Pirhana 3D

Hi friends, it's been a while! I hope the last few days of July are treating everyone well. Here in Peru, we just celebrated independence day (July 28th marked 194 years of independence) with a five-day weekend and pisco on a plane!

Astrid&Gaston
Since the Peruvian government had Monday through Wednesday off, the Embassy did too. Three of the interns (Noelle, who went to Huaraz with me, and Jenna, who goes to SAIS, and myself) decided to use the break to head to Iquitos, way up north in the Amazon jungle. We left Saturday morning on a two-hour flight and came back Tuesday night. But first, I went with two other interns (Enrique and Gabby) and Enrique's friend Tripp who was visiting to Astrid & Gaston, number 14 on the World's Best Restaurants list. We had a 30-course meal with wine pairings, and it was AMAZING. I've never been a to a gourmet restaurant of this caliber, but I think it's something that everyone should try at least once in their lifetime. The food looked like the dishes they make on Top Chef, with intricate presentations and endless surprises. The building, meanwhile, is a beautiful colonial house with many rooms and the coolest bathroom I've ever seen (I didn't take a photo, but it was a giant column in the middle of a room with four individual wedge-shaped stalls inside it). Photos below!

This is a fried bread-type thing, which is used to dip into the egg yolk, seasoning, and chicken mousse in the bowl to the right. We thought it seemed like the type of thing a Top Chef contestant would make in an "upscale comfort food" challenge.

One of many cool chips with delicious food on it, served on a really interesting plate.

This is called cuy! It looks like a macaron, but there's guinea pig meat in there. 

A spoonable pisco sour. Those puffs are egg whites with bitters on them, and the powder is sugar and some sort of flavoring. The waitress then poured the pisco on top, and we drank them with a spoon. One of the best pisco sours I've had!

Razor scallops with a beautiful flower and delicious sauce. Also, these things really are sharp - Enrique cut himself on one!

A crazy dessert that looks exactly like a raw egg! This is a cake covered in passionfruit glaze for the yolk, with a sugar eggshell. 

In conclusion, if you're in Peru and want a delicious tour through local cuisine (our menu was about showcasing the region of Lima), Astrid&Gaston is a great place to go. Bonus: Astrid and Gaston are actually a married couple; Gaston makes dinner and Astrid makes dessert!

Getting to Iquitos
Back to the jungle: Jenna, Noelle and I flew to Iquitos on Saturday morning. After a bit of delay at the airport, we landed in the jungle and were immediately assaulted by the heat and wowed by the jungle foliage! We were met at the airport by Max, who works with the tour company Llaquipallay Expeditions, and drove to the office to pay for our jungle tour the next day. After we discussed what we'd need for the tour the next day, we headed to Hospedaje Florentina to get settled in for the night. It's in a really good location near the main plaza and river boardwalk, has air conditioning, and was very nice! I recommend it to anyone going to Iquitos. Then, we went to wander around and get pizza at Antica, which was the best pizza I've had in Peru so far! One fun thing about Iquitos - there are no real taxis. Instead, people get around on mototaxis, which are half motorcycle/half rickshaw.

Mototaxis all around

Plaza de Armas in Iquitos

Into the Woods
The next morning, we got up early to head to the Amazon lodge with the tour group! Along with the three of us, there were two British guys and two guides, Fabian and James (who are both just great people). It was an hour and half car ride to Nauta, a port city from which we hopped on a boat to head out on the river. We arrived at the lodge, right along the river and luckily heavily protected by mosquito netting, and then headed out to go pirhana fishing! Tony, our local guide who lives in a house along the river and works with Llaquipallay, brought his six-year-old son Danny, who was the first in a series of adorable beings we got to meet along the way. We saw egrets, herons, macaws, and even got to stop and watch a group of monkeys play around along the shoreline for a few minutes!

One of approximately a billion egrets that joined us along the river.

Tony and Danny in the front of the boat, leading us along the river!

I caught this pirhana! Small but with terrifying teeth.

At the end of our (moderately successful) fishing expedition, we got caught in a torrential downpour! Even though it's currently dry season, it still rained quite a bit during our trip. Luckily, it stopped in time for us to go searching for caimans on our way home to the lodge.

