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La Casa Fitzcarraldo

La Casa Fitzcarraldo is an oasis in a bustling, dusty city.

Beyond the wooden gates and away from the traffic of Iquitos, I spent the afternoon at the poolside lounge alternating between the swinging hammocks and shady treehouses. I swam in the cool, beautifully tiled pool and floated under water fountains while surrounded by tropical flora and fauna.

If it looks like it should be a scene from a movie, it’s because it is.

Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo was filmed here between 1977 and 1982. The movie is about would-be rubber baron Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (called Fitzcarraldo by the natvive Peruvians) and his dream to finance and build an opera house in the Amazon so that the Caruso and Pucinni could be heard in the jungle. The movie was inspired by the real life Peruvian rubber baron Carlos Fermín Fitzcarrald.

P.S. The poolside lounge offered tropical cocktails and a full menu, but I had my first good cup of coffee in Peru at La Casa! It was a glorious, richly french pressed cup of delicious that tasted even better after weeks of instant coffee.