Amazon River
(Photo © J. Mazzotti)

Iquitos City
Belen neighborhood
(Photo © J. Mazzotti)

Iquitos City
The House of Iron
(Photo © J. Mazzotti)

Macaw
(Photo © J. Mazzotti)

Observation Tower in front where the Amazon Rivers is born
(Photo © J. Mazzott)

Ocelot (Felis pardalis)
(Photo © H. Mazzotti)

Bora Natives
(Photo © J. Mazzotti)

About Iquitos
Iquitos is an ideal place for lovers of the ecological tourism, and for the ones who want to feel an intimate contact with the virgin nature of the Amazon forests. From the city you will be able to go to lodges into the jungle, and for the most adventurous and fearless you can arrive to parks and natural reservations, full and plethoric with exuberant flora and fauna, with many undiscovered places, and many alive species unknown by science.

Iquitos is the capital of the department of Loreto, located in the middle of the Peruvian forest, less than 4° south of Ecuador, and next to the left river bank of the Amazon River.

Iquitos was a village inhabited by the wild tribe called the "Iquitos" from whom the name was taken in the moment of its foundation in 1864. During the Spanish Colony and the gold fever caused by the legends of "El Dorado" (The Golden) and the "País de la Canela" (Country of the Cinnamon), Iquitos never had historical figuration. In 1883 began in this city the era and peak of the rubber, the exploitation of their latex and trade made that some reached immense fortunes, it brought the prosperity of the city and the construction of splendid houses began, some with tiles brought from Portugal.

In those days, Iquitos had better communications, with Europe, through the Amazon River, better than with the city of Lima. Part of the characteristic of this time was the acquisition of a house built by G. Eiffel in Paris and today located in the Main Square of Iquitos, the House of Iron. The end of the era of the rubber arrived in 1912.

From then on, Iquitos has always been the main fluvial mean and principal Amazon port of Peru; its economic activity has been centered in the commercialization of its natural resources and lately the exploitation of petroleum.

Near the city of Iquitos exists a zoological park of the Amazonian fauna, spas and resorts in "cochas" (lagoons). Almost in the same city you will be able to visit "Belen", the Peruvian Venice, or go for a walk by the pier and observe the mightiest river in the world, the Amazon River.

The population of Iquitos in its great majority are natural descendants of regional wild tribes and of the miscegenation. The people's temper is very noble and cheerful, lover of the amusement. Iquitos is also famed by the quantity of men that arrived to the city and lost their bachelorhood, because of the affection that women in this region give to the visitors. The population has many myths and legends, some occult; there is a great diffusion of the folkloric medicine and the faith to be cured with those medicines based on the great quantity of medicinal plants that exist.

In the city you will be able to find crafts of the aborigines tribes, as well as enjoy an excellent cuisine and typical drinks and beverages.

The typical public transportation in the city is the "mototaxi" or "motocar", it is a motorized tricycle used for passenger transportation with a very economic rate. There are also taxies in conventional cars that generally don't have air-conditioning. In the city you can rent a motorcycle or an automobile.

Iquitos has an international airport and arriving daily flights from Lima, capital of Peru. Iquitos don't has roads, it's only possible arrive to Iquitos by air or by river.

Visiting Iquitos

Pacaya Samiria National Reserve: With 2’080 000 hectares, it is the biggest National Reserve of Peru , also it is the largest protected flooded forest of the world and one of the richest places in biological wealth on the planet. Between its biological diversity we find 449 of tropical bird species, 102 of mammals, 256 known species of freshwater fish, 69 of reptiles and more than 1000 varieties of plants, as well as species in danger of extinction like the giant otter, the black lizard, the manatee and the pink dolphin of the Amazon. The place's beauty, as well as its biological wealth makes the reserve a particularly important destination for scientific investigators, nature lovers and bird watchers.

Eco-Tourism: The Amazon forest is the natural reserve of more extensive and more variety life of the Earth. Abundant botanical and zoological species, in lustful landscapes in those in which you can go and be lodge for some time, or in the Parks and Natural Reservations. Or if you prefer a cruise by the Amazon River, or a simple ride in a boat.

The city: The city has as axis of its social and economic life in the Main Square, and around it, famous houses of the era of the rubber as Iron House. The Main Square is very near the riverside called Tarapacá, its commercial center in the Próspero Street, and the traditional neighborhood of Belén with its floating houses on the river.

Municipal Museum: Located in the Távara Street block 2, small and modest museum with handmade works of the natives, ethnographic and with regional fauna.

Surrounding areas of the city: You will be able to visit the tourist complex of "Quistococha Zoo" for a first encounter with the regional fauna and flora and Santo Tomás a picturesque neighborhood.

Source: Go2Peru.com