Destination: Sta. Clotilde

So, I made it to Sta. Clotilde. It's a 2 hour flight from Lima to Iquitos, the major city in the northern Amazon region. I was met at the airport by Father Maurice, a priest who was worked as a priest and a physician in Santa Clotilde since the late 1980's. He's now in his 70's and has been reassigned to Lima by the higher ups in the church. Anyway, we had a nice dinner that night with other workers traveling to Sta. Clotilde the next day and then spent the night at a dormitory that the Franciscans have in Iquitos. I didn't get to see much of Iquitos besides the plaza de Armas.
The next morning we finally headed off to Sta. Clotilde. The first leg of the journey is on the Amazon river. We took a ¨Rapido" (Fast Boat) - which doesn't leave at all quickly, we sat on the boat about 45 minutes waiting for it to fill up before we left. The ride to our first step went by quickly watching the scenery. The Amazon River is impressive...
Our first stop was Mazan, a small town, that serves as the connection point between the Amazon and the Napo River. You cross the town in a moto taxi and then we got on our private boat to Sta. Clotilde. While here, I saw my first and so far, only, pink dolphin. Our private boat was little motor boat that sat all six of us compactly and there we sat for the next 4.5 hours. We made two mini-stops before finally getting to Sta. Clotilde. To be honest, it's not the most comfortable of rides and after a while the scenery repeats itself. And there is really nothing but rainforest and water...you seen an occasional family in there canoe and every once in awhile some small hut homes. Anyway, made it!