Iquitos, Peru, South America

Iquitos, Peru, South America

Iquitos city is located in the northern jungle, to the east. It is the capital of the Loreto Region, with nearly 30% of the country is the largest and most northern of Peru. It is set in the Great Plains and surrounded by the Amazon, Nanay and Itaya rivers. Overall, it constitutes in the Metropolitan Iquitos, a conurbation of 471.993 inhabitants consists of four districts: Iquitos, Punchana, Belen and San Juan Bautista.

Near the confluence of the great Napo and Amazon rivers. In this river world, the communications depend as much or more than the navigation of land transport, virtually nonexistent outside the city of Iquitos.

The Historic Center of Iquitos has several Cultural Heritage of the Nation: Iquitos Cathedral, The Iron House, The Old Hotel Palace, The Cohen House and more than 70 buildings. Other known landmarks are The Main Square (Plaza de Armas), Jiron Prospero; a pathway conglomerates several commercial and historical premises and the crowded neighborhood of Belen, often dubbed as the "Amazon Venice." The city is also home of the Amazon Library, one of the two most important in Latin America.

Because of its location in the Peruvian Amazon, Iquitos has a natural landscape of immense biodiversity.

Now, the reputation of the city is growing as a tourist destination due to its location on the banks of the Amazon River which is one of the seven Natural Wonders of the World. Over the years, Iquitos receives considerably foreigners; currently, the tourism index rose by international flights offered by the city airport.

According TripAdvisor Iquitos won the Travelers' Choice 2012 Award No. 22 of "Top 25 destinations in South America." Iquitos was also included in the number 6 on the list of "10 leading cities of the 2011" by Lonely Planet.

Official Language:      

Spanish (spa. amazonian in situ)

Entity:

City

 Country:

Peru 

Region:                          

Loreto

Province:                     

Maynas

Subdivisions:               

Iquitos, Belén, Punchana, San Juan Bautista

Foundation:                    

1757 (José Bahamonte)

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The Ayahuasca

The Ayahuasca

The Ayahuasca or rope of dead, is a potion of medicinal and hallucinogenic plants used as a diagnostic to cure ills. Natural and ancient medicine that concentrates the power of the jungle.

Preparation of ayahuasca in the Region of Loreto, Peru

It is known as ayahuasca of a various entheogenic beverages resulting from multiple plants decoctions. The basic component is a decoction of the vine (Banisteriopsis caapi), which property is the content of (Monoamine oxidase) inhibitors, known as inhibitors (MAOIs). It is mixed with leaves shrub of the genus (Psychotria), because of its content of (Dimethyltryptamine) (DMT).

Ayahuasca in Quechua means 'rope of dead' by its etymology “aya” (dead, deceased, spirit' and “waska” (rope, string' because in the worldview of the native peoples the ayahuasca is the rope that allows the spirit leaves the body without this die. 

 It is used in medical or religious rituals and in traditional medicine of native towns of the Amazon.

How the ayahuasca is used:

Ayahuasca is used as medicine, such as purifying and as a master. It is called a Doctor because cure; Master because it teaches, and Mother for it’s guidance. It gives power, knowledge and vision.

The medicinal properties of Ayahuasca are not only in the spiritual realm, but also in the physical. There prerequisites before ingestion, such as mental, physical, emotional and spiritual preparation. 

The diet is essential: it must remain fasting at least 24 hours before the ceremony, it is important that the stomach is free from food as vomiting are common. You should not drink liquor, drugs, spicy, or sex with at least seven days prior to the ceremony.

Ayahuasca takes you to the magical world. It gives you what you need to give you, teaches you what have to teach you, heal you what it has to heal you. Ayahuasca is not a simple chemical relationship but a magical relationship.

To be understood, first you have to learn feeling its dimension, and as the shamans say, using the heart and not the head. 

Finally, each ayahuasca experience is distinct from the other.

Scientific Information:

Ayahuasca: (Usually pronounced/ ˌaɪjəˈwæskə/ or / ˌaɪjəˈwaːskə/), is an entheogenic brew made out of (Banisteriopsis caapi) vine, often in combination with various other plants. It can be mixed the leaves of Chacruna or Chagropanga, dimethyltryptamine (DTM)-containing plant species. The brew, first described academically in the early 1950s by Harvard ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes, who found it employed for divinatory and healing purposes by the native peoples of Amazonian Peru,so it is known by a number of different names.

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The Urarinas

The Urarinas

Historical Summary:

The Urarinas inhabited originally in the Chambira river, having originally been a large group. In 1651, Jesuit missionaries made contact with this group through the christianized Cocam

illas, being seated in an annex of Jeberos Mission Concepcion. A year later, Father Lucero took some Urarinas to San Xavier de Chamicuros subsequently were transferred to Santiago de la Laguna.

