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Amazon Experience: News and Recap, May 2019

May 2, 2019 January 17, 2020
amazonadmin
Amazon people, Reviews
Amazon tours, Amazon tours Iquitos, Iquitos, News, pacaya samiria tours

Hello wild people!

The first quarter of 2019 has ended and we felt the need to share with you some of our latest updates and news.

We are very excited about the things we are developing, the new friends we are making and the feedback we are getting.

Let’s start!

Reviews, reviews, and more reviews!

First of all, we wanna give a big ¡Gracias! to all the people that have trusted us and explored the Amazon jungle with us. Your feedback is invaluable, your words of appreciation and smiles keep us going and make us very happy. Also your opinions on the issues we could work on help us to keep improving.

We have reached 150 reviews on TripAdvisor with 128 of those being 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.

Also, our Google and Facebook reviews keep growing.

This has put us on the #1 spot for Iquitos Tours according to Inspirock platform.

Tours in Iquitos, Amazon Experience — Number 1 Tours in Iquitos, yeah!

We are so happy about this.

A thousand times thanks to everyone that took the time to write about their experience.

Instagrammers, unite!

Lately, we’ve been visited by some very popular Instagrammers, and they turned out to be also very nice and kind people.

Shoutouts to:

Coco Maggio @cocomaggio with his @cocotripsok project

He traveled with @alxxpaul to Pacaya Samiria and shot this great video.

Thanks Coco and Alex! 🤙

Nicholas Wenzel @nichowenzel

This guy showed different parts of Iquitos and the Amazon river. He is very passionate about showing the beauty of Peru.

Check his videos:

Yaba Travellers (George & Vasiliki) @yabatravellers | yabatravellers.com

This sweet couple from Greece enjoyed their Amazon lodge trip and wrote this great article about their experience (it’s in Greek, you can use Google Translator).

You can also watch some great highlighted stories on their Instagram. We’ll wait for them to come back next time for Pacaya Samiria camping!

Benjamin Encinas @benjaencinas and Sergio Rios @lasaventurasdelnegro

Benja and Sergio shared and traveled with us during their “Amazonas Expedition”, visiting many spots in the Amazon river and the Pacaya Samiria Reserve in their packrafts (like inflatable kayaks from @packraft.cl). They also visited other Amazon places like Leticia, Tabatinga and even Manaus.

Thanks for the good vibes guys! 🙌

Check their Instagrams for their photo journey. Here is a sneak peek:

Fashion emergency: New uniforms

Our favorite soccer team ⚽, ACD El Milagro (The Miracle) got new uniforms for this season, and they are currently rocking the local championship.

They won their first match 5-0! Way to go guys!

Also, our team got new uniforms, with breathable materials so they can feel more comfortable while guiding you and, at the same time, rocking a cool look.

Check our Instagram highlighted stories to see our team shopping for the perfect uniform.

New uniforms for exploring the Amazon jungle. — Rocking the new uniforms!

You can check both of these events in our Instagram looking at the highlighted stories ✌.

Speaking of Instagram…

Amazon Experience’s Instagram @amazonexp is catching on, getting close to 3500 followers. Thanks to everyone that follows our adventures!

If you wanna see some funny and informative stories, along with some casual “backstage” photos and videos and the photos we like the most in our feed, then follow us and unleash #YourWildSide.

New Tours

Lastly, we wanted to share with you our new tours!

We have been asked to do longer trips into the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve by people wanting to explore the mythical “El Dorado” lake, famous for its landscapes and biodiversity.

Well, we listened and developed new tours for 8 days, 9 days and 10 days on Pacaya Samiria. The last two arrive and camp at El Dorado lake.

Tours in Pacaya Samiria El Dorado lake — Are you ready for the challenge?

Disclaimer: These tours are not for the faint-hearted.

These new Amazon tours are pure adventure. If you want to experience the tropical rainforest fully and have an adventurer’s soul then this is definitively for you! (Also great for birdwatchers, biologists, nature photographers, and videographers). If you fit this description and are excited to try those we have a good “early bird” 50 USD discount going on for a limited amount of time, so we can get feedback on these itineraries. If you have any doubt or have some questions just contact us.

Speaking of nature photography, we are also partnering with our friends of travelling.cl (Instagram @travelling.cl) preparing for our first “Nature photography trip”, guided by Benjamin Encinas @benjaencinas in July.

Check his amazing work on his Instagram. Here is a sample:

Reflections in Pacaya Samiria — Pacaya Samiria: Jungle of mirrors

Sunset in the Amazon river — Who doesn’t love sunsets?

We will share with you the pictures that come out of this joint venture.

Final words… for now

That’s it for now folks.

We feel so much gratitude for what we are experiencing right now. To see our dream keep growing and help people experience the Amazon rainforest in a real and safe way makes us immensely happy.

We’ll keep you posted!

Until next time.

Thanks for your attention.

