I was overwhelmed by the whirling colors, over-powering smells, and wild sounds as we wound our way through a maze of vendors. Our team had come to the Belen Market in Iquitos to purchase supplies for our journey into the flooded forest, and also to get a glimpse of life on the Amazon River.

The Amazon River is the life-blood of the South American rainforest. The people of Iquitos depend on the river for many things. Here in the Belen Market, the important role the river plays in people's lives is easy to see.

Every day thousands of people arrive in the Belen Market to sell everything from medicinal plants and pickled snakes to bananas and rice. An old man slowly paddles by in a dugout canoe filled with fish he has caught in the river and transported to the market by canoe. Rivers are the roads of the Amazon, and the closer we walked to the water's edge, the busier and more crowded the market became.

The market is broken into sections. For example, there is a section filled with people selling medicinal plants and traditional remedies gathered from the surrounding rainforest. Another section was full of people selling meat, another for fruits and vegetables. Other parts of the market are reserved for clothing, fishing supplies, machetes, farm equipment. The list goes on and on, just like the market.

Some parts of the market are very interesting, like the medicinal plants. Other parts are hard to take. The smell of the stalls selling meat was pretty hard to stomach. Remember, there is no refrigeration in the market, so all of the meat is slowly cooking in the 90 degree heat. As the day goes on, the smells of the market intensify.

I love all of the new sights and sounds that the river has brought to the market, but I am ready to travel up river to see what we will find around the next bend.

Keep Exploring!

Dave

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Yesterday's Daily Dilemma had some great responses. We like the fact that so many of you were excited about canoeing in Iquitos. Lots of classrooms mentioned that canoes would be a great way of getting around, because they can carry gear and people, they are cheap, and they are environmentally-friendly. Keep up the good work, Student Explorers!