In the late nineteenth century, Urarinas were persecuted by rubber patterns. Given these attacks they escaped to the areas of the headwaters of the river Chambira. Some were caught and turned into slaves on the farms located in the Marañón River. By 1924, Paul Rivet in his account of South American indigenous languages, are considered extinct, but by 1930 Tessman said 300 Urarinas still survived. Early in 1950, the number of Urarinas declined due to an epidemic.

In 1974, oil exploration in the area of Urarinas generated an increase demand for manufactured products and opened the possibility of offering labor.

Social Organization:

The social organization of Urarinas is characterized by patrilineal descent groups, preferential marriage with the bilateral cross-cousin and rule of post-marital residence matrilocal.

Economic Activities:

The Urarinas practice swidden horticulture, hunting and fishing. The main crops grown in the orchards are cassava (Manihot sculenta), banana (Musa paradisiaca), maize (Zea mays), rice (Oryza sativa), the Sachapapa (Dioscorea trifida), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) and papaya (Carica papaya). Hunting is practiced individually and fishing, both individually and collectively. The collection is aimed at obtaining palm fruits such as palm (Mauritia flexuosa) and pijuayo (Actris gasipaes) and secondary forest trees as ungurahui (Oenocarpus bataua Mart).

The Urarinas produce for the bird market and agricultural products; also sell fine woods, leathers and fabrics palm of great demand in the regional market.

Vulnerability:

This relatively small group, is located in an area of oil exploration and forest extraction, can being qualified in a situation of medium vulnerability.

Family Language:            Unclassified

Autodenomination:          No autodenominación

Geographical Location:

Province   Department  District

Loreto       Loreto          Tigre

Loreto       Loreto          Trompeteros

Loreto       Loreto           Urarinas

Rivers and tributaries Chambira; Urituyacu, Corrientes and Ocelot.

Demographics: Population  Enumerated.

 TOTAL   MALE    FEMALE

  564        293         271

 Number of communities: 17

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ACTIVITIES
Jungle survival training course

THE JAGUAR

THE JAGUAR (Panthera onca)

The King of the Amazon Rainforest


The JAGUAR is the largest cat in the Americas and the world's third largest feline.

Jaguar Features:

The jaguar can weigh up to 150 kilos, the skin is reddish yellow background, except inside the ears, at the bottom of the nose, jaw, throat and other lower parts of the body, where color is paler; at the bottom of the legs predominantly white. It also has features black spots, rosettes type, round, oblong or irregular stripes branching on the cross and come back together in the back, forming on the sides more or less parallel lines; smaller in the head, neck and legs than in the rest of the body. The tail has rings on his hindquarters. No two jaguars in the same pattern of spots.
The females are between 10 and 20 percent smaller than males.
Its length is 1.70 to 2.30 m and a height at withers of about 85. Its tail is between 45 and 75 cm.

The life expectancy of a jaguar in captivity is 22 years. In the wild environment is probably 10 years, except on rare occasions that can reach 20 years.

The JAGUAR is more active during dusk and night. Being a short distance runner pretty fast hunting their prey mainly on the ground. It is a great swimmer and can even cross rivers with a width of several kilometers. The jaguar is considered an opportunistic carnivore and diet depends on the density and prey availability. More than 85 species have been recorded in the jaguar's diet (Seymour 1989). Large dams, as peccaries, tapirs and deer are favorites, but also eat other mammals such as monkeys, sloth, frogs, turtles, snakes and even the jaguar can attack alligators, albeit significantly bigger than him. It also feeds on fish and birds have their nests on the ground.

The JAGUAR is a little social or affective kind: it only meets a female when she goes into heat. Made fertilization and after a gestation of 93 to 110 days, born of 1-4 pups in a safe place amid the dense forest or in a hole in the riverbank.
In contrast to the other big cats, the jaguar growls but rarely roars.

Females reach sexual maturity between two and two and a half years, while males between three and four years old. The last reproduction usually at age 8.

JAGUAR NAMES:

The number of names for the jaguar is impressive and differs widely from country to country, but in most countries it is known popularly as Tigre, due to the similarity found the first conquerors of America with the big asian feline.
Using its scientific name (Panthera onca) when speaking of the jaguar in the middle of wide diffusion is important; here is a list of the nicknames:

PERU: Otorongo / Tigre.
BOLIVIA: Jaguar / Tigre Americano
COLOMBIA: Jaguar / Mancueva
ECUADOR: Jaguar / Tigre
PANAMA: Jaguar / Tigre
VENEZUELA: Daaba (Bari) / Ira (Yanomami)
BRAZIL: Onça pintada / Onça canguçu
FRENCH GUIANA: Tig Marqué
PARAGUAY: Yaguareté
SURINAM: Penitigri

ARGENTINA: Tigre

In northeastern Argentina (Misiones, Formosa, Chaco and current) is told Tigre and Jaguar, while in the northwest (Salta and Jujuy) is told Tigre Manincho.

Current Situation:

Considered vulnerable or endangered because they are hunted for trophy poached for their fur, and habitat loss threaten their survival.

