Sights in Amazon Basin
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Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm
A visit to the fascinating Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm is highly recommended. Ostensibly this is a conservatorium and breeding center for Amazonian butterflies. Butterflies aplenty there certainly are, including the striking blue morpho (Morpho menelaus) and the fearsome-looking owl butterfly (Caligo eurilochus), which has a big owl-like eye on its wing. But it’s the farm’s exotic animals that steal the show. Raised as orphans and protected within the property are several mischievous monkeys, Lolita the tapir and Pedro Bello, a majestic orphaned jaguar, who has his own enclosure. You’ll also meet capricious Rosa, a giant anteater who wanders around freely looking for ants…
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Reserva Nacional Tambopata
The Río Tambopata is a major tributary of the Río Madre de Dios, joining it at Puerto Maldonado. Boats go up the river, past several good lodges, and into the Reserva Nacional Tambopata, an important protected area divided into the reserve itself and the zona de amortiguamiento (buffer zone). The park entrance fee needs to be paid at the Sernanp office in Puerto Maldonado, unless you are on a guided tour, in which case you will pay at the relevant lodge office. An additional fee is required if you are heading into the reserve proper (such as to the Tambopata Research Center) rather than just the buffer zone.
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Casa de Fierro
Every guidebook tells of the 'majestic' Casa de Fierro (Iron House) designed by Eiffel (of Tower fame). It was made in Paris in 1860 and imported piece by piece into Iquitos around 1890, during the opulent rubber-boom days, to beautify the city. Although three different iron houses were imported, only one, at the southeast corner of the Plaza de Armas, survives.
It looks like a bunch of scrap-metal sheets bolted together, and was once a store and the Iquitos Club. There is now a store on the ground floor. There are plans afoot to open an upstairs restaurant and bar. Stay tuned.
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Obelisco
Although the strangely cosmic, blue Obelisco was designed as a modern mirador (lookout tower), its 30m height unfortunately does not rise high enough above the city for viewers to glimpse the rivers. The view is still fantastic: a distant glimmer of jungle and plenty of corrugated-metal roofs can be admired! Photos displayed on the way up document such historic moments as when the first mototaxi arrived in town. The tower is often closed during rainstorms: water from the roof drains down the stairwells, making them impassable.
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Parque Natural
About 4km from the center of Pucallpa, off the airport road, is Parque Natural. This is an Amazon zoo set in lush grounds, with a museum displaying Shipibo pottery and a few other objects, a small children’s playground and a snack bar. Buses heading to the airport can drop you here, or take a mototaxi for about S4.
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Usko-Ayar
Usko-Ayar is the gallery of the visionary local artist Pablo César Amaringo Shuna, whose work and biography can be accessed at www.egallery.com. Other promising Amazonian artists study, work and display here – it’s well worth a visit. Tell drivers it’s near the Iglesia Fray Marcos.
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Museo Etnográfico
Picturesquely located along the Malecón is an old building housing the small Museo Etnográfico, which includes life-sized fiberglass casts of members of various Amazon tribes. You'll find the Biblioteca Amazónica onsite as well.
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Agustín Rivas
Agustín Rivas is a famed local woodcarver whose work graces the lobbies of some of Pucallpa's best hotels and businesses. Ring the bell to enter his house-gallery.
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