re: Interested in vacation in Peru

You could also choose to go to Iquitos and spend several days at an Amazon River lodge. If so, then the choice of lodge is critical. Much of that area is not virgin rainforest, and I did not see the level of wildlife that I've seen elsewhere (such as Panama).

But Iquitos itself is fascinating, even if there's little to see and you can see it in a few hours. Iquitos is the world's largest city not connected by road or ocean -- you can fly in or travel on the river -- so there aren't so many cars on the streets, as the only road outside the city goes to the nearby town of Nauta and comes to an end there, so people drive around town in these motorcycle adaptations.



Iquitos became a huge boomtown a hundred years ago, when the areas rubber trees suddenly made some people very rich, like the builder of this mansion.



And the Amazon is so vast. Even so far upriver as Iquitos, it dwarfs the Mississippi -- it's about 4 miles across here.



I saw both the gray and the pink river dolphins, and swimming with the pink ones was nice.

Spending time with the monkeys, toucans, etc. at the animal rehabilitation center was certainly worthwhile.

Certainly, at any lodge, you'll be able to fish with a cane pole and catch some piranha. They are tasty, but you obviously want to be careful taking them off the hook. This little guy was a little small to eat.



Flying to and from Iquitos and spending several nights in a jungle lodge would obviously take up the right of the time on your trip.