Waiting the boat

Waiting for the boat to get from Yurimaguas to Iquitos was a bit of a nightmare. We had been told it was going to leave first thing in the morning so we packed up and went over to the port. It was raining heavily (sandals weren't the best choice of footwear for me, in the mud, no grip with my backpack on) at the port they were unloading wood from the boat. It looked like it could take a while.

We installed ourselves on deck with some jungle locals and started waiting, watching the rain and the river whilst we played cards sat on our backpacks.

The whole day past like this, after about three in the afternoon they told us we wouldn't be leaving today but tomorrow morning for sure. They hadn't stopped unloading and when they did they began loading up the boat with other produce. Great. This went on well into the night, we hung our hammocks and slept on the boat that night, hoping to be able to leave in the morning as promised.

When it finally was time to go we actually had to change boats, exactly the same kind of boat just that there were a lot more people. The bottom deck had row after row of hammocks and people's possessions neatly or not so neatly installed underneath. We even saw another pet monkey!

We positioned ourselves on the second deck. We were terrified of theft having heard horror stories from travellers and guide books alike about the likelihood of our stuff being taken. We had agreed that in any eventuality there would be someone stood with the bags and at night time we padlocked everything up.

I was getting frustrated with the waiting and didn't believe that we were ever actually going to leave. When we did the relief was enormous - but we now had to spend three days on a boat with not much to do but sit in our hammocks, or stand on deck and watch endless trees and river go by....

The never ending loading/unloading area that you can't see very well because it's dark

Amazing colours in the sky at dusk