Iquitos Favorites

Favorite thing: If you have some time to travel you could travel to Pucallpa by bus or airplane from Lima - and from there take the boat to Iquitos.
I never did this myself..but I'm sure it's great. There is really nothing between this two cities..it's the amazon jungle!

Favorite thing: Hi Tania!

I can advise you to fly with LAN Peru from Lima directly to Iquitos. It's a very safe airlines and costs about 280 dollar round-trip.
I wouldn't spend much time in Lima. It's really a noisy, hectic and also dangerous place. If you need to stay overnight I recommend you to search a Hotel in Miraflores - the richest district of Lima. For someone with your travel expirience it's probably routine.

Because there is no street connection the only possibility to get to Iquitos besides flying, is by boat. But this takes weeks!
Probably that's one of the reasons, why it's a very safe place.
You can walk there almost everywhere without having any fear, even during the night. There are a few execptions like the Belen district.
In common the people are very friendly and not officious. In my eyes it's a very special place. I've already been to a few countries in Latin America..but this is my personal favourite place! I just went back from my third trip. If you need some advices for a hotel just write me a mail.

Favorite thing: The central market is near the Plaza de Armas, in the centre of Iquitos. It is not specially big or attractive, just another popular market, but is a good place for a cheap breakfast (it opens very early), or lunch if you are not really concerned about extreme higienic measures.

Favorite thing: Walking around the city I came across this building, which I liked by its simple architecture. Getting closer I found out that it was the Spanish Consulate. It was closed, so I couldn't go in and say "hello" :-)

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Favorite thing: I am not sure if those tiles on the houses facades are spanish or portuguese (Brazil is si close) influence, but they sure give this town a charming style, at least in the streets around the Plaza de Armas, the "richest" part of the place.
The main buildings are signed with a "This building belongs to the Nation" sign.

Favorite thing: Many people go to Iquitos to set up trip to a lodge on the Amazon. This is good thing to do. There are many good deals to be had and some wonderful lodges have offices in Iquitos. There are a lot of things to do right around iquitos. A visit to a local butterfly farm and nature reserve is a good idea. When I was there they also had ababy jaguar there whose mother had been shot and they had captured while he was poaching chickens. They also had a tapir that had been separated from its mother. The butterfly farm is located on the river in a neighboring village and like everything else in this area, can be reached by boat.

Favorite thing: Spend some days in the jungle! Not so many animals to look at, mostly birds of much colour, rose river delphins (they don´t jump, just break the water and you see the typical nose and the rose back, hard to take fotos, I didn´t have any luck), if you are lucky you can see some monkeys.
You can go fishing pirayas 10-15 cm, they are very good to eat if you ask the hotel to cook them.
The rain forrest is very beautiful and nice. I think this is a sort of civilized jungle, if you want some harder jungle, you have to go further in.