(Right): The mighty Amazon winding like a serpent viewed from above. Snow water departed from Mt. Mismi in the Andes, merges with numerous other streams, and grows stronger along its journey toward the sea. After more than 2,000 kilometres, shortly before the city of Iquitos, the water has officially known as the Amazon. Now nearly a kilometre wide (below), the river nurtures millions of people along its shores.

With a population of 440,000, Iquitos is the largest city in the world without road access to the outside world. owing to its location in the rainforest. They city was founded in mid-eighteenth century by the missionary, and has experienced an economic boom in the early twentieth century thanks to the rubber industry. Long gone the boom may have been, it remains a lively tropical city full of motor rickshaws.

 

 

 

(Below): the bustling Iquitos market area.

 
Iquitos is also known for its shantytown Belen, where thousands of wooden shacks are built along the banks of the Amazon. Conditions are very poor. When the river rises during the rainy season, Belen becomes a water world.