What can you buy at Belén Market?
Belén Market is the commercial and cultural nerve centre of Iquitos, a sprawling, chaotic, sensory-overloading bazaar where the products of the Amazon rainforest are traded under corrugated iron roofs in quantities and varieties that exist nowhere else in Peru. The market sits at the edge of the Belén neighbourhood — a district of stilted houses built over the Itaya River that floods seasonally, earning it the nickname "Venice of the Amazon" — and everything sold here comes from the surrounding jungle or rivers. Walking through Belén with a guide is a masterclass in Amazonian ecology, economy, and traditional knowledge. The fish section displays paiche (the world's largest freshwater scaled fish, over 2 meters long), gamitana, and dozens of river species laid out on leaves. The fruit stalls overflow with camu camu (the world's highest natural source of vitamin C), aguaje palm fruit, and cocona. The passage of natural remedies — sometimes called the "jungle pharmacy" — sells bark, root, resin, and leaf preparations for everything from digestive troubles to spiritual cleansing, alongside bottles of ayahuasca and other traditional preparations. Without a guide, you see a fascinating but bewildering spectacle; with one, each product tells a story about the ecosystem it came from and the knowledge system that identified its uses.