Living in Peru : your everyday companion

I’ve often wondered what kind of person would set about navigating the River Amazon on a raft. There was that nut back in the fifties who crossed the Atlantic on a raft. Then there was “Ben Hur” on that raft with the Roman Consul, “Row-well and Live.” But the Amazon? With all those crazy piranhas swimming about! Aren’t rafts held together with rope or something? Gnaw-gnaw!

My good friend Mick invited me to join the “Great Amazon Raft Race.” It was his creation. Now I know why they call him “Mad Mick.” Having organized raft races in England many years ago, he promotes the annual “Great Amazon Raft Race” here in Iquitos, Peru. This year fifteen foreign teams will be competing with twenty-four Peruvian Teams.

by
The Iquitos Times

Rafting Club, based in Iquitos, Peru, invites rafters, canoeists, rowers, paddlers and adventurers from all over the world to compete in this year’s event. The 3 day race will start in the town of Nauta on Friday, 25th September 2009, and finish in the City of Iquitos on Sunday, 27th September 2009. Each 4 person crew will paddle a raft they built themselves the day before the race (24th September). Each raft will be constructed of lightweight balsawood logs which will be provided. Then the teams will raft down the mighty Amazon River for 112 miles. The winning crews will show excellence in raft construction, teamwork, stamina and knowledge of currents and rivers.

by
Bill Grimes

We do every thing the hard way at the Amazon Golf Course. This roller that we use to pack the greens to make them firm, was custom made for us by a welder in Iquitos. There is a trap door in the side to fill with sand to make it heavier. To move the roller to another green the grounds crew empties the sand in a sand trap, moves to a different green, then fills the roller with sand from the closest sand trap to the green that is being rolled. It’s the hard way, but it works!

by
Yancey Davis

Somewhere, far from museums and galleries, adventure sports packages and "hands on" animal reserves, past picturesque natives all too willing to pose for that perfect shot, lies an entire world, far off the gringo trail. It can get confusing out here, and sometimes scary, especially for the neophyte tourist looking to expand his or her travelling chops. The long way down the Napo and Amazon Rivers from Coca, Ecuador to Iquitos, Peru is one of these experiences.

by
Mike Collis

Work started on the construction of the Amazon Golf Course in April 2004 and although it was not completed until late 2006 the course was playable. Over the last 3 years many golfers have tried this interesting but difficult course. The 2,500-yard, 9 hole course boasts extra’s not available on other courses, such as piranhas in the water traps and red tailed boas in the rough. Each golfer is provided with a machete when he or she takes on the par 35 course.

by
Alexander Zaitchik

Ever since I first began playing with psychedelics as a teenager, I have wanted to do them in the jungle. It took only one or two bad trips in the city before I started imagining the experience away from the car alarms and ambulance sirens, and closer to its millennia-deep origins in ceremony and sacrament.

by
Gart van Gennip

I live in Iquitos, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. Even after three years, sometimes I have to pinch myself and say it out loud; “It’s true! I live in Iquitos, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest!” I love to live here and I get excited about every opportunity to tell everyone what a great place this is and how fortunate I feel for being here. When someone makes a positive comment about the wonder and the beauty of this place, my chest swells as if it were a personal compliment.

by
Keith Aronowitz

My name is Keith Aronowitz and I am one of those insane people that decided to fund their own film. Okay, maybe not insane, but it was just something I decided to do, or rather felt I had to.

ikitos.com introduces Salva la Selva: The first battery recycling program in Iquitos

"Salva la Selva," it simply means: Save the Rainforest. The people at ikitos.com, the virtual community of Iquitos, understand that saving the rainforest is a daunting task, but that every journey starts with the first step. Salva la Selva is just a small step in the right direction, but people who hear about it, are excited about how simple this concept really is. How do you recycle batteries in the middle of the Amazon rainforest?

by
Glen David Short

Two intrepid British motorcyclists are presently visiting Iquitos. Pete Sandford and Steve Holmes have already covered more than half the distance featured in the recent hit film ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’. However, these two are attempting to do even better: to travel the entire route, from Buenos Aires to Caracas with vintage Norton motorbikes. Both Englishmen, now in their 50s, weren’t even born when Che and Alberto Granado undertook their famous journey, but they are enthusiastic fans of both the Che story and the Norton bike. The Brits’ life stories however are quite removed from that of Che and Alberto. Pete was a pro-surfer who at one time ranked #8 in the UK; in 1977 Pete and Steve made up 2/3 rds of a band called ‘Demolition’ which once headlined with Boomtown Rats. Demolition wrote songs with titles like ‘Heart Failure’, ‘Gangrene’, and ‘Swastika Girl’. The band broke up, and Pete and Steve lost contact for 26 years but found each other again in 2006 and started planning the trip only last year.