Iquitos: Part II and the Peruvian Goodbye

Iquitos! A magical place! Why you ask? Well it is . . .

A place with a Chinese restaurant on every corner . . .

...and someone selling the Peruvian "Juanes" on every other corner-- a mixture of rice, chicken, an egg, and an olive all wrapped in banana leaves . . . hmmmhmmm good.A place where you find a "Saucy" picture on every paper. . .

(and great articles I´m sure)

A Place where you can get anything on the planet! You Want it, they Got it at at the local markets! From cinnamon to diabetes remedies to home made insect repellant and even local hallucenogens . . . they got it all!!

(even a box full of feathers for me!! Hmmm, fun!)

A place where part of the city is floating on water!

Yes, Belen, or commonly referred to as The Venice of Peru, has a river running through it and it is partially under water during the rainy season.

But most of all, Iquitos has been our "home" for more than three weeks and has always left us in wonder at the sweetness and hospitality of strangers. Thank you Iquitos!

For your warmth. . .

For your kindness . . .

For taking us under your wing and making us feel like home . . .

when we needed it most.

So . . . how do you say goodbye to a place like this?? You go out with a Bang!

There happened to be a festival, THE Festival of Iquitos on the weekend before we were leavinng, so we figured it was perfect! The annual festival of Dos Rios and San Juan is a "religious" festival that starts off with a soccer game and finishes with alot of drinking and dancing. How could we resist ?

We headed over to the free game in the early afternoon and guess who is playing?? United States vs. Peru (Iquitos) . . . how perfect!

Mind you, this happens to be the first football game for the both of us!! That´s right sport fans . . . Sasha and Misha experience the magic for the first time! Misha cheering for United States, Sasha cheering for Peru . . .

In the End, World Peace won as the players left the field scoring 0-0 (although I think the Peruvian team was way better...shhhh...).

And the people rushed the field for the music concert that spun the festival into action. . . nuts!

And thanks to Cuba Libre (coke, rum and lime) and good spirits, the party kept going . . .

and going . . . (go cowboy go)

and going. . .

and going!

The next day, everyone went out to the next town San Juan to celebrate the saint´s holiday.

People of all ages walking through the streets, on the highways, dancing, singing, drinking, eating, and so on and so on and so on . . . these people invented "celebrating."

I guess when you wake up the next day and your blanket is wrapped around your neck, it´s possible that you had a good time?! Haha . . .that´s my hairy little beast of a man . . .
A very special "thank you" goes out to Nicolas . . . the Sauce Man!
Fried chicken. . . $2


Grilled wings and beef hearts . . . $3

Having the AMAZING Nicolas Vinagrette smeared all over your meat and poured on your salad . . .
PRICELESS!
(For the recipe, we accept-- check, visa, MasterCard, cash, and of course, favors are welcome)
AND THAT´S ALL FOLKS

Here to play us a farewell song, our very own, Manuelle Juanito . . .

MUCHAS GRACIAS IQUITOS . . . THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES.