The Amazon

View of Amazon from the plane

As mentioned earlier, there are 3 ways to get to Peruvian Amazon: Iquitos from Lima,  Pucallpa from Lima or Puerto Maldonado (Manu national park) from Cuzco. Iquitos and Manu are the best places to experience Amazon. The great Amazon river, however is visible only from Iquitos

We chose Iquitos to experience the rain forests. Iquitos is the world's largest city that is cut off from main land and is accessible purely through air or water. It cost us 4 Soles ($1) to get from Iquitos airport to the city center. The usual fare would be around 15 Soles ($4). First thing you notice is the multitude of motor taxis more common than yellow taxis in Bombay. Bajaj has established itself really well in this ghost city with Pulsar being the pride of everyday commuter.

The measure of authenticity of jungle lodges in distance from Iquitos and the benchmark for a reasonable jungle trip is 200 soles or 60$ per person per day. For those with luxury of time and capacity to handle last minute bookings, should book an Amazon trip directly in Iquitos for the best deals. If you are in Iquitos only for a short period of time, it is better to book the trip to Amazon in advance. We went with Allpahuayo Mishana for a 2D1N outing into the national reserve. The link gives you an estimate of their costs.

Our experience

We saw colorful frogs, butterflies, Tarantula, Snakes

The reserve was 26 Km's from the city and takes an hour by car and then an additional 1 hour trek into the jungle to get to the resort. We came across different species of frogs, snakes, a Tarantula and colorful butterflies. Be prepared to sweat it out as a stay in Amazon comes with almost 100% humidity. We did 2 day treks, one night trek into the Amazon for animal spotting. The reserve provides authentic Peruvian jungle based cuisine including salads made of local ingredients like avocado, Palm fruit shavings (chonta) and main course dishes like Juanes and Picadillo.

The cuisine of Iquitos is very different from rest of Peru owing to the Amazonian influence. Try Juanes, Cecina and the various local juices from tropical fruits like Camu Camu, Lucuma and Cocona (nopes, not the Coconut). Two places we tried and loved in Iquitos were Delirium's cocktails and El Zorrito, famous for their Amazonian cooking.