The dense jungle of Peru owes its name to the world's longest and largest river, the Amazon, creator of life, illusions and legends, and discovered by Francisco de Orellana in 1541.

Capital: Iquitos
Altitude: 104 m.a.s.l.
Distance:
From Iquitos to Pucallpa 600 kilometers.
From Iquitos to Leticia (frontier of Brazil and Colombia) 370 kilometers

Navigating its waters is getting in direct contact with the nature and lore of the natives that live there, it is watching the sun setting behind the treetops and marveling at the endless greenery. The Amazon is an immense slow moving river, at times almost like an ocean, as at certain points it can reach up to 4,000 meters in width. Its waters receive the outflow of all the rivers rising on the eastern slopes of the Andes, forming swamps, marshes and labyrinthine channels.

The ancient peoples of the Peruvian jungle, which has an area of more than 80 million square hectares and is home to countless animal species, call the Amazon River, Paranaguasú (Great River), Paranatinga (White River) and Tunguragua (King of the Waters). It is also claimed that the name is the result of a combination of two native words, ama (break) and zona (canoe); thus Amazon could mean "Canoe-Breaker".Many towns and villages have formed along the banks of the Amazon; the most important being Iquitos, capital of the department of Loreto.

Iquitos is fascinating for its exuberant greenness and the tenacity of its native communities such as the Cocamas, Witotos, Boras and Ticunas, communities which have inherited millenary secrets and traditions. The Nanay, Itaya and Amazon rivers surround Iquitos, founded in 1747 by Jesuit José Bahamonde. Hot and exotic with an awesome greenness, Iquitos is the largest city in the Peruvian jungle and the navigation gateway to the Amazon. Adventure is guaranteed!