Things to see and do Iquitos

A floating and popular district that can be reached by canoe during the rainy season from El Huequito up the Itaya River, or on foot from the center along the Malecon Tarapaca. Don't hesitate to go into the alleys, especially the Paquito passage, where you will find all sorts of medicinal plants (including the liana used to prepare ayahuasca). During the rainy season, the dry land disappears. The streets become canals and vehicles are replaced by boats that the kids row with a steady hand. This is undoubtedly the most photogenic time of the year for tourists. Belén is an active commercial center, acting at the same time as a port, a market, a living area (there is even a floating discotheque!) and a meeting point between fishermen, farmers and traders unloading their products of the forest from their dugout canoes. With its houses on stilts, Belén is the exact portrait of an Amazonian port as our western imaginations conceive it: agitated, noisy, interloped, a little ghostly, a little unreal, but always fascinating... In dry season, the place will make you feel very different: colorful and lively, but also very dirty.

To visit the lower part of the mercado, for the safety of your belongings, choose a local guide who will know how to lead you as it should be. Above all, be discreet with your camera. As for all the markets, the visit is more interesting in the morning.

Along the river, a few late 19th-century villas still bear witness to past prosperity; today, they are well deteriorated and used as warehouses and shops. But major beautification work has been carried out to restore a promenade from which there is a breathtaking view of the Itaya River, which then flows into the Amazon and the floating shanty towns of Belén. As evening falls and it gets (slightly) cooler, the place fills up with passers-by, shows and street vendors. Don't stay there too late alone.

These two localities, located on the road leading to the airport (respectively 12 km and 16 km from the center) are two centers of production of traditional crafts. They are worth a visit during the dry season (between May and November), when beautiful white sand beaches are formed all along the Rio Nanay. Uni Suni or Santa Rita, from Santa Clara, are the most quiet. A road connects the two villages. You can get there by taxi.

This center was originally created to receive baby manatees orphaned by hunting. Total success! Some have returned to the wild and visits are now numerous to see the youngest playing in their pool or receiving a bottle. The project has developed and now welcomes other species such as turtles, monkeys, sloths and other victims of animal trafficking in the region. A beautiful project to support.