Located on the banks of the majestic Amazon river in Yanamono’s Communal Reserve (80km/50 miles away from Iquitos City, Peru), Amazon River Expeditions’ Heliconia Amazon River Lodge is surrounded by an amazing collection of brilliant flowers such as heliconias, bromelias, and orchids. The nearby streams and lagoons full of wildlife make the lodge a wonderful place to relax, as well as enjoy exciting nature adventures.

Heliconia Lodge guests can enjoy authentic Amazon experience through guided excursions with local bilingual (Spanish and English) guides who share with their expertise in the Amazon Jungle wildlife.

Heliconia Lodge, in association with the Rotary Club of Iquitos, has successfully coordinated and supervised the establishment of a new secondary school benefiting the local community. To help empower the local people living along the rivers, the Lodge has also supported the on-going education of the children and the youths of Yanamono and Santa Rosa communities through partnerships with Youth LINC, as well as the Yanamono Nature Center, which is managed by Heliconia Lodge.

Using puppets to teach children about the use of water.

Heliconia Operations Manager Carlos Acosta works with local and international partners to coordinate and supervise the Youth LINC activities by offering logistical assistance prior, during and after the Youth LINC group visit.

Through their ongoing work and long-term partnerships, Youth LINC, Rotary Club of Iquitos, and Heliconia Lodge have demonstrated how people from different backgrounds working together can make meaningful contributions to local communities. Youth LINC students have worked side-by-side with villagers to address local needs. Clean water and sanitation issues, which have always been pressing concerns in the Amazon, have seen significant improvements thanks to the water filtration system and bathrooms in Yanamono built by the Youth LINC team.

Local children at a newly-installed well in San Pedro.

In 2008, the Youth LINC team returned to Santa Rosa (another Yanamono village but miles away from Heliconia Lodge), a village of over 500 people living on the banks of the Amazon River. In this small community, Youth LINC participants helped complete the brand-new medical clinic for the village and stocked necessary medical supplies. The team also helped with the building of sidewalks in the village.

This year (2009), the Youth LINC team returned to Santa Rosa for a third and final year to finish up existing projects and spent an amazing last two weeks with this beautiful river village. Youth LINC participants built and painted a new library for the village and donated over 250 Spanish-language books to be housed in the new library.

Group of Rotary program participants and Youht LINC students
in front of the newly built library in Santa Rosa.

They also worked with the village health care worker in the medical clinic, treating and training the villagers on basic first aid procedures and bought and organized medical supplies for the village clinic. The students also spent a full week teaching in the primary and secondary schools on a variety of topics and held a carnival for the villagers at the end of the week.

The changes in the Yanamono area that have been brought by their work since 2004 have been phenomenal, proven by the smiling faces of the village children that bring a beauty to life that cannot be found in anything else.

Additional information – Heliconia Amazon River Lodge

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