July 10th - 17th

It seems I spend too much of my time online writing my blog, and so I've decided I'm going to try to be a little more efficient for now!

That said, my journey down the Mazan was wonderful... As you can tell I've returned from the river, and as far as I can tell, I'm still travelling solo!

It seems that my journey down the river, whilst interesting, and educational, served to show me that I still wasn't ready, and that I need to spend more time removing from my perception all limitations, that lead to irritation. This was exemplified in the very real example of the mosquitos that regularly had supper using my skin as their table, and my blood as their food.

Fortuantely, I had the tent from my friend Chesman, to sleep in, and so wasn't bothered so much at night. Even whilst on the river, the insects weren't a problem. It was only when we arrived at a camp site, that the insect fests happened. And I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the way that the locals would just leave their trash everywhere that they didn't need. If before coming to Peru, I had thought the Amazon was a place that was pure, clean, and unpolluted, I was wrong.

The locals have no hesitation throwing anything and everything into the river. From plastic bags, and plastic bottles, to the plastic wrappers from crisp packets and biscuit packets, to the disposable forks and spoons. It seems people seem to think that the river is an ok place to dump things, and so I'm sure that the levels of pollution will no doubt all contribute to some huge social environmental crisis one day.

That said, in the actual forest, once we got into it, was beautiful, and the plants managed to keep a balance, that meant flies, and insects weren't a problem.

However, there was also a real absence of any animals at all, in the little bit of the forest I visited. And the only birds we spotted were hunting targets for the locals, who had convinced me to pay for the hire of a gun and ammunition.

In spite of the environmental stuff - the people we met throughout the journey were testimony to how the warmth and welcoming home can be found anywhere even in the middle of the jungle!

After using the motor (peke peke) to go upstream, and after a number of 'incidents' with our motor, on our return journey (4 days into the trip), we ended up eventually losing total use of our motor, and had no choice, but to 'float' back downstream. Apparently, floating along the river was a very normal way to travel, as we had seen people doing it downstream, as we went up. Whilst the pace was slow, and gentle, we managed to travel day and night, and had some wonderful night skies, full of stars, and the growing moon.

Eventually, after returning to Mazan, I took a quick trip to Iquitos, to get some money, to pay for the remaining balance of the motor rental, boat rental, and to pay the three locals who had accompanied me throughout the trip. Javier, Gayle and Mauro.

However, I didn't have money for the trip to Iquitos, and trusting Javier to sell the remaining gasoline we had, he ended up with enough money for the two of us to head back to Iquitos, in order for me to get more cash, from the ATM.

Upon arriving into Iquitos, we got in a motortaxi to the Plaza de Armas, and I discovered I didn't have my wallet in my pocket. Sure that I'd brought it with me, Javier, suggested we rush back to the boat, as he thought I might have dropped it on the boat we had taken. Back at the port, Javier rushed ahead of me, and tired from all the travelling, I decided to wait for him up top of the stairs. He came running back, grinning, showing me that he had successfully found my cash cards.

Telling me he had paid the captain 10 soles for thanking him, I naively believed him, and we went back to the plaza. I guess with no cash being in the wallet it wasn't of much use to most people. But it got me thinking that Javier probably knew the pickpockets there, and managed to find the one who had picked my pocket.

Anyhow, as things were to unfold... that evening, I didn't manage to make it back to Mazan, where I had paid for the night in a hotel, and having missed the boat, I came across Javier, at the port, waiting for me. He said he'd been waiting an hour, and when I asked him why he hadn't taken the last boat home, he said he'd waited for me.

Then the stories started to come out... from being told that he was 'solo' and had no family or brothers and sisters that he had any contact with, he started telling me that a woman who was like a mother to him was in the hospital, and the 50 soles I had paid him earlier that day to settle the bills he had paid in the hospital, and that he needed more money.

Clearly, he had just bought new shoes, and some CD's, and I'm guessing that the 'mom' was fictional, but not wanting to be cruel, I said sure no problem... later...

He kept wanting me to give him 300 soles so that he could pay the other two amigos who had helped out during the travel. But for some reason I didn't trust him, and said it's ok, I'll pay them myself. And I'd also bought presents for each one, that I wanted to give to them personally, and I wanted to thank them for all their hard work. Since throughout the whole journey Javier had been sleeping, or chilling with me, and Mauro, and Gayle had been doing all the work, packing and unpacking the boat each night, driving the motor, cooking the food, making the tents, and doing anything else that needed doing.

We ended up going to the house of an uncle of a friend of Javiers in Iquitos, to spend the night, after he initially had told me that we could spend the night at his house. I ended up spending 10 soles, what I would pay for a hostal, as a token of thanks to the uncle, as well as spending another 5 soles on thanking the friend, giving him 2 soles for his travel, paying another 10 soles for drinks for Javier, who had told me he didn't drink the first night I met him - and there he was drinking...

Despite spending triple what I normally spend in an evening, for room and board, in a house that I wouldn't ever have paid more than 5 soles, if I were to pay, I ended up sleeping in the room, whilst Javier took the hammock in the living room.

Then, half way through the night, I hear Javier in my room, asking me for more money. Telling me his uncle had just come, and his mom was ill, and needed more money for the hospital. He kept pleading, asking me to help his mother, how I should help him to help his mother, how he didn't like to have her suffering... After about 10 minutes or so, I decided there was no way I had a choice, and seeing it as charity, I ended up giving him 40 soles, even though he only asked for 30, and sure that he was lying.

The following morning, I found that my wallet was 200 soles lighter... the 200 soles that I was to pay the other two guys had been taken out of my wallet.. I only had one suspect in my mind. Upon telling my host, the uncle, he told me how he didn't feel that my friend was being sincere last night, and suspected that he wasn't being honest with me. Javier had apparently left at about 12 or 1 am, and was no where to be found.

On the up side, I had the nicest cooked fish in ages that morning - and even though it was the most expensive breakfast I've ever had, I was glad that it had happened. For it confirmed my suspicions, and I somehow had guessed that I was going to have trouble, and had slipped 200 soles out of my wallet, into the inside pocket of my bum bag, where I kept my passport.

It's clear there was no-one else who knew exactly where I kept what money, and only Javier had ever seen me use my wallet, including my zipped pocket in the wallet where I kept my larger notes.

Lesson learnt, when I confronted Javier back in Mazan, he claimed that he wasn't there during the night, and that it must have been someone else.

Tired of his lies, I pretended I had no more money to give, and invited Gayle to return to Iquitos with me to get some cash. Once Javier was out of the picture, and Gayle had come to meet me in my hotel room, to go to Iquitos, I confided in him, and asked him how long he had known Javier. He told me he hadn't known him long, and confirmed my suspicions, when he told me that we never paid any money for the fish that we had eaten during our journey. Even though Javier had taken 20 soles to buy fish, we had traded a flour snack for the fish, and I had seen it all.

I ended up giving Gayle 100 soles, with some extra to bring Mauro's 70 soles payment upto 90, and Gayle kindly offered to assist me to the port, regardless.

The sincerity of Gayle and Mauro, and their strong work ethic made me want to thank them more, but having lost the money I'd withdrawn from the bank, I had no flexibility in my generosity beyond what I had, and figured Javier had taken enough money to pay for everything that I wasn't going to buy his complaining whining of 'how am I going to pay for everything?'.

Leaving Mazan, I arrived in Iquitos, checked into a cheap hostal, and slept well, after visiting the uncle, who I had gotten quite fond of!