PERU & BOLIVIA 2024
Iquitos
September 2nd, 2025
During week 2, we travelled to Iquitos, the largest city in the Peruvian Amazon. This leg of our trip was the least planned, and our intention was to go with the flow. Little did we know that this plan would align well with the easy-going spirit of Iquiteños. As we landed, we caught a glimpse of the serpentine shape of the Nanay River—one of the tributary rivers that joins the Amazon River, the largest body of water in the region, feeding most of the rivers in the southern part of the continent. We would soon come to understand how this river sets the pace of life in Iquitos.
Our one contact prior to visiting was Leslie Tucno, Education Curator of Balsa Bufeo, a boat gallery dedicated to Amazonian community art practices founded by contemporary artist Christian Bendayán. We asked Leslie before landing if she knew of a trusted taxi driver, because we learned that the main mode of transportation in the city were mototaxis, so she sent Señor Mike to go pick us up. As we left the airport, we didn’t know who to look for, so we waited a while until we heard someone yelling “Leslie’s friend… Leslie’s friend…”. This is when we would find a middle-aged man with a rocker style and long hair, our new friend who would then accompany us for the remainder of the trip. Every day during our time in Iquitos was different, and we were forced to constantly adapt. Due to the intense heat, a constant humid and hot atmosphere of upwards of 30º, the city wakes up earlier than most, shuts down from noon to 3 pm every day, and reopens again for the evening.
We connected with Leslie for dinner, and talked about our projects and mutual interests. A few days later, we had the opportunity to visit the Balsa Bufeo in its off-season site (because it was the dry season we couldn’t traverse the Nanai river). Being on this style of boat, one which is usually used by locals as a party boat, inspired us because of its mandate to serve the deep river, which is a means of access, bringing art to remote communities.
We also met with Karina Tarazona, while in Iquitos, who we had coincidentally met at the 11th Iberoamerican Encounter of Museums, the week prior. She is the Anthropologist at the Ministry of Culture Museum Iquitos, a contingent of the government in charge of preservation of archival materials. Karina had moved to Iquitos for this job, as a passionate anthropologist who felt lucky to find a specified job in her field. She also shared many of the challenges of being a public servant within a fairly isolated community, things like humidity are a huge challenge in preservation of natural materials, and conservation equipment could take months if not years to arrive. In the storage room, several large ceramic vessels lay resting. Karina told us they had arrived at the museum after being uncovered during the excavation phase of a construction project. Unsure of what to do with them, the workers decided to send them to the nearest museum. The way Karina spoke about the vessels revealed her deep commitment to heritage preservation – her concern for protecting them and uncovering their history showed us the immense love and respect she has for the collection. To us, it was clear that this emotional bond is one of the driving forces that keeps the museum functioning.
In addition, we were connected with Marcelina Chichaco, thanks to Leslie. She is a Bora textile artist who harvests yanchama tree bark paper and chambira fiber thread. Similarly to the rest of our trip, this visit was spontaneous. We connected with Marcelina via WhatsApp and were given an address with very broad instructions to get there. The next day, we found ourselves riding through the rain in Mr. Mike’s mototaxi, navigating an area without official roads, street names, or house numbers. True to his humorous nature, Mr. Mike began asking locals for directions to Marcelina’s house, spinning an imaginative story about why we needed to find her. To our surprise, many people knew exactly who she was and kindly pointed us in the right direction.
As we ventured further, the terrain became too rough for the mototaxi, so we continued on foot, trekking along a muddy path until we finally arrived at Marcelina’s home. She greeted us with a warm smile and introduced us to her husband and son. As she showed us around, we saw many of the handmade items she creates—shicra-style bags and cedasos or isarafues, circular, flat, basket-like strainers used in cooking.
Marcelina pointed to a tree outside her house, explaining that its darker bark is used to add color to the designs on the isarafues. She also showed us the chambira fibers she had hung out to dry; due to the rain, they would need to stay out longer before being ready to spin into thread.
She and her son Robert then took us to a room, where they began demonstrating how to spin chambira using just their hands and legs, no spindle required. Their skill was evident as they effortlessly produced even, continuous threads, long enough to roll into tidy balls. While Camila quickly got the hang of the technique, Karina and Mr. Mike struggled to keep their chambira from unraveling, so Mr. Mike decided to become the official photographer of the session as we both started crocheting with our chambira threads. The visit ended with Marcelina generously gifting us with a sample of worked yanchama bark, along with a warm invitation to return and learn how to harvest the bark ourselves from the yanchama tree.
Lastly, we visited the Museum of Indigenous Amazonian Cultures, the Museum of Iquitos and the Amazonian Library, to read books of interest on the history of the city including the rubber boom of the late 1800s which was a genocide and enslavement of Indigenous people that has had repercussions on the population since.
Our visit wasn’t limited to research; we also wanted to get to know the city more deeply—its people, its context. One day, we set out to explore a local market in search of medicinal brews and regional fruits. We also visited the neighborhood of Belén, where the homes are modest, many of them built on stilts, as during the flood season the river transforms much of Iquitos into a waterbound city, where mototaxis are replaced by boats and rafts.
We were struck by the thought that, in just a few months, many of the places we had walked through would be completely underwater. It's incredible to imagine the power of the river and how those who live alongside it have learned to move with its flow, almost as if dancing to its rhythm.
And so we left Iquitos, dreaming of returning in the flood season to sail on the Balsa Bufeo, harvest yanchama bark, and reunite with the new friends this stretch of the journey brought into our lives.
Mending the Museum
Mending the Museum (2023)
Workshop Series:
Narrative Charm
Blackout Poetry
Play it Forward
Cloning and Paper Clay
Clay|Sound|Powah
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