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Iquitos

Iquitos

Iquitos

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Links

Iquitos info
IIAP - Biodamaz Weather Iquitos
Tourist Peru
Links to Peru Lonely Planet
Peru Travel
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Iquitos & Peru


Facts on Peru

Population:
28 million

Population growth rate:
1.66%

Capital:
Lima (8 million)

Languages:
Spanish & Quechua

Government:
Constitutional Republic

President:
Alejandro Toledo

Independence:
1821

GDP real growth:
-0.3% (2001)

GPD per capita:
USD 4,800

Inflation rate:
1.5%

Industries:
metals, petroleum,

fishing, textiles,

steel, food processing.

Currency:
Nuevo Sol (PEN) PEN/EUR = 4.00 (2004)



Iquitos was founded in 1754 as a Jesuit mission. By 1870s it had some 1,500 inhabitants. Then came the great rubber boom and the population increased by 16-fold by the 1880s. For the next 30 years Iquitos was at once a scene of ostentatious wealth and abject poverty. The rubber barons came fabulously rich and the signs of opulence from those days can still be seen in some of the mansions and tiles walls of Iquitos. In the 1960s oils was discovered which made Iquitos a prosperous modern town. Also shipping, logging, and other export trade have revived and sustained. the city's fortunes. In recent years tourism has also played an important part in the economy of the area.

Today, with a population of approximately 400,000 Iquitos is Peru's largest jungle city and the capital of the huge Department of Loreto, the largest of Peru's 24 departments. Iquitos is linked to the outside world by air and the Rio Amazonas; this may be the largest city in the world that can't be reached by road.

Iquitos has a relaxed, intoxicating feel that's likely to detain you for a couple of days at least. But for most visitors, the lure of the Amazon rain forest is the primary attraction. Virgin rain forest, though, is hard to find. To lay eyes on exotic wildlife, such as pink dolphins, caimans, and macaws, you have to get far away from Iquitos, at least 80km 50 miles) out and onto secondary waterways. Options for rain forest excursions include lodge visits, river cruises and, for the adventurous, independent guided treks.