One of the young guys who helps out at the Manatee Rescue Centre kindly offered that I could stay with his family since his brother is away (studying) and his room was therefore available. So that´s where I am staying while volunteering there. It is very handy in that he goes there most days and a couple of other people who work at the centre live across the road. So mostly there is someone to travel with.
This is a good thing since it takes a hour or more each day to get to the centre. It´s out of town, and we are all on the other side of town. Not that I mind, it´s cheap and there are always things to look at.
The main forms of transport are personal motorbikes (for those who have them), mototaxi´s (the Peruvian form of the Thai tuk-tuk), and the Collectivo buses (so cute and constructed right here in the jungle).
The 'Collectivos', the bus part is built here in the Amazon at Iquitos. They are really cute, a bit like something my step grandfather would have constructed in miniture from leftover bits and pieces. The windows are extra cute. One day Alex (my host, the guy in the very left corner of the picture) told me to close the bus window as it was raining. I hadn't thought that they had windows... but he showed me that if you folded the hinged wooden sill back, you could pull up a loose perspex window from below and then put the sill back for the window to rest on. Cute!
Mototaxis galore. Apparently they are a Peruvian design. They chop a motorbike, extend the wheelbase, put a long axle on it and, well you can see the rest. Obviously we underestimated the power of the 110cc motorbike, I have seen these carrying 6 people!
Notes
1 hour in Collectivo 35c per person. Trip to work (collectivo bus with collectivo taxi for final part) 70c.
1 hour in Matotaxi with 3 friends (they really only seat 3 people, but this is Peru!) $3.50
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