We arrived in Iquitos with high hopes but no reservations for an Amazon River tour... we were clueless. After talking to a few tour operators in the main square, we noticed a restaurant called "The Yellow Rose of Texas". Gerald Mayeux (a loud, proud, true blood Texan) retired from an oil company that operated here and started a restaurant, saying "The Texas state line starts at the door, and I'm the sheriff." Gerald is also the former Director of Tourism for Iquitos and he loves to give travel advice. He told us to avoid all the tour operators and comfy lodges and go for the real thing. He recommended an Amazon jungle expedition led by native Cocoma Indians who would take us deeper into the jungle than we could otherwise go.
Thirty minutes later, we met Martin who would be our guide on an adventure we'll never forget. Martin is a full blood Cocoma Indian born in the jungles of the Amazon. Now he leads jungle expeditions in the tourist season (June-Sep) and drives a motor taxi in Iquitos in the off-season. He is a humble man who was an amazing example of selfless service as he guided our trip. He also has an eagle eye for spotting animals in the jungle.
We had about an hour to re-pack our bags, buy more insect repellant, and say goodbye to civilization. First stop, the port of Iquitos, to board a cargo boat for a 21-hour boat ride up the Amazon.
We had a gorgeous full moon and clear weather for our overnight trip on the Amazon River.
We slept in hammocks while the boat stopped every few hours at tiny villages where we'd pull up to nothing more than a river bank for people, oxen, cattle, pigs, and various other cargo to come and go.
At the riverside stops, the locals madly rush onto the ship to sell food, drinks, and anything else they think is marketable. This Amazon version of drive-through fast food is how we got our first taste of hard-boiled tortoise eggs (before we knew tortoise eggs need protection!). Our overnight entertainment was interesting. Our boat deck had a blaring TV showing a terrible U.S. movie that had been pirated (you could see people stand up in front of the person who videotaped it in the movie theater) that was dubbed into Russian but subtitled in Spanish. It was awful.
20 hours and 59 minutes later, we were dropped off where another river joins the Amazon. We transferred into a small "pecka pecka boat", so named because the lawnmower-size motor makes a distinct "pecka pecka" sound as if it's going to stall at any moment. A few minutes later, we entered the 5 million acre Pacaya Samiria National Preserve.
An hour after that, we arrived in a small Cocoma Indian village where we slept overnight in a guest hut.
That's when mosquito nets first became our new best friends after sunset.
Before setting out the next morning, we heard about the tribe's conservation efforts to try to preserve the river tortoises. Here you see Manuel, the President of the Tribal Association, showing us a tortoise hatchery. Families from the community go into the jungle for 20-30 days during egg-laying season to gather tortoise eggs. In the wild, only about 30% will survive, due to predators and poaching by people who sell the tortoise eggs as a delicacy. In the tribe's protected hatcheries (like this one with 2,600 buried eggs), about 90% will survive. 
After hatching, the tribe transports the tortoises back to their native habitat. As in the U.S., you see progressive conservation efforts right next to environmental carelessness. Just after seeing the tortoise conservation efforts, we saw a village woman cleaning and cooking a tortoise for a special birthday celebration. But it's clear that the tribe is trying to make a difference.
We set out the next morning to head further into the jungle along one of the tributaries of the Amazon. 
Around every turn, we saw stunning views of water, sky, and jungle.
After a few hours, we stopped to set up our first night's camp. We quickly learned that ants own the jungle floor, mosquitoes and flies own the air (after sunset), tall trees own the sunshine, birds own the skies, and vines fill all the spaces in between. We hiked into the jungle to see some goliath trees, climb some Tarzan vines, and paddle dugout canoes in hidden lagoons where the fish were jumping like popcorn in a hot skillet. 
On the second night, we set up camp on a sandbar at the turn of the river (fewer mosquitoes, but more flies!). 
That night, we tried our hand at fishing for piranha and spear fishing. Both are harder than they look. 
That night, we had a clear sky. Hundreds of miles from any city, we saw the brightest stars any of us can remember. It was an awesome sight.
As we boated up the river, we continued to see beautiful scenery with an abundance of animals. We saw eagles, falcons, vultures, herons, mccaws, monkeys, hedgehogs, exotic butterflies, piranhas, and rare pink and gray river dolphins.... 
plus countless insects, including 8-inch moths.
By the time we returned on our 3rd day, we had seen the kind of untamed wilderness, far from the typical tourist routes, that many people will never experience. 
We hope mankind figures out a way to preserve it.
As we headed back to civilization, we knew that we had an authentic Amazon experience. After a boat ride back toward Iquitos (half the time, with the current), we arrived in time to have breakfast at The Yellow Rose of Texas. As we were eating the best French Toast we ever had (more like a Cinnabon made with Texas Toast – a secret recipe of Gerald Mayeux's grandmother), we were happy to tell Gerald that he steered us right.It's time to head back to Lima before we fly to Bolivia. We've got two free days and we're trying to decide whether to go sand surfing near Ica or see the Nazca lines. Decisions, decisions... what a stressful life we're living.
- Steve
