Boat Trucking down to Iquitos

The next day we waited for a river boat heading toward Iquitos to pull into the villae and set off on the nex leg of our down river journey. The shore line was again somewhat desolate and the boat just as crowded as the last one with barely room to swing a hammock on the sleeping deck.

Panoramas of the river bank and the crowded sleeping deck.

The boat stopped in in the middle of the night at a small town to take on and put off major freight items.

Panorama of the boat unloading (left) from the lamp-lit town at night on infra-red.

Next morning, we faced a vast smoggy industrial river - a thoroughfare with many passing river boats and sometimes vast wide swathes where the river banks receded towards the horizon.

Panoramas of the ever -widening river.

There was a continuing presence of major logging operations.




The passengers and crew were a friendly engaging bunch.










Here the river got so vast we nearly lost sight of the banks. It is about here that the Ucayali joins the Marañon and formally becomes the Amazon.

A cut through an island to another channel of the river beyond.

Another riverside town Tanshiyacu on the journey.

Panorama of the town.

Were were now coming to the point where ocean-going freighters were able to reach this far up river.



Finally we reached the side arm where Iquitos lies, a kind of purgatory or image of Dante's inferno.

Circular panorama of the entrance to Iquitos

The bleakness of Iquitos was matched by the smoggy bleakness of the entire day.