Pearls of Life: Amazon Peru
Indigenous Community, Amazon Jungle, Peru
Visiting the Amazon River on the Peru side was on my bucket list. The first time I visited the Amazonian people on the Peru side was when I was in Leticia Colombia and I took a boat to cross from the Colombian side to the Peruvian side. On the other side of the Amazon River, on a ride that took 10 minutes on a fisherman boat, the indigenous community of Santa Rosa are living there. It is evident that this community is very poor and lives very simply. Here, you can witness really unusual situations where the community jail of this area is across the street from a big restaurant and entertainment gathering. The community is not used to tourists, but it is used to Colombians crossing the Amazon River in order to sit in those ‘fancy restaurants’ on the Peruvian side. The restaurants sit on the Amazon River and the food is really delicious, cooked fresh at time of order. Moving inside the community is possible only by foot or with a tuk-tuk, there are no cars.
The second time I visited a community on the Amazon River on the Peruvian side was a totally different experience. The community was on the other side of the river, not bordering the Colombian Amazonians city. I had to take a flight in order to get to the city of Iquitos, Peru. Iquitos is the capital Amazonians city on the side of Peru.
Flying from Bogota, Colombia to Iquitos, Peru was the beginning of special adventures, The Amazonians, Peru. I was looking for a place to sleep and I found this small hotel run by an American guy that married a local Peruvian girl. The hotel was located behind the fruit and vegetable market in the city of Iquitos. The other side of the hotel was on the Amazon River bed, where you can enjoy the view of the fishermen boats and the indigenous boats floating on the Amazon River. I was amazed to be able to open the morning with such an amazing fresh look of the creation of God.
Going out of the hotel, towards the city, involved the combination of all 5 senses operating together. The market voices, the smells of the fresh fruits, the population, the traffic of Motorbikes and Tuk-Tuks, all contributed to two words: Amazing and Joyful.
I think that seeing the simplicity of the way people live, the local tribes, the Amazonian people, the indigenous, and the leadership of the Shaman, markets and colorful trading, teach you so much about life and how to appreciate the life that God gave us.
The diversity and contrast between modernization to preservation of ancient habitation is paramount to the successful authentication of life. Specifically, among the indigenous communities.
My wish to explore more and to be familiar with the way of living of the indigenous and the local Peruvians on this side of the globe, made me take some decisions. I decided to hire a local Amazonian guy and to take a boat down the Amazon River to spend a few nights in the Peruvian Amazonians community. I arrived at a lodge inside the Amazon Jungle after a 4 hours boat ride from Iquitos city. In that lodge, I met a few international tourists, and Peruvian Amazonian guides. I was able to visit the communities to drink fresh coconut water and to dance with a tribe. I was lucky to attend a ceremony where the Peruvian Amazonian tribes celebrate the Earth Day. They prepared face masks with natural red color, prepared from a flower, and they gathered all together in the Chief’s house. The wife of the chief welcomed us, with a big pot of face mask coloring, immediately, she grabbed my hands and colored my face. I found myself dancing with the tribe in a circle with drums and other musical instruments that they created. The tribe were planting new plants, especially on this Earth Day Holiday. Everyone in the indigenous community was participating. Upon finishing the ceremony, I was guided to a different community of the Peruvian Amazonians. That indigenous community took under her umbrella to have an animal shelter. In that shelter, there were all kinds of monkeys, sloth, and snakes. The community supported the salvation of those animals and diligently took care of the new generation of those animals and let them go back to nature.
I was amazed with the care and the preservation that the Peruvian Amazonian tribe were taking to cultivate this preservation. In continuation to my visit in the Amazon River, Peru, I visited a different community and I was able to ask permission to sleep overnight, not in a lodge, but in a house of one of the indigenous people. It was a treehouse, very simple, no beds, no cabins, just a structure to protect against the wind and rain. Due to its tropical weather in the Amazon Jungle, periodically the rain was coming down on us.
The hospitality of the indigenous was above my expectations. I was offered fresh fruits and fish that night. I loved the adventure and I recommend to anyone that can afford the trip to take the chance and be familiar with the indigenous Amazonian people of Peru.
