Belem is one of the poorest parts of Iquitos. Land costs money, but building your house above the river doesn't cost for land, just the materials.
From a distance, Belem doesn´t appear too bad.
Turtles are endangered, but you´ll find them and other endanger species for sale in the Belem market. People are hungry, the hunter has mouths to feed, so does the vender, and so does the purchaser. In the case of Manatee (remember I am working in a Manatee rescue centre) the meat sells for just S/.1 ($US0.35) per kg. It´s not considered good eating, but, like I said, there are mouths to feed.
Most of Belem has water underneath it for part of the year, some of it for all of the year. Walking in this part is a balancing act, on random scraps of wood slimmed with mud.
The toilets will float when the water is high, then the waste goes directly into the river instead of onto the ground. Yuck!
These people have there toilet in a permanently floating location, it is shared between several houses. These houses are pretty cute.
Floating houses. They tie them to the long sticks to stop them floating away.
Nice, the got a footpath here. But it too will go under water and the houses will rise with the water.
Notes
Boat trip in Belem, about 40 minutes. S/.10- S/.15 ($US3.50-$5)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment or ask a question, I'd love to hear from you!