Photos From Belan, Iquitos. It is gritty. At 9 am, the locals are gathered in the neighborhood bar swilling moonshine. On the street dozens meander around giant stacks of plantains, searching for the best buy. The sky is a gloomy grey and the humidity hovers over the dense neighborhood. Mototaxis prowl the dirty, chewed up streets. I feel like I have taken a step back in time.
Belan District is a neighborhood in Iquitos. Iquitos is the largest landlocked city in the world, lost in the Peruvian Amazon. No road leads to this city.
Belan is mired in poverty. Basic services like electricity, clean water and sanitation are lacking. Residents are susceptible to illnesses like malaria, respiratory illnesses, and tuberculosis. The area also has elevated levels of crime, alcoholism, and unemployment.
Belan is bordered by the massive Belan Market and the Itaya River (a tributary of the Amazon). Belan serves as a port, dumping passengers and goods from isolated villages across the Amazon. Boats continually slide up on to the muddy, trash strewn land.
Much of Belan is located on a floodplain. Homes come in one of two varieties to counter the river when it is flooding. Some of the simple wooden homes tower on wood poles. Other homes rest directly on the water. The homes are built on wooden rafts, and simply float when the water rises. Outhouses, barely providing privacy, sit separately from the homes. The waste is delivered directly into the river, adjacent to the residents doing their laundry in the same water.
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Photos From Belan Iquitos
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[…] On the edge of Iquitos on the Itaya River’s floodplain exist 65,000 people in the neighborhood of Belen. Many don’t have electricity, sanitation, or clean water. Severe poverty permeates this neighborhood with ailments like tuberculosis and malaria thriving. During the high water season, the water will rise 15-20 feet. In response, many houses are either built on stilts are literally on the tops of a wooden rafts. The neighborhood is bursting with open air markets and mototaxis fighting for space with the pedestrians. A myriad of boats bustle on the canal as they drop off passengers and products from the surrounding villages on the Amazon. Check out more photos from Belen. […]
Wow! That’s about as gritty as I’ve ever seen!!!!!
Very. Did it make your list to visit?
No. I wanted to, but just ran out of time. As always! LOL
Incredible Ric!!!
That was really an eye opener! Is there no way to help them?
There are so many people struggling across the world … this is a drop in a bucket. I am not sure what charities and NGOs are working in Iquitos.