Is Gerald Mayeaux the Iquitos Scoundrel?
Is Gerald Mayeaux the Scoundrel of Iquitos Peru?
The original seventy three comments are still complete with no changes in the comment section of the article, The Dawn on the Amazon Christmas Program 2006. These exerts are what caught my eye as important, profound, or funny. I was pleased that there was so much content that deserved merit. The original list I saved was twice this long, too long to accomplish my objective. Let’s start over and leave our comments under this condensed summary. Is Gerald Mayeaux the Iquitos Scoundrel?
# 2: “I decided delivering educational and medicinal supplies where there are none as I make my rounds to the remote jungle villages is a way for me to extend a helping hand and to give back to the communities that have been so kind to me.”
# 5: “Well done Bill Grimes. I am a missionary (type) that frequently visits Iquitos. When in Iquitos we regularly dine at the Yellow Rose of Texas Bar run by Gerald Mayeaux. When last there in November we heard some terrible things said about Gerald. If they are true then we will never eat there again. We have heard that he mistreats the street kids and sticks needles in their arms. We have also heard that about 2 years ago he beat up an 8 year old street kid in the street in front of some other missionaries. Are these claims true? Can anyone shed any light on these allegations?”
# 6: “I am a Major in the U.S. Marine Corps and was in Iquitos on and off from 2000 to 2005.
It is true about Gerald Mayeaux, he admitted to me with great pride that he pricks the kids with a needle embedded in the skin of his thumb. I have seen him do it with my own eyes. I don’t think he cleans the needle either. Terrible man.”
# 8: “I too have been to Iquitos and met the man known as Gerald Mayeaux. What a piece of slime he really is, Liar, Cheat, Fraud and Thief. A rumour says he beats his wife, treats his staff badly. All in all a good all round ***hole.”
# 9: “I was with my wife in the Cumaceba office and I could not fail to hear Gerald Mayeaux’s loud mouth telling his customers that Iquitos people were dishonorable, the men were all thieves and that ALL the women from Iquitos were prostitutes (that includes my wife). My wife kept me from going over there a punching his lights out. I do not know how he gets away with it, something should be done.”
# 10: “I know this man very well he is very, very bad. He is well connected and will bribe officials like the police, prosecuters etc. to get you into real deep shit. It is true about this man Gerald Mayeaux . I maintain a false friendship with him because if I told him what I thought he would ruin me. That’s why I have used a false name. BEWARE BILL, BUT BE BRAVE.”
# 12: “I was a friend of Gerald Mayeaux for more than 7 years. I tried many times to stop him mistreating the kids and saying terrible things about the wonderful people here. I don’t know how he sleeps at night.”
# 13: “Yes I know this man, what a spiteful piece of work he is. He lives in Peru but has absolutely no respect for the people of Iquitos. As for mistreating the kids, its true. After he beat up an 8 year boy 4 years ago he had the audacity to go on the local T.V. and said the police told him to do it. Why doesn’t he pick on someone his own size. Cowardly Bully.”
# 14: “It’s about time someone had the guts to stand up to the piece of shit known as Gerald Mayeaux.”
# 16: “I have been in Iquitos for many years and everything I have read on this site is true plus a lot more. I have a few questions?”
“Why did gerald leave Parker Drilling? Stealing? Why did gerald get the street paving process completed, and then sell the process to the city? Why did he join the rotary and promise to drill wells for all the poor villages? How many did he drill? Two? Where did gerald get the title to the barge he ownes? Herald Whiteside had the title locked up in his desk only a week before his death. Did gerald really sell Camp Peacock to a sucker and then reprocess it from the same sucker and tell everyone about his deal? Why did gerald lie about having a daughter in Iquitos? Maybe it was just to get his immigration documents? He said the immigration people were too stupid to ever catch on? I was just wondering what other great stories exist out there in the twilight zone of The Yellow Rose of Texas.”
# 17: “I have known Mayeaux for some time I have never met anyone who talks so badly about people, good people, who considers Gerald their friend. I have heard him say; Mad Mick stole all the money from the golf club, that’s why he had to rescue it. Scott Peterson of Refugio Altiplano abuses his customers while under the influence of ayahuasca. Muyuna Lodge is no good. Bill Grimes, too expensive, Peter Schneider’s Amazon Rainforest lodge is too close to Iquitos and the only animals tourists are likely to see are the ones tied up at the lodge. Leo Jones who takes care of homeless children is a pedophile and abuses the children in his care. Alan Shoemaker, (the jungle medicine guy) is the “fugitive from justice”.”
# 18: “It is TRUE that he only sends the innocent tourists to the tour companies and jungle guides who pay him 20% commission, those that don’t pay him he bad mouths.”
# 19: “This dishonest man told me he was the American Consul in Iquitos. I have since found out he is a liar. Has he told anyone else this? Why don’t the authorities do something to stop him?”
# 21: “I have never in my entire life, (60 years) met someone who is despised so much by so many as this man Mayeaux.”
# 22: “I am always amazed when I see a person of color or a Peruvian paying him money to be ridiculed and insulted as soon as they are out of hearing. How many of you have heard him say he is the American Consul in Iquitos? I have personally heard it dozens of times. Is there any one at the American Embassy in Lima that can do something about this fraud? Someone needs to take action. He makes all of us gringos look bad, the ugly American in Iquitos. Have you ever wondered why so few ex-pats eat or drink at the Yellow Rose?”