🌴

Supporting young soccer team: ACD El Milagro 2019 Season

We started this year very excited about our favorite soccer team: ACD El Milagro (literally, The Miracle) upcoming season.

If you don’t know them you can check last year’s post about them.

We were invited to their headquarters in Nauta town (south of Iquitos) to share with them, give some words of encouragement and deliver their new uniforms for 2019.

After that, we joined them on the trip to Nauta stadium. We were rooting and yelling at every goal. It was a lot of yelling and cheering because they scored 5 times.

5 – 0!

Great way to start this year’s championship.

We posted in our Instagram Stories the experience of that day as it unfolded. If you missed it you can check it in our highlighted stories:

Young soccer team from Nauta — Way to go Milagro!

We are looking forward to the development of the team this season.

Go Milagro Go!

Closing 2018: Chocolatada in San Pedro de Tipishca

We are ending this year, 2018, and we couldn’t have wished for a better way to do it.

This year we decided to do our first “Chocolatada”, in San Pedro de Tipishca, and we are as happy as human beings can be when they feel they have done the right thing.

Let’s backtrack a little bit so you can understand this story better.

The story

Wolfers, one of the co-founders of Amazon Experience, was born and raised in this small town (population: around 300-400 people) alongside the Marañon river, located three hours upriver by motorboat from Nauta. He lived there with his family until he was 16 years old. Then the whole family departed from San Pedro and went to live in Nauta, looking for better opportunities.

After Wolfers completed his studies to be a tourist guide, moved to Iquitos looking for a job, worked for many tourism agencies learning and perfecting his craft he decided it was time to start his own tourism agency, doing things in a different way… a better way.

Fast forward some years and Amazon Experience is now established in its niche, so the time had come for him to do what he always had in the back of his mind: Come back to San Pedro de Tipishca and share with his former neighbors.

Here is Wolfers (on the left). Wondering what’s in the big pots? Keep reading!

What is a Chocolatada?

The term “chocolatada” is a regional one, and it’s used to describe celebrations done near Christmas time where kids (and grown-ups too) are given hot chocolate along with “Panetón” (from the Italian Panettone, a kind of sweet bread).

Backstage: Panetones with added butter being delivered at speed of light

But a chocolatada is more than that!

It’s an occasion for community gatherings, bonding, and sharing. It is also a lot of fun when it involves sports, games, art, and music.

We partnered up with our talented friend Kasy, who is pushing the Amazonian Pop Art movement, so kids could saw a live canvas painting and participate in a “spontaneous art” workshop. The response from everyone involved was overwhelming, thanks to the little artists!

Kasy dropping some paint for the kids to play in the spontaneous art workshop

We were very happy to see the community of San Pedro enjoying and participating in the soccer and volleyball championships organized. Congratulations to the winners!

Volleyball championship under the sun. What a match!

For us is very important to help foster the development and creativity of boys and girls so we thought it was important to share with them not only toys but notebooks for them to write and draw on, pencils, erasers (because everyone can make a mistake, right?) and puzzles.

We share this because we want to encourage people and other organizations to keep this in mind when this kind of activities are done. We believe a piece of paper and a pen or some paint in his fingers are tools for expression and could have a great impact on them. Call us idealistic if you might, time will tell.

The opportunity to share with the people, boys and girls from San Pedro de Tipishca was amazing and we are very grateful for this.

Special thanks to the local authorities, the people from San Pedro that helped us with the logistics and to the IPAE students of business administration that volunteered to help us. We are also grateful for Wolfers’ family that joined us during this trip and Kasy, that made kids laugh, create and enjoy.

Wolfers and his friends from IPAE that volunteered to help

The one and only: Kasy (and his pop painted canvas on the right)

We hope 2019 will bring joy to everyone reading this.

For a new year full of love, laughter, learning opportunities, and adventures!

¡Salud!

Iquitos Worldwide: From the Amazon Jungle to the World

November 19, 2018 November 19, 2018
amazonadmin
Amazon people, Destinations, Iquitos, Travel
Amazon Jungle, Iquitos, Iquitos Worldwide

Iquitos Worldwide

During July and August of 2018, we partnered with Neon Gang, one of our favorites disruptive video producers, to showcase the people, landscapes and wildlife of the beautiful city of Iquitos.

We didn’t want to cover it in a traditional way, so we decided to give it a wild twist.

Immerse yourself into the Amazon Jungle, the way we see it, with this teaser video:

Chapters 1 and 2 will be released soon and both will cover different sides of Iquitos: The city and the jungle.

Stay tuned for the release, and be prepared to experience the Amazon jungle in front row, uncensored and with a lot of style.

And remember, stay wild!

Supporting young soccer players from Nauta

In November of 2017, we, as Amazon Experience, went to Nauta with a mission: Deliver 22 new uniforms for a local soccer team composed mostly of young people.

ADC El Milagro, young soccer players from Nauta, Peru — ACD El Milagro. Young soccer talents from Loreto region.

