Houses on stilts rise above the polluted water in Belen, Iquitos, Peru. Thousands of people live here in extreme poverty without clean water or sanitation ,Resting above the water on the outskirts of Iquitos lies one of South America’s most remarkable settlements: the fascinating floating city of Belén. This is a community that relies on canoes instead of cars, a place where residents live a unique riverside existence that has led to the moniker “The Venice of Peru