July 16,

My last thoughts before sleeping last night…I forgot to mention that it rained buckets yesterday. It started five minutes after we arrived at our place, and “poured forth” throughout the soccer match, ending just before the match. It was a crazy amount.

Anyway, we were up and about by 0730. Jeff started planning already. At 0900, we went down for breakfast made by Anthony. We had strawberry juice, and I had coffee (plus Jeff’s). Then he bought us an omelet with roasted peppers and onions, toast, and half of a dragonfruit each. It was very lovely. As we were eating, a couple came in on motorcycles. The bikes were muddy, and the riders looked a bit haggard. Anthony set up a hose with a bucket and they cleaned their bikes then went up to a room. Jeff said he saw another couple that came in earlier. Their bike was dirty, but Jeff said they had cleaned their bike also, so the roads outside of town must be bad from all the rain yesterday. The morning was cloudy and seemed like it could rain again today. We finished and went up to our room. Jeff did more planning and booking after I saw some stays he was looking at.

Around 1230, we went out. We started walking, and felt some bit of spitting rain, but it was very intermittent. So we decided to go to lunch. We stopped at La Mona Cafeteria. We both had a set menu. I had “Patacones con salsa,” which was plantain-formed patties topped with a salsa; “Pescado a la Loretana,” which was Loreto fish with a plantain chip ball and side salad; and a Lemonade. Very good. Jeff had “Tequenos,” which was small empanada-type rolls; “Ceviche Clasico,” which was fish ceviche with sweet potato, yucca, small circle of corn on the cob, and toasted corn; and a “Cocona” juice, which is a fruit from a tropical shrub here made into a juice. His main was very tart from the limes used in ceviche, but good as well. The meals came to 50 PEN…again! 😂 With the tip it was 55 PEN, which is $16.21. It seems all our meals out in Iquitos are totaling 55 PEN. Pretty wild.

We left and went to the promenade by the “lagoon.” Right where the walkway starts, yesterday we saw a boat Museum. This was where we went. It was called Ayapua Historical Boat Museum, and was on the Ayapua ship that sits in the lagoon. We paid 10 PEN each to board and explore. The placards are all written in English and Spanish – yeah! The ship was “built in Hamburg, Germany in 1906 by a rubber entrepreneur E. Morris.” The purpose of the ship was to “navigate the depths of the Peruvian Amazon, collecting thousands of rubber balls transporting them to Iquitos for export to Europe and the USA.” It was a fascinating museum and went into the times of steamboats being used for the rubber trade. We were directed into various rooms that may have been the main lounge/reception room, the galley, the machine room below, and maybe staterooms. Each room told many stories and the various consequences, issues, and some problems that came about with the finding of rubber in the Amazon. We spent some time – reading and learning stuff. Thankfully most rooms had a mini-split AC! That was unexpected but very nice.

We left and headed back to our place. It never really rained. Back at our place we turned on our AC and cooled off by showering, since it is cool water. Jeff is finally about normal!!! He did more planning. I took a small nap. Then we snacked for supper, and watched the sunset. It was not much – too cloudy! I started blogging and that was when the rain came, but it was not as much or as long-lasting. Tomorrow we start our Amazing Amazon Adventure!