The name of this team is “ACD El Milagro”. ACD stands for Asociación Cultural Deportiva or Cultural and sports association. “Milagro” is a miracle in English. This soccer team is from the neighborhoods where Wolfers (one of Amazon Experience founders) was raised as a child.

This is Wolfers (Yes, he was a child too at some point, many years ago)

Our good friend Alex, in charge of sports delegation in ACD El Milagro, had commented us that this team was looking for sponsorship to get new uniforms without luck. Even after coming very close to winning the 2017 local championship (they came up in second place). We felt we could help there.

Alex showing the new uniforms for local soccer team — Our friend Alex

This is the design they chose.

Socce Uniform for ADC El Milagro. Nauta, Peru — Front

Cool eh?

As we entered the club’s headquarters we saw most of the players gathered there along with Alex. It was inspiring to say the least seeing them with the uniforms and hearing what they had to say. We left feeling that differences can be made with our actions.

We are very thankful for this opportunity to support them and we encourage everyone reading this to think of ways how to potentiate your local community.

Local soccer team from Nauta gets new uniforms — ACD El Milagro

The team with its 2 new members. ACD El Milagro + Amazon Experience

PS: Go ACD El Milagro! This is your year, we are gonna be rooting for you. Your fans: Luis and Wolfers.

Amazon rainforest people: An interview with Don Julio

How do people live in the Amazon rainforest? What it’s like to live in the Amazon jungle?

Don Julio, Santa Maria de Fatima — Don Julio, member of the Santa Maria de Fatima community

On March, 2017 we went to Santa Maria de Fatima community, located in the Amazon river and we talked with Don Julio to share how Amazon rainforest people live.
Don Julio is part of a group within the community that is in charge of developing this area in the context of sustainable ecotourism.
He shared some insights with us in how people live in his community.
What is your full name?
My name is Julio Cahuachi Sanda.
How old are you?
I’m 67 years old.
How long have you been living in the Santa Maria de Fatima community?
I’ve been living here my whole life, since 1950, the year I was born. I’ve lived my childhood, when i was young and, well, now I’m an elder.
I’m permanently here, I haven’t been out that much, just to work in some other places. Mostly I dedicate myself to my community.

Amazon rainforest people — Don Julio and his house

What is your role in the community?
I work permanently with my group, we are about 20 people working in this paradise -I’m going to just call it like that, he says-. We have an environmental conservation area and we love that our tourist friends visit us and go deep into the Amazon jungle. Usually they enter in the afternoon and they come back in the morning after staying in the jungle.

Which animals can we find in the surroundings of Santa Maria de Fatima?
The jungle here is really charming. Many times you find animals like monkeys. We have 2 types here, the mono ardilla (squirrel monkey) and the cervecerita (pichico pardo, saddle back tamarin), that has a white mouth.
By night while walking you can find snakes in some ocassions, frogs like the sapo hualo and others.
Of the birds you can see here, the Herons are the most known?
Yes, the herons and the shansho (hoatzin). In the season you can find snowy egrett (garza blanca), white and brown boat billed herons (huapapa blanca y huapapa marron) and others.

Tower Santa Maria de Fatima — 3 floor wooden tower. Built by the community to enjoy the landscape and look for herons.

When it’s the best time for seeing Herons?
The best season it’s from May until September.
How many people live in Santa Maria de Fatima?
In the community we are 65 families. Older than 18 years are considered part of the community. Counting childs and adults we are 232 persons.
What do you do for a living?
Here the work we have is the agriculture and fishing. We sow so we can produce banana, yuca, corn and other vegetables.
What do you like the most of living here?
I like my community a lot. I love living here and that is why I stay here.

school santa maria de fatima — Santa Maria de Fatima community: Blue buildings are the school

What are the problems that your community has?
We need many things here to improve. For example, an infrastructure to receive our friends that visit us like a community house, between other things that we have permanently delayed because we just can’t.
Do you feel supported by the regional government?
No. We belong to the Belen district but politically we belong to the Indiana district. In election times we go to Indiana, and to the Belen district, only 2 or 3 people go.
For example, in front of my house, there are documents for making a new local building but that has been like that for 3 years. The thing is we don’t have support.

What is the thing that visitors most like when they come?
I’m one of the local guides, when the visitors come I come with them and show them the jungle. They say to me that this place is charming.
What message would you like to give to the world, to the people who read this?
I would give a message to our tourist friends:

Visit our community, we will be glad to welcome you.

Thank you, Don Julio
Thank you, good day.

We are in the process of updating our tours in the Amazon river to include this destination. If you wanna visit them just send us a message. We strongly believe in the development of communities throught practices of self leadership and sustainable eco tourism. That’s why we support them.
If you wanna contact Santa Maria de Fatima community you can do so through their Facebook page
This is the first post of a series showing some perspectives from Amazon rainforest people.
Interview by Luis Bustamante

Category: Amazon people