11/29/19 – 12/6/19 Before going to bed we’d put the leftover chicken and salad we’d bought the previous night in the fridge so we could have it for lunch on our way to Arica. I got up around six and found David asleep on the kitchen floor, a mangled bird carcass next to him. Salad
11/22/19 – 11/28/19 Altitude can have strange effects on the human body. Thickened blood and pressure on the brain can cause a number of unexpected issues. In many cases, a person’s fitness is irrelevant. It was cold and dark by six and we went to bed early. I awoke around nine thirty and noticed that
11/19/19 – 11/22/19 Arequipa outskirts. Bus exhaust breakfast. Hectic hustling through traffic, but soon discover ourselves removed from urban confines and in mountain bordering pueblos. In the air a mixture of mesquite, parched desert, and grilled chicken. Lunch in Pocsi. Asked if the water was potable and a woman confirmed in a curious manner as
11/12/19 – 11/18/19 At sea level, atmospheric pressure is around 14.7 pounds per square inch. At sixty thousand feet above sea level (~18,000 meters) it drops to one pound per square inch. This elevation is known as the Armstrong limit in Honor of General Harry George Armstrong, who was the first to recognize the significance
11/3/19 – 11/11/19 “I have never used them, but to me they seem like they would be very nice.” Wim, our host, had a soft and polite voice. He’d directed us to a dentist around the corner. All we needed was a cleaning. We walked in together and promptly directed to a pair of 1950’s
10/26/19 – 11/2/19 In my attempts to learn Spanish, I came across a film called “The Pope’s toilet.” It is about a town in Uruguay that will be visited by the Pope. The newspapers predict over a million people will come to see him speak and so everyone in town is scheming how to profit
10/18/19 – 10/25/19 I was up at five in the morning due to an over achieving rooster. I decided to work on my Spanish a bit and opened up my frequency dictionary, which lists the words of a language in order of the ones most commonly used. I took note that “Dios,” or “God,” is
10/12/19 – 10/17/19 You can ride the hundred flat kilometers from Iquiotos to Nauta in a day. Somewhere in the middle though, you will find the Reserva Nacional Allpahuayo-Mishana. It poured most of the day and we were soaked by the time we pulled in. As the rain subsided we took a walk into the
10/9/19 – 10/11/19 “I must go back. I have much to learn from these medicines.” If you were going to pick a poster child for taking psychedelic drugs in the middle of the Amazon, Roger wouldn’t be your man. Bloodless cadaverous complexion, brow glistening with sweat, nonstop nasal drip soaking a handful of toilet paper
This is just a quick informational post for anybody looking to make the trip by boat from Coca, Ecuador, into the Peruvian Amazon through Iquitos and eventually to Yurimaguas where you can continue by road. This post only covers logistics. Specifics from our trip can be found in posts about Coca to Pantoja and Pantoja to