Iquitos - Past & Present

We booked another 2 nights in Iquitos so Ian could have a full day to fill in some blanks in the family history. It was a hot and sticky day (normal for Iquitos) and I'm struck by the question of what would have possessed an engineer from Hull to come to this place in 1867. Iquitos would have only been a village then. These days it's a city of  400 000, yet it's foreshore is really not all that different from the ones of the small villages further upstream. I guess the view across the Amazon is similar to what John & Fanny would have seen.

 

Ian's 'must see' items included the remaining portion of the chimney of the Naval Factory, John M. Smales was the director of in its 1st year in 1871, as well as the Historic Boat Museum.

 

 

 

 

A drawing of  the 'Napo', a paddle steamer used by John M. Smales to navigate and chart the river Maranon in 1867.

 

 

 

Modern Iquitos 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iquitos is known for drawing folk in, making it hard for them to leave. Best get this dude out of here, he's becoming far too comfortable with the scene.

Next stop is Madrid and Geneva, followed by a train trip through Switzerland to Stuttgart.