago.

These two humans need help. I do not know how much the veterinarians charge them, or how much is spent on labor and maintenance, INRENA fees, taxes, and miscellaneous expenses, but I think it is a lot.

Don't expect me to be unbiased about the Amazon Animal Orphanage and Pilpintuawasi Butterfly Farm in Iquitos Peru. Gudrun is one of my best friends in Iquitos. I know how hard she works. In addition to the Butterfly Farm she works at the University teaching German and English so she can afford to buy enough food for Pedro Bello.

I am going to reveal another behind the scenes secret. There is a new character in the plot. Gudurn and Roblar have saved an Ocelot. The Ocelot must have a larger cage to be happy, and to make Gudrun, Roblar, all the rest of us, and you happy.

I am not authorized to speak for the Butterfly Farm, but please, donate money toward a larger cage for the Ocelot, and to help with food costs. Do not ask to see the ocelot without making a donation.

In case you think a Butterfly Farm sounds boring, lots of exciting natural events happen here. Boa Constrictors slip into the Agouti cage for a meal, and then can not get back out. Giant larva, big around as a sausage, hatch into huge beetles with samari swords for pinchers. Pedro Bella hurtles after a monkey silly enough to get on top of his cage. When Pedro is very lucky he gets a live agouti turned into his lair, or a live fish released into his pond.

The Butterfly Farm is located in the jungle near the village of Padre Cocha, and the life and death drama of the food chain plays out here every day. I observe and photograph something new and unexpected every time I go to the Butterfly Farm.

Join me the next time Dawn on the Amazon visits the Butterfly Farm. There you will find a lot of what you came to Iquitos Peru to see in the first place. I didn't even mention the 40 species of tropical butterflies and their host plants in the botanical garden.

Amazon Animal Orphanage and Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm, Iquitos Peru,
Bill Grimes, Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises

“Es él muerto?”

I jump out of my seat and gape at a Peruano man standing in his
canoe in the rain. I brush mosquitoes from my face. I thought mine
was the only boat around for miles, but here’s this man in a canoe
pointing to the front of my boat.

“Es él muerto?” he says again.

He looks worried. He’s standing in the rain in his canoe, pointing. It’s
not just any kind of rain, either. It’s rainforest rain. It’s coming down
harder and faster than you’ve ever seen rain. It’s thick. It has sound.
It’s coming down so hard, it hits the surface with such a splash, it’s
like it’s raining up. I look to the front of my boat, to Mark laying on
the fishing platform in his raingear. Rain bouncing up off of him.

Where I am, in the relative dryness under the thatched roof by the
wheel, are a million mosquitoes, buzzing about their good fortune of
shelter and food. I’m doing my best to put mind over matter, to kind
of hum at a frequency sympathetic to theirs and confuse them enough
to stop the frenzy. I’ve always tried to make a point of ignoring them
and going about my business. It is not working.

There didn’t have to be mosquitoes. Really. It depends on the
water. Black, tannic acid, no mosquitoes. Clear sweet water, Deet
won’t do it. When we were back in Iquitos planning the trip, we knew
this, but we wanted to come here. We packed the boat, threw the
chickens on the roof, and took off. We meandered around
adventurously and wound up here, with a guy standing in the rain in
his canoe pointing to Mark, laying on the fishing platform in his
rain gear to escape the mosquito fest under the thatching.

“Hey, Mark,” I call. “What’s muerto mean?”

Mark sits up on the platform. “I don’t know. Dead, I think,” he says.
“Why?”

I look back out at the rain falling in an unbroken curtain, like looking
out from behind a waterfall, no sign of the Peruano man or the canoe.
“No reason,” I say. I brush at the mosquitoes.

Dawn on the Amazon