I just finished a night at Amazon Rainforest Lodge. The place was filled to capacity. Twenty two simple but large cabins each with a private bath but no hot water. The food was substandard the meals could readily have been purchased in town for the equivalent of $2. A stay here in this mostly inclusive (lodging, meals, tours) lodge is $90 a day. One night is two days, two nights is 3 days, etc. The diesel generator belches more smoke than a dozen city buses and is just as loud. So much for tranquility. When full the cabins average 5 people apiece.
Peter Gabriel recently spent a night here with the band while on tour. Why is the place so popular? There are not many lodges and this is the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, near Iquitos, the largest city in the world not accessible by road. Iquitos is also the most inland port in the world, 1,864 miles from the Atlantic.
The hop from Lima to Iquitos is a short commuter airplane trip. With a population of over seven million people, Lima has the ability to overwhelm the tourist capacity of this town and the surrounding areas. Seems like a hell of a business opportunity, now it is time to shop for some land.
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