The Peruvian Amazon: River and Iquitos
The mighty Amazon, the largest river in the world, has always been an important focus for various types of explorers. Whether seeking the long lost treasure as in the legend of El Dorado, or the more recent ‘black gold’ (rubber production) which in the 19th Century produced rapid economic progress for Iquitos. Some Art Nouveau houses remain as relics of the rubber boom - a style of architecture that is very rare in Amazon cities - the better known of which are the ‘Iron House’ designed by Gustave Eiffel and the former Palace hotel completed in 1912.

The Peruvian Amazon also attracts other types of explorers: biologists and forestry engineers studying the great arboreal and biological diversity found in the forest, anthropologists studying the ethnic groups that live along the river Amazon and travellers who wish to experience something of the mysteries of this great river.
 
Iquitos is the largest Peruvian city on the banks of the Amazon and therefore has developed its own very distinctive characteristics; it is the starting point to join a cruise or for trips to a number of jungle lodges and visits to indigenous populations such as the Bora or Yagua.