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Iquitos, Peru is one of the most unique cities in all of Peru. A warm city with many activities, Iquitos is the northern gateway to the Peruvian Amazon basin and is a romantic, quaint city steeped in unique culture and fascinating history. Iquitos is generally considered the largest in the world that cannot be reached by road, only by airplane or boat and has a great mix of new and old world feel with its surrounding by many indigenous tribes. Most travel within the city itself is via bus, motorcycle, or auto (mototaxi, motocarro or motokar).
Iquitos has a tendency to seduce its visitors with the happiness and kindness of its people. It is the most important city of the Peruvian Amazon and is located on the banks of the Amazon River. During Iquitos Peru Jungle Tours with Maniti Camp Expeditions you will be in direct contact with nature and the natives that live within it. The Amazon is an immense slow moving river, at times almost like an ocean, as at certain points it can reach up to 13,123 feet in width. Its waters receive the outflow of all the rivers rising on the eastern slopes of the Andes, forming swamps, marshes and labyrinthine channels.
Iquitos, Peru was rated as one of the world’s Top Ten Cities to Visit in 2011 by Lonely Planet and was rated as one of the World's Top Destination to travel to by CNN.
Plaza de Armas: The heart of the city and the main square of the town. Here many locals and tourists come to congregate here in the evenings. In the center of the square there is a monument in remembrance of the death of warriors of the “Guerra del Pacífico” (Pacific War). In the surrounding area you will find the city hall, the cathedral, hotels, restaurants, and bars amongst other commercial establishments.
Jirón Próspero: One of the main streets in Iquitos, most of the major businesses are located here; travel agencies, airline agencies, craft markets, banks, cloth stores and many more.
Belen: Is located a few blocks southwest from the Plaza de Armas, it is a neighborhood located on the banks of the Itaya River. Its houses are built above the water on stilts to adapt to changes in the water level. This neighborhood houses the main market of the city. In the market you will find medicinal herbs, typical beverages, exotic fruits and fish.
Casa de Hierro: Built by the French Gustave Eiffel for the Exhibition of Paris in 1889 and bought by millionaire Anselmo del Aguila, who is responsible for bringing it in pieces to Iquitos and assembling it on its actual location, northwest of the Plaza de Armas.
The city of Iquitos began in 1739 when Jesuit Jose Bahamonde established settlements at Santa Barbara de Nanay and Santa Maria de Iquitos on the Rio Mazan. It was a particularly daunting task, as the missionaries here faced the task of converting the fierce Iquito Indians, renowned as marksmen with their long poison-dart blowpipes. Iquitos was established as a Jesuit mission in 1750 and in 1864 it started to grow when the Department of Loreto was established and Iquitos became its capital.
Iquitos was known for its rubber industry through the first decade of the 20th century, and today there still stands great mansions from the 1800s, including the “Casa de Fierro”, designed by Gustave Eiffel.
The boom came to an end when rubber seeds were smuggled out of the country and planted elsewhere. The 1982 movie “Fitzcarraldo”, about the life of rubber baron Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, was filmed in and around Iquitos.
There are only one or two families of the Iquito tribe left, living way on the upper Rio Nanay, and these days the region is better known for the Yaguas, Bora and Witoto tribes, whose handicraft can be seen virtually everywhere you turn in the modern city. |
