Shopping

The most intriguing shopping option is the Belén open-air market, although you'll likely find more to photograph and smell than to actually buy. For local artisans' goods, there aren't many options; try Centro Artesanal Anaconda, Malecón Tarapacá-Boulevard, the sparsely populated market downstairs from the malecón, or Mercado Artesanal de San Juan, the larger market with wooden outdoor stalls selling hammocks, woodcarvings, and paintings. The market's on Av. Quiñones Km 4.5, on the way out to the airport (about 3km/1 3/4 miles from downtown). Unlike most markets in Peru, here many of the sellers are also the craftspeople behind the work. Some of the best crafts, including textiles and pottery, come from the Shipibo Indian tribe of the Amazon.

Art Gallery Camu-Camu, Trujillo 498 (tel. 065/253-120), showcases the work of the most famous local artist, Francisco Grippa, whose colorful paintings evoke Amazonian themes, including jungle flora and fauna. Grippa's exuberant and expressive style, known in the United States and Europe, has been labeled "grippismo." He uses local materials, including a canvas made from tree bark. The gallery is open daily from 10am to 1pm and 4 to 7pm. Tour groups often visit the Grippa's home/gallery in Pevas, the oldest town in the Peruvian Amazon, about 150km (93 miles) downriver from Iquitos.