TRAVEL AND TOURS

The thick jungle of Peru owes its name to the world's longest and largest river, the Amazon, creator of life, illusions and myths, and discovered by Francisco de Orellana in 1541.

Navigating its waters is getting in direct contact with nature and the lore of the natives that live there, it is watching the sun setting behind the treetops and marveling at the endless greenery. The Amazon is an enormous slow moving river, at times almost like an ocean, as it can reach 4,000 meters in width. Its waters receive the outflow of all the rivers coming from the eastern slopes of the Andes, forming swamps, marshes and labyrinthine channels.
The native peoples of the Peruvian forest, which has an area of more than 80 million square hectares and is home to countless animal species, call the Amazon River, Paranaguasú (Great River), Paranatinga (White River) and Tunguragua (King of the Waters).Some claim that the name is the combination of two native words, ama (break) and zona (canoe); thus Amazon could mean "Canoe-Breaker".Many towns and villages have grown along the Amazon; the most important being Iquitos, capital of the department of Loreto.

Iquitos is fascinating for its lively greenness and the resolve of its native communities such as the Cocamas, Witotos, Boras and Ticunas, communities which have inherited millenary secrets and traditions. The Nanay, Itaya and Amazon rivers surround Iquitos, founded in 1747 by the Jesuit priest José Bahamonde. Hot and exotic with an breath-taking greenness, Iquitos is the largest city in the Peruvian Amazonia and the navigation gateway to the Amazon. Adventure is certainly assured!

AMAZON NAVIGATION

To navigate the Amazon and penetrate the tangled greenness of the jungle is an adventure beyond imagination. Traveling over the waters of the world's largest and longest river, you will discover fascinating places, and contact native communities of the area, inheritors of the wisdom of their ancestors.

The adventure would not be complete without walking under the scorching rays of the sun or hearing the singsong chatter of the people of Iquitos, the leading city of the Peruvian Amazonia.

Places not to be missed when travelling to the Peruvian rainforest are the Amazon River and the city of Iquitos.