To click or not to click???

Iquitos is a bustling place - and almost all sights and scenes are outside our experiences.  I am keen to capture many of these scenes as I can... but at the same time I don't want to be insensitive to people's lives, customs and culture. 

With a huge population in excess of 370,000 Iquitos is surrounded by 3 rivers (Amazon is the wide brown one in the pic).  Although the river level is very low at the moment, there's so much activity on and around the river. 

We took a boat ride along the Nanay (topmost river in the pic) - boats range from small 1 or 2 person fishing dug-outs to huge ships.  We motored out to where the Nanay meets the Amazon - swirling waters where the difference in water colour can be seen more acutely when the water level is higher.  Some of the dwellings along the river edge are either on high banks above the river, or on stilts - obvious to see where water levels come to. Lex really loved seeing all the small boats.  Yes he has already bought a small model of them!!  Now to get it home!!

 People take every opportunity to make a living - generally sell something.  Little stalls selling anything from juice drinks, watermelon slices to meals appear all along the streets and moreso around the port.  Would have liked to have taken more photos, but .....  This one really looked like witchetty grub kebabs - they were still squirming. 

Some stalls had great heaps of small eggs - thought they might have been turtle eggs, but not sure.  We walked through another market area the day we arrived - not a good plan.  So much food (chicken pieces, fish, duck, etc) sitting on open benches in the heat and flies.  Honestly don't know how it stays safe to eat.  I'm sure we missed many other 'delicacies'. 

There's lots of different fruit here - still yet to taste some of them.  We've had juice from some - just wish I could remember the names.  Very tasty.