Question 1

Iquitos on Your Own

Accepted Answer

The rubber-boom buildings and the riverfront of Iquitos are close to the Plaza de Armas and easy to see on foot. Belén market and the attractions outside town are better with a guide or a booked driver. Around the Plaza de Armas: The Casa de Fierro, the Iron House, at the corner of Próspero and Putumayo, is a prefabricated house clad in iron sheets that was assembled here in 1890. It is often credited to Gustave Eiffel, but there is no evidence for that, and it was probably made in Belgium. The cathedral, the Iglesia Matriz, is a neo-Gothic church finished in 1919. The riverfront: The riverside walk, the Malecón Tarapacá, is a block from the plaza. The former Hotel Palace on it is an Art Nouveau building completed in 1912. Belén market: This large open-air market sells produce, fish, spices, medicinal plants and prepared food. Pickpockets work the crowds, so carry little and consider going with a guide. Getting around: Motorcycle rickshaws, called motocarros, fill the streets. Use licensed taxis or ones booked by phone, app or your hotel rather than hailing a car in the street. Keep to your cruise's times: Flights and boat departures run to fixed schedules and will not wait, so allow plenty of time to get back to your meeting point.

Question 2

Food and Drink

Accepted Answer

Amazonian dishes such as juane and tacacho, and juices made from forest fruits, are the things to try in Iquitos. Juane is eaten above all at the Feast of San Juan on June 24, and its name honors Saint John the Baptist. Tacacho is made of fried plantain mashed with chicharrones, crisp pieces of fried pork, and is often served with chorizo. Try juices of cocona, aguaje and ungurahui, and aguajina, a sweet drink made from aguaje pulp. Some restaurants and guides offer wild game such as caiman, turtle or deer. These animals are taken from the forest, not farmed, so it is better to decline.

Question 3

Tipping in Peru

Accepted Answer

In Peru, tips are not very common in everyday restaurants, though around 10 percent is a polite thank-you for good service. Carry Peruvian soles, since US dollars are taken less often in Peru than in some of its neighbors. Taxi drivers are not usually tipped. New, clean 10- or 20-dollar bills can come in handy, but use soles day to day.

Question 4

Culture and Local Life

Accepted Answer

Iquitos is known as the capital of the Peruvian Amazon, and its culture mixes Amazonian traditions with European influences from the rubber boom. Spanish here has its own Amazonian accent. Carnival in February is celebrated by drenching people with water and sometimes paint. The Feast of San Juan, the patron saint of the Peruvian Amazon, on June 24 is the time for juane. Mario Vargas Llosa's comic novel Captain Pantoja and the Special Service tells its own invented story of how the Iron House came to be. Shamans offer ayahuasca ceremonies to visitors in the Amazon. The brew is unregulated, and people have become seriously ill and some have died after taking part. Many souvenirs offered in markets are made from endangered animals, such as jaguar or caiman teeth and cat skins. They are illegal to own or take out of Peru.

Question 5

History

Accepted Answer

Iquitos grew from a Jesuit mission into a river port of the Peruvian navy and then, during the rubber boom of 1880 to 1914, into one of the leading cities of the Amazon. That wealth rested on forced indigenous labor, and when the boom ended many people left. First peoples: The Napeano and Iquito peoples lived along these rivers when Europeans arrived; the city takes its name from the Iquito. A Jesuit mission: Iquitos began around 1757 as a Jesuit mission on the Nanay River, called San Pablo de Napeanos. Spain expelled the Jesuits from South America in 1767. A navy port, 1864: On January 5, 1864, three Peruvian Navy steamships arrived, the date taken as the founding of Peru's first river port at Iquitos. The city became capital of the Department of Loreto in 1897. The rubber boom: From about 1880 to 1914 Iquitos was a center of the rubber trade, and immigrants from around the world came to make their fortunes. The wealthiest built mansions faced with tiles from Italy and Portugal. The Iron House, 1890: The rubber baron Anselmo del Aguila is said to have bought a prefabricated iron house at the Paris Exposition of 1889, and it was assembled in Iquitos in 1890. Forced labor exposed: The Peruvian Amazon Company of Julio César Arana held indigenous workers in near slavery. A 1913 report by Roger Casement, a British consul, exposed the abuses. The end of the boom: Rubber seeds smuggled out of the Amazon grew into plantations in Southeast Asia, prices fell, and many workers and merchants left Iquitos. A modern city: The economy turned to timber, fish, oil, farming and tourism. In 2012 the Amazon rose high enough to flood parts of the city and surrounding villages.

Question 6

Iquitos with Children

Accepted Answer

The best family outings in Iquitos are about animals, and several are a short ride from the center. It is hot and humid all year, so plan the day around shade and rest. Younger children: The Quistococha tourist complex, south of the city on the road to Nauta, has a zoo, a small museum of Amazonian animals and an artificial sandy beach among aguaje palms. School age: The Amazon Rescue Center, at kilometer 13.8 of the Iquitos–Nauta road, cares for orphaned manatees and other rescued animals. Check opening days before you go. Teenagers: Pilpintuwasi, at Padre Cocha on the Nanay River, is a butterfly farm with more than 40 species of insects, mostly butterflies, and runs an orphanage for rescued animals. It is reached by boat from the Bellavista-Nanay port. Health: Mosquitoes spread dengue in Peru, so check current health advice before you travel and use repellent.

Iquitos

Good to know

Getting to Iquitos

Iquitos on Your Own

Food and Drink

Tipping in Peru

Culture and Local Life

History

Iquitos with Children

Port crowds

Photos from travelers

Traveler reviews