I met Rosendo at the same spot where we'd met yesterday, at the Boulevard between Napo and Putomayo. I paid him and we went off to buy some sweets for the people we'd meet later, and zipped by motocarro to the Bellavista-Nanay Market.
At the market, Rosendo introduced me to a tourist police and told the story of how I'd come to Iquitos alone and had wanted to explore it alone too. It seemed he felt like he'd rescued me from certain death.
Taking a boat from the port, we arrived at the Barrio Florido village in about half an hour. Rosendo "borrowed" a little monkey that was orphaned and was being cared for by a family. It clung to his shoulders and when I transferred him to me, it made a little whining sound.
The Fundo Pedrito was our target and had piranhas, caimans, paiches and even the Victoria Regia. S./20 got you entry with some food for feeding the animals. The piranha were especially active, as were the other animals. We might have been the first to visit, so they were all ravenous.
Another boat ride of about 40 minutes took us to the Monkey Island, where we saw a few young monkeys, parrots, anacondas and a toucan. The guy-in-charge gave us a drink made of honey and fermented sugar cane juice. We then went off the beaten trail to visit a few families on the island - the part which I liked best.
We walked along the village and stopped a few times to chat, before ending up at a community by the edge of a distributary of the Amazon. We borrowed a canoe, some paddles and began to row towards the Yahua native community.
The Yahua community was a little disappointing, to be honest. Firstly, there weren't any dances or displays, which I could understand as we were only 2 people, not a large group. The children were constantly asking for more sweets, and then were pawing at my bag. I bought a few overpriced and not particularly pretty bracelets, with them coming up to me and poking me every few seconds so I'd look at *another* bracelet. After buying the bracelets, a boy came up to me and asked for "propina" (tips or pocket money) for rice. I looked at him - he wasn't malnourished and the Amazon Basic is full of free food sources (bananas and fishes) - and refused to give him any money. The children there are different from the ones in the village on the island - much more persistent and demanding.
We rowed back and stopped a few times to try to fish for piranhas, but a lack of response, an abundance of mosquitoes and the sound of a rumbling thunderstorm caused us to abandon the idea. We then returned the canoe to the riverside community and paddles and headed back to the village, where we noticed that the storm was headed our way. We took shelter and ordered some simple lunch at a new 3-storey bamboo building (intended purpose unknown), while the storm raged and then passed.
Rosendo had asked for a boat to come get us, which was good as I was tired and did not want to trek through lots of mud to get to to the center of the village. We then took a really long boat ride, fighting against the swollen Amazon River rushing in the opposite direction to get back to Barrio Florido, where we changed boats to get back to the Bellavista-Nany Market.
During the boat trip I was incredibly cold from the rushing winds, and got wet from the rain dripping into the boat. That made me quite uncomfortable with all the stickiness of the day and the mosquito bites I'd sustained, and all I wanted as a bath. Rosendo sensed that and we made a beeline back to the hostel.
I felt much better after showering, and went to withdraw some cash at one of the many automatic teller machines (ATMS) around the main square in Iquitos. I had dinner at the same restaurant in the Iron House, then went souvenir shopping. I got a good price for keychains from a shop inside a building somewhere to the right of the Dawn on the Amazon, and ended up buying about 120 keychains for a total of 210 soles.
Then it was bedtime after yet another shower - it sure is warm in Iquitos!
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