Iquitos is the biggest city in the Peruvian Amazon region and has no roads connecting to other cities making
it the largest, most isolated city on the continent!
The city can be reached only by airplane or boat, with
the exception of a road to Nauta, a small town located 100 km south.
The date of the founding of the city is uncertain, but historical documents affirm that it began as a Spanish
reduction established by the Jesuits on the banks of the Nanay River around the year 1757 with the name of
"San Pablo de Nuevo Napeanos".
Iquitos started to grow and thrive through the “rubber boom” at the beginning of the 20th century. The owners of
the plantations or rubber barons were rich and built luxurious houses for themselves, which gave the city an
inimitable style.
The Monumental Zone of Iquitos contains several Cultural Heritage of the Nation: the Cathedral of Iquitos, the Iron
House, the Old Palace Hotel, the Cohen House, the Morey House, and more than 70 buildings. Other well-known landmarks
are the Plaza de Armas de Iquitos; El Jirón Próspero, a road that conglomerates several commercial and historical
places, and the busy Barrio de Belén, often nicknamed the "Amazonian Venice". The city is also home to the Amazon
Library, one of the two most important in Latin America.
Nowadays Iquitos has developed into a noisy, hectic city, with no proper potable water supply and a terrible drainage system.
Iquitos is located in Loreto, the biggest Peruvian Amazon region.
Although its ecological richness, Loreto has the lowest education quality in the country and
with no major industries, has poorly paid job offering.
Also, Loreto has the highest birth rate and the highest percentage of the young population in the country.
Loreto, without any doubt, is the region of hope and expectancy.
You will have the opportunity to see many of the great buildings built during the rubber boom. Casa de Fierro (Iron House), designed by Gustav Eiffel in 1887. The Old Palace Hotel, and a walk along the boulevard with a superb view of the Itaya river (Malecón Tarapaca).
The daily market in the Belén district is a popular place for locals to get food supplies and "curandero" medicine. Point your camera and have fun strolling around.
Belén, a stilt house neighborhood built on the banks of the Itaya river. We will paddle in a narrow canoe to see the villagers who come from the jungle to sell their fruit, fish, and other products.
The Amazon Rescue Center (CREA), km 13 Iquitos-Nauta road, in partnership with The Dallas World Aquarium not only rescues and rehabilitates orphaned or injured manatees, but it also has an outstanding environmental education program that is the core of the conservation project. The center has rescued, rehabilitated, and/or released other mammals including Amazon River dolphins (Inia geoffrensis), Giant otters (Pteronura brasiliensis), Neotropical otters (Lontra longicaudis), Giant anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) and Jaguars (Panthera onca). Since 2008, 40 manatees have been part of the program, with the success of the program being demonstrated on Earth Day, 2011 when the first five manatees were released back into their natural habitat.