Scientific Classification:
Superkingdom: Eukaryota
Kingdom:         Animalia
Filo:                  Chordate
Class:                Mammal
Order:               Carnivore
Family:             Felidae

Genre:              Panthera

Species:            Onca


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ACTIVITIES

Jungle survival training course

THE SLOTH

The Sloth (Bradypus variegatus), is itself a kinf of lazy in Central and South America. The sloth has grayish brown to beige skin, and it's very thick. The head of the sluggard is round, flat nose and ears not visible.


The sloth has a height ranging between 41 and 74 inches (104.14 and 187.96 centimeters) , a small head, flat and round; big eyes, flat nose and no ears.

The limbs are long and lazy are well developed, his fingers are attached and end in long claws and curves.

The front legs are longer, are more developed and have more mobility than later, especially in the lazy belonging to the group of three fingers. It has about 18 teeth and body temperature varies considerably according to the environment, which are physiologically restricted to an equatorial habitat.

The sloths are herbivores that are adapted so the arboreal locomotion that have lost the ability to move around the floor. 

These animals are solitary and very long-lived animals, moving in a slow hugging a branch and hanging upside down. There are two families which differs in being lazy tridactyle species (three fingers) or didáctyle (two fingers).

They eat the entire leaf and mix different types of leaves so they need to visit many trees and vines to get your food. Slow digestion is similar to ruminants which have a long digestive tract.

Scientific Classification:

Kingdom: Animal

Phylum:   Vertebrata

Class:       Mammals

Order:      Toothless

Families:  Bradipódidos-megalonychidae

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ACTIVITIES

Jungle survival training course

PACAYA-SAMIRIA NATIONAL RESERVE

Geographic Location

This natural area located in Loreto is part of the tropical rainforest, one of the most biologically rich places on the planet.

This Reserve takes its name from the Pacaya and Samiria rivers, wetlands and lakes forming calm waters reflecting images of the sky and the forest ... why he is known as "The land of rivers mirrors."

The Pacaya-Samiria is the largest nature reserve in Peru ... its waters are home to 250 species of fish.

The main objective is to conserve wildlife resources and scenic beauty characteristic of the tropical rainforest. The Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve has a high biodiversity and an important human population takes advantage of its natural resources.


The Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve is habited by numerous communities, both native and traditional and relatively recent settlers. Its territory offers benefits to thousands of people in the area and in neighboring towns as well as the possibility of a first-class tourism for the Peruvian Amazon.

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ACTIVITIES

Jungle survival training course

AMAZON RIVER DOLPHINS

Pink Dolphin being feeded

The pink dolphins are not equal to the dolphins that are in the sea, but have special adaptations to their habitat. In fact, river dolphins are distantly related to sea dolphins because they belong to different families. The oceanic dolphins belong to the family (Delphinidae), while river dolphins belong to the family (Platanistoidea).
Among the species of river dolphins, pink dolphins of the Amazon are considered the most intelligent, with a brain capacity 40% greater than that of humans.

Gray Dolphin

These dolphins live in the Amazon, but can also be found in

 the basins of the Orinoco and

 the upper Madeira River. Although

they are

mostly pink can be found in other

colors such

as skin clear, pink or brownish gray.

The Amazonian dolphins have small eyes, a long snout and dorsal fin very underdeveloped. These dolphins are very well adapted to living in the varzeas (flooded forests). Its distribution covers the river systems of the Amazon and Orinoco rivers.
The Amazonian dolphin is categorized as vulnerable. Their greatest enemies are deforestation and human activities that contribute to disrupt their livelihood.


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ACTIVITIES

Jungle survival training course

5-DAY JUNGLE SURVIVAL TRAINING

This training course has the aim to incorporate ADVANCED jungle survival techniques and expose the participant to adverse situations and conditions to improve skills and endurance.

On the lead of qualified Military instructors, showing the most practical ways of adaption to the environment, and the use of natural resources.

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ACTIVITIES

Jungle survival training course

SIERRA DEL DIVISOR

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ACTIVITIES

Jungle survival training course

15-DAY MATSES EXPEDITION

Territory of the mysterious tribe of the Feline, "The Matses” is considered one of the most remote areas of the Amazon rainforest. Little exploration has been done and is inaccessible for most tourists.

The Matses belong to the Pano linguistic family, like Matis ethnicities, and Korubos Marubos among others.

In the 1970's the Matses changed their mode of semi-nomadic life to live in permanent communities. The Matsés territory is located in the region bounded by the rivers of Yavari (Javari in Portuguese), and Galvez Chobayacu Peru's border with Brazil.

Currently their communities are located deep in the Amazon jungle of northeastern Peruvian border with Brazil. Still retain their primitive culture, are expert hunters and gatherers whose ability to survive depends on their physical skills and knowledge of the jungle. Your belief system is tied to nature, plants and animals have a very important relationship with their spiritual world.

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ACTIVITIES

Jungle survival training course