Tony spotted this caiman in the pitch black darkness along the river, and then decided to catch it with his bare hands. We brought it back to eat for breakfast after taking a vote within the group, so Tony tied it up in the lodge before we went to bed. It escaped overnight, though, which admittedly made us pretty happy (except for the idea of a loose caiman wandering around the lodge while we were sleeping)!

A tarantula we found in the lodge during dinner. We set it free far away.

After spending the night surrounded by the sounds of jungle animals (and one of the British guys, who has apparently started to make very loud and obnoxious animal noises in his sleep since he arrived in Peru), we woke up with the sunrise to head out on a jungle hike. Tony showed us many different plants, and we got to try some various fruits (none of which were my favorite, but still very cool to try) along the journey.

Tony cuts the bark from this important tree, which has red sap and is apparently used to restore strength after major health shocks (like giving birth). He took some of the bark to give to his wife, who has been feeling weak lately. We saw her later that day, though, and she seemed fine and wonderful, so it looks like the tree works!

Tony weaves some branches to make a cover from the rain - the one on the left is already done, and the one of the right is in progress. 

After the hike, we headed back to the lodge for breakfast, and got ready to go visit Monkey Island (where a bunch of monkeys live, close enough to humans that they're accustomed to us giving them food and thus come play when people visit) and Pablito the sloth's house!

Monkey hanging out on our boat! We all liked this one, but it brought a friend who is apparently quite aggressive and bites people when it doesn't get its way. 

This is James, our guide (a volunteer from Spain), holding Pablito the sloth, who is holding his afternoon snack. Pablito lives in the roof of a house along the river with two other sloths, Juan and Rita, and has grown so accustomed to humans that he hugs everyone and enjoys it! 

My new friend, who lives in Pablito's house and loves selfies!

After the amazing experience with Pablito, whom we almost kidnapped, the boat took us to visit Tony's village, where we saw what it's like to live along the Amazon river with no roads connecting you to any other cities, and where the closest city with stores and hotels and mototaxis is a three hour boat ride away. The main impression was that people are very close to each other, and all support each other. There are also hundreds of chickens and ducks running around the place! Unfortunately, it was then time to go back to Iquitos, so we hopped back on the boat with Max (who came to pick us up) and spent the next five hours traveling. After dinner at Restuarante Fizcarraldo (where I highly recommend the maracuya frozen, one of the top two I've had in Peru), we headed back to our room at Casa Bendayan. The hotel is owned by Marcel, who owns Llaquipallay expeditions (and is really quite strange - he does a LOT of drugs and was drinking and smoking every minute we were near him, as he shared many stories of people who had ripped him off by writing bad Trip Advisor reviews, etc.). Aside from Marcel, though, the place was great!

A Day in Iquitos
Another early morning in the jungle! We headed to Belen Market at 6 am, because everyone told us that all the stuff would be gone if we went later, and that we were least likely to get robbed early in the morning. That's probably becuase there were not that many people there! Everyone we've talked to has said that Belen is the coolest place, but it seemed like a very large market with a lot of dead farm animals and bananas around every corner. We were told that there are monkeys and other cool jungle animals (both for sale as pets and for sale as breakfast), but really didn't find any of them. It was still a good thing to see, though! Also, it was pouring rain the entire time we were there. Torrentially pouring.

Bunches and bunches of the best bananas.

From Belen, we mototaxied to Puerto Bella Vista, where we got on a private speedboat to Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm. The place started as a butterfly farm 20 years ago, founded by an Austrian woman who planned to sell Amazon butterflies to museums and zoos throughout the world, but has morphed into a rehabilitation center for animals that have been rescued from poor situations. They have sloths (two- and three-toed!), a bunch of different monkeys (some of which are free-range and so funny), a jaguar, an ocelet, a baby tapir, macaws, and a ton of butterflies! The place is amazing, and our tour guide from Michigan knew so much about the animals and the proper way to treat them: basically, leave them in the jungle.

Butterflies growing and hatching before our eyes!

Our final activity in Iquitos was a visit to the manatee rescue center, where we got to see many more rescued Amazon animals, including MANATEES! They were SO CUTE and we got to hang out with them, play with them, and feed them. This place, also, is doing amazing work, and I'm so glad we had the chance to visit both rescue centers.

Hi buddy!

With only seven more days at the Embassy, my time in Lima is coming to a close. I'll try to send some (shorter, sorry this post got so long!) updates before heading to Cusco. Keep in touch, friends!