Whilst still in Iquitos, we took a day trip to Belen (meaning Bethlehem in Spanish) on a long boat. The guy taking us was born and bred there and now had his own floating house there with his wife and children. Belen is most famous for its market which we visited first, irratic, insanely overcrowded and crammed with crevices filled with pretty much anything you can imagine for sale. There's a black magic section selling anything from pickled animal fetus' to potions and remedies for whatever your hearts desire. You can also purchase pretty much any Amazonian animal, captured and sold as pets or even worse as food. The actual food section is nauseating, fish and meat kept out in the sweltering heat all day long attracting swarms of flies, giant Tortoise inerds sprawled out over tables and Aligator heads pinned up as trophies. All of this makes for an extremely interesting but equally intimidating location, especially being the only westerners around and being followed by countless hustlers and intrigued locals. Belen is an extremely poor area with poverty and squalor all over, not to mention huge hygiene and disease problems forcing a lot of people into alcoholism and prostitution to get by. This was were the real people of the province were forced to live, as opposed to the tourist saturated Iquitos next door and the sight of 'rich' white westerners was all too infuriating as it was appealing for the average opportunist. This was like a modern day debautiourous Charles Dickens inspired location.
Getting back on the boat was a relief, and as the driver led us further out we were able to appreciate the beauty of the surrounding floating community. Hundreds of wooden houses either on stilts or bobbing on the surface with people on all manner of floating devices passng through, pubs on long boats with men playing poker or gazing out into the distance bleary eyed and children swimming and squealing with delight as they soaked passers by.
It was truly amazing and made me almost jealous at the sense of homeliness and unity felt here. Our driver took us to his house and we were invited in to meet his family. The house was floating and painted turquoise which made it stand out from the rest. We were immediately greeted by his five children who clambered all over the porch and boat, semmingly fearless about the river below them. Inside the house was simple but beautifully arranged and so cleverly created with only wood and nails. After meeting his wife and having a tour of the tiny one story building we were back in the boat and taken for a spin around the 'streets' to get our fill of the wondrous Belen.
More photos to follow once I scan the negs...
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