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CITIES
IQUITOS
- Iquitos
- Iquitos: Following the Route of the
Rubber boom
- Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve
- Gastronomy
Iquitos, capital of the department of Loreto, is Peru’s
main port along the Amazon River. The city founded in
1757 began to boom from 1881 onwards as a result of
the rubber tapping industry. One can still see signs
of that economic bonanza in biuldings such as the old
Hotel Palace built in Art Nouveau style with materials
brought from Europe, and Casa de Fierro, designed by
French architect Gustave Eiffel. These constructions
contrast with rustic homes that line the Belen quarter,
where all constructions rest on pilings due to the fact
of the river rising several meters during the rain season.
A boatride, along the major rivers and lakes around
Iquitos, is particularly bewitching for visitors. Native
tribes mainly live along the banks of the Amazon, Napo,
Ucayali, Marañon and Nanay Rivers.
The most popular beaches are Tunchi
Playa, on Lake Quistococha, and Santa Clara and Santo
Tomás along the Nanay River, which are ideal
for water sports.
The Pacaya Samiria National Reserve
lies some 150 km ( 93 miles) from Iquitos and is the
largest reserve in Peru, the second largest in the Amazone
Basin and the fourth-largest in South America, its area
is home to an astonishing biodiversity of fauna and
flora.
The Festival of San Juan in June is an ideal time to
taste the local cooking at some of the many good restaurants
in the city, as well as to buy superb quality arts and
crafts and take in the joyful music of the people of
Iquitos.
IQUITOS:
FOLLOWING THE ROUTE OF THE RUBBER BOOM
The Peruvian jungle guards amidst
steamy foliage and the mysterious murmur of the Amazon
River, a collection of architecture jewels that take
visitors by surprise, both for their beauty as well
as their unique style: these are the legacy of the past
of the rubber barons, the powerful landholders who turned
the Peruvian jungle into a veritable commercial paradise
at the end of the nineteenth century.
It was the era known as the rubber
boom, a golden age for European adventures who amassed
vast fortunes from the gum trees that covered hundreds
of hectares in the region, and supplied the raw material
that was indispensable for the flourishing industry
of the time. Cities like Iquitos which up until then
had been a small port town-turned into one long party,
where no expense was spared, nor eccentricity nor luxury
lacking.
Iquitos still bears traces of the extravagant taste
of the rubber barons such as mosaics tiles in Italian-style
palaces, the bustling riverside walkway and the famous
residence designed by Gustave Eiffel which was built
from metal sheets carried by hundreds of men throuhg
the jungle. Today, in the city of Iquitos, the modest
local homes - not without a certain kitsch charm - exist
alongside French mansions, today largely used as public
offices.
Over time, demand for rubber dwindled,
with the invention of nylon and other alternative products,
signifying the end of the rubber barons. The memory
of this past filled with abundance, however, lives on
in the eccentric buildings which testify to an exuberant
and wild era.
PACAYA-SAMIRIA
NATIONAL RESERVE:
Pacaya Samiria located in the department
of Loreto, covers an area of 2,080,000 hectáreas,
and is the largest national reserve in the country.
It is considered the jewel of Peru’s northern
Amazon jungle and is home to an abundant and varied
wildlife, particularly the myriad fish species, the
main source of protein in the region. The countless
lakes, swamps and water holes area - refuge for 130
types of mammal, 330 bird species - and an as-yet unknown
number of reptile and amphibian species.
Some of the attractions of the area
all of which are endangered species include the huge
river turtle, the manatee, the pink river dolphin, the
giant river otter, the black cayman and the paiche-the
largest freshwater fish species on Earth.
GASTRONOMY
Ensalada de chonta or palmito.
Chonta palm-heart salad.
Tacacho con cecina.
Roast or fried plantain cooked and jerky.
Inchicapi. Chicken
soup with peanuts, fresh cilantro and manioc.
Cecina. Salt-dried
bef or pork.
Patarashca. Fish
wrapped in banana fronds and roasted over the fire.
Juane. Seasoned
rice and chunks of chicken wrapped in corn husks.
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CESAR P. RIOS