Account of my trip - Day 1

I reached Iquitos from Lima at about 2pm. My flight had been delayed by an hour. The flight from Lima to Iquitos is a pretty-easy-going flight - liquids are allowed on board, as well as some sharp items.



As planned, Gart took me down to the Plaza de Armas in Lima by motocarro, and I paid 10 soles because it was New Year's Day (they charge more on holidays). Gart recommended the Verde Madero Backpacker Youth Hostel. It was pretty quiet, not exactly what I had in mind, but then I decided to stay one night. It cost me S./20.


Gart told me of an internet cafe with the fastest connection in Iquitos, near the hotel at Putomayo, Block 3, then we parted. I went wandering around the main square to check out iPeru (closed for the New Year), food options and to buy insect repellent before going to that internet cafe we spoke of. It is a reasonably cheap place, charging S./0.50 for every 15 minutes. Good value for money, but remember Iquitos gets its internet by satellite so it may not be as fast as what city-dwellers are used to.


I then walked down to Plaza 28 de Julio for a jaunt, following the map I had. I discovered that Iquitos had a much stronger police presence than Lima. Almost every other block had a security guard, marine, Peruvian police officer or tourist police standing there and keeping an eye on things. I asked some of them to take a picture of me and they gladly obliged.




I took a late lunch at a pollería (shop selling roast chicken) before heading back to the hostel for a shower. The Boulevard (Spanish name: Malecón) was full of people and acts going on for the New Year's celebrations, so I headed down there to take a look.



The hostel turned out to be rather quiet that night and I made a decision to go shopping for another hostel. I went round the block and found Mad Micks'. It was much livelier than my hostel and I decided to change hostels the next day after breakfast.