Fun fact similar to your Quito vs Iquitos story. My great great grandfather came from Scotland to South Africa on a boat in the 1820s as a young boy. They were intending to go to Natal in northern Brazil but ended up on a boat bound for Natal in South Africa. The mum died at sea – my guess is at the pure shock of realizing she was en route to a completely different continent and country to the plan!

Also – the comments on theft in Belen Market. Is this like someone takes out a knife or gun and says gimme your sunnies and backpack. Or they just grab and dash pure pickpocket style?

Still tossing up Iquitos vs PM part of Amazon – guess it will boil up to flight prices and jungle experience prices 😊

Hey Erin! Hard to say. Definitely you could book a tour in Iquitos, and probably pay less — but pre-booking allows you to study reviews and have a bit more certainty about what you’re getting. You can’t go too wrong, I don’t think.

I heard from many, many locals (backed up by my guidebook) not to even considering going without a guide if you want to bring a camera. One girl told me she went alone just to wander so left everything in her room, and still had the sunglasses stolen right off her head! I felt totally safe while with a local guide, though.

I think having a local guide was very helpful — he was friends with everyone, it seemed, and so I don’t think anyone was going to mess with him while we were together! He was well worth the guide fee.

Personally- I was traveling with a friend who would later (briefly) become a professional badass- I wasn’t worried at all.

If you’re ever back there- might I reccomend the Yellow Rose of Texas. American proprietor who married a Peruvian woman, and everything is delicious.

When I was out there the US dollar was much stronger, and we stayed in a really fancy hotel for almost nothing.

Hey Guy! Sounds like a fun trip 🙂 I reviewed the hostel I stayed at, Flying Dog Iquitos, in another post. I loved it! I felt safe there and the staff gave me great and practical advice about the routes and safety anytime I wanted to walk there. Outside Belen I brought my camera everywhere, practiced reasonable caution, and felt very safe.

Thanks for your great description storytelling and photos, it’s like being there. I am planning to go next august and I have a few questions.

I will be going there as a humanitarian clown with Dr Patch Adams, and most of our actions will be in the Belen neigborhood, there is a whole team of local care clowns taking care of us so I’m not worried. My questions are more for after, I am thinking to stay for 4 – 5 days to just enjoy the city by myself. I’ve been to Guatemala and India with Clown groups, but not by myself. I would stay in Hostels and would walk around with basically the clothes on my back. As far as I read the ‘danger’ is mostly for pickpockets and personal belongings, for the rest the city is pretty safe? Are there personal areas to avoid, or better neigborhoods to find a hostel in? Any other impressions would be great!!

Thanks again for a wonderful post!
Guy aka Citizen Clown :o)

Thanks Emily! This is one of the posts I’m proudest of in my entire blogging archive.