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Before beginning I should mention that the following is mostly my humble opinion and my thoughts. I could be, and probably am, completely wrong.
My stay in Iquitos was very short, only 14 days. However one of the things that I noticed was a lack of awe. I saw very few people who went to the Boulevard and simply looked over to the jungle. I mean here sits this modern city of 400,000 people, give or take, that sits just kilometers from the world's largest pharmacy. 25% of Western pharmaceuticals are based on Amazon Rainforest trees and plants; yet less than 1% of the plants have been tested. To put that into perspective, one square kilometer of the Amazon rainforest contains about 90,790 tons of living plants. This may include over 75,000 types of trees and 150,000 species of plants within that square kilometer. All those plants produce 20% of the total oxygen for the entire planet.  The Amazon Rainforest occupies only about 2% of the total landmass on earth, yet approximately 50% of all the animal species reside here. One estimate puts the Amazon Rainforest as home to 2.5 million insect species, 3,000 fish species, 1,294 bird species, 427 mammal species, 427 amphibian species, and 378 reptile species. Sorry for the numbers but it is staggering. To paraphrase someone, whose name I am ashamed to say I forgot, "There be monsters there." As the numbers suggest, there is a staggering amount of biodiversity in the Amazon Rainforest. My mind cannot begin to fathom all of the things occurring in the jungle as I write this. Of all of these jungle activities, so few, if any, are even aware of the city at all. It astounds me that two places that are so geographically close can be so isolated from each other. I suspect that only the Natives who come back and forth from the jungle to the city everyday or so, to trade or take care of other business are really aware of both. I suppose that the point of all my rambling this evening as I sit here at El Gringo Bar looking down Putumayo Street, at the jungle just visible over the rail of the Boulevard is this; whether you are a tourist, a traveler, a trekker, an adventurer, or an inhabitant of the city, the next time you find yourself on the Boulevard for whatever reason, take a moment and contemplate what is going on out there in the green on the horizon. J. Peirce Beach |
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