Iquitos, PERU, Jan. 14, 2007 ? In an effort to avoid the excessive summer heat, group of friends share some beers and watch television at a nameless bar in the Mercado de Bélen, the lifeblood of Iquitos. The market supplies the city with the majority of its needs, from jungle fruits and vegetables, fish, jungle meat, such as turtle, monkey, deer and rodent, clothing, tools, coal, wood, and even medicine. It is a mostly informal market, meaning many operate outside of the law and do not...
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Iquitos, PERU, Jan. 14, 2007 ? In an effort to avoid the excessive summer heat, group of friends share some beers and watch television at a nameless bar in the Mercado de Bélen, the lifeblood of Iquitos. The market supplies the city with the majority of its needs, from jungle fruits and vegetables, fish, jungle meat, such as turtle, monkey, deer and rodent, clothing, tools, coal, wood, and even medicine. It is a mostly informal market, meaning many operate outside of the law and do not pay taxes. Because of its importance to the city, the police do little to monitor its activities. Because many merchants are not legal, they do not have benefit of an address or title, which is why they go unnamed. .
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