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miércoles, 2 de mayo de 2012

Quillabamba to Iquitos Part 5

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Had one last nights sleep on the cow boat and it turns out we are only an hour away from Atalaya our destination to get the next boat. Be glad to get off this one thats for sure.
Upon arrival to Atalaya get a small hostal near the port and settle in here until the next boat to Pucallpa, see how long it takes.
It a quiet town and I am loving the food after the scary cow boat food, there is loads of chinese and juanes typical food from the jungle, what I am struggling with is the fact that the only coffee I can get is nescafe.
A lot of time in this village is spent watching movies in the funniest little private rooms where each TV is competing for the sound and a lot of time playing Nintendo for 2 soles per hour. Excellent vacations.
Also went to a place to swim in the river simple called el Pozo where I had the opportunity to see 5 different hummingbirds, a very pleasant little town for chilling out.
After a few days here its on to the next boat the Atlas II about the same size as the last one but not full of cows, only 6 to be exact.
The boat has people on hammocks all the way up the middle and the usual mix of pigs and chickens and this time the cargo is people , fish, bananas, pigs and chickens. It is quite amazing the fish is collected and wrapped in ice that they have in massive blocks in the jungle. They keep the ice wrapped in rice peel and this way it keeps for 20 days, impressive in 30 degree heat.
All the produce is pulled and heaved onto the boat by guys that are working to pay their passage. They bring on massive fish, full hands of bananas. Really is amazing.
I sleep well until about 4am when people start moving about and the cocks start crowing getting to the toilet is going to be a nightmare so I just hang in my hammock until 6. I spend the day watching the river, the towns the people. I see an enormous raft about the size of 2 football pitches being taken to port with wood extracted from the rain forest. There are 2 tents on top of the raft, must be spectacular to travel on.
People on the boat are restless as they want to get to Pucallpa.