# 23: “Instead of jumping on the band wagon to lynch the dumb bastard, (sorry gerald), why not say a prayer for the man and find it in your hearts to forgive him like I did and stop feeding into his madness.”
# 24: “Over the following months Gerald tried in many ways to ensure that when the trial came up she would go to prison. When the trial took place she was given a suspended prison sentence because she had a 2 year old daughter. Now this woman who had never been in trouble with the police in her life has a criminal record.”
“Gerald chased the boy, caught him, knocked him to the ground and in front of the missionaries and witnesses like myself, Gerald removed his leather belt and proceeded to thrash the child with the buckle end. He would have done the child serious harm was it not for a customer in the adjacent bar stopping him. Soon after, the police came with the boy and his Mother. They all spoke inside the bar. What happened after that? Absolutely NOTHING. We can only guess why charges were not filed. In England Gerald would have gone to jail for at least 2 years for such an atrocity.”
# 25: “i am a Guide for 30 years i never had any complaints. i am 60 years old and i cried, because i had 6 tourist decide to go with me next day, but they ate in yellow rose of texas and after they told me that gerald said i was a bad man. gerald send where pay him 20 % commission. he said that all the iquitos guides are thief. we make a march against to him but he got power, he invite free lunch and drinks to the big generals of the police. i have a big family to feed and is no possible he do this with us the Peruvians. some body must to do some thing, please. thank you.”
# 27: “People always told me, cream floats to the top (gerald), but if you ever looked inside a septic tank, them lumps ain’t cream, they are “geralds”. It’s really sad to see a person demeaned and talked so badly about, BUT in this case gerald deserves it all. He has worked so hard to have this reputation. My only fear is that gerald will continue to use his good old boy powers to cause problems for anyone that bad mouths him, even if it is the truth. Gerald has recently claimed to be the U.S. Marshals representative in Iquitos. He has further claimed that he is the acting American Consul in Iquitos. If any people on this blog have problems with certain authorities or persons of political clout, act carefully and be sure to contact other Americans and make sure they are aware of the problem. Was gerald ever the director of tourism in Iquitos? Why did he leave? Did gerald really have all inquiries to the tourism bureau directed to his restaurant? Did this conflict have anything to do with his leaving? How did gerald GET CONTROL OF THE GOLF COURSE? Where did he get all those documented papers? GOSH, who would you believe Gerald, or Mike Collis. Good old honest Mike, you bet. There is a lot of dirty work afoot on that golf course theft, but, lets not forget gerald’s partners in this deal, ryan, adam and the mystery man? This might be the true test of the law in Iquitos.”
# 28: “I am part of a group of missionaries who regularly visit Iquitos. This blog site was forwarded to us by our church contacts there. We read with horror the allegations made against Gerald Mayeaux. Our people in Iquitos have confirmed that the allegations relating to the mistreating of the children are true and well documented. I would like to address this to Mr. Mayeaux;
Sir, we have heard about the way you behave in Iquitos, what you say about the people in Iquitos is terrible. Beating an 8 year old child in the street is very bad. I don’t care about the golf club. What causes me much concern is the pricking of the street kids with an unclean needle. I am a doctor here in Atlanta and I know that some of these children could be immune to, but carrying infectious diseases such as hepatitis or aids or even more and you could be transferring these terrible and dangerous infections to innocent street kids.
Needless to say we have forwarded this blog site to all of the other church groups that visit Iquitos. My group will be returning in March and I will most certainly be visiting you, not to buy something but to give you a “piece of my mind”. May the good Lord protect those children and May the good Lord find it within himself to forgive you for what you have done. Stupid Man.”
# 30: “I will not waste my time or yours re-hashing the reliability and factual basis for all the previous comments, most are well documented, witnessed and even admitted to by Mr. Mayeaux. Unfortunately, however, one flaw in this man´s character that has been only briefly touched upon. It is greed that in my opinion has caused Mr. Gerald Mayeaux to at the very least allow child prostitution to be conducted in his restaurant in front of many. On one particular occasion I witnessed three girls whom I estimate to be 13 to 15 years old ¨delivered¨ to a paying customer. I was so irate that I asked a friend to call the police (my Spanish is less than perfect to say the least). He did so. The police watched his place and the individuals for about an hour then left. I do not have any proof of who received money for the event of the children being sold and for that matter I did not follow the customer to his room to see what kind of activities the children were subjected to, I leave the conclusions to you.”
# 31: “Gerald Mayeaux has in his bar some wonderful things but many new tourists will confirm his pride and joy is the Confederate Flag, a hanging noose and a scorched cross. What do these signify?”
# 32: From Gerald; “Bill please cut off this website. It does not hurt me but Pamela is really upset and she crys to sleep at night. It was true that I hurt the kids but they upset my custumers and stole from the, I did hurt
the street kid who threw a bottle at me but I paid his mother $150 compensation so that was like a fine. I do not say bad things about loretanos anymore and I have not touched a kid for 2 years. Please take this off for Pamela.
If you do not I will sue you.”
Gerald
# 33: Gerald Mayeaux, you will sue me? What for? Because so many people hated your meanness so bad they felt compelled to comment on a blog post about Santa Clause; some commented two or three times? Some are so afraid of you they used false names. Why are they afraid of you?
Will you sue me because someone accused you of impersonating the American Consul of Iquitos? Have you impersonated the American Consul to Iquitos? I heard you say that several times! Have you impersonated any other employee of the American embassy? Has anyone else reading this heard Gerald Mayeaux bragging about being the American Consulate of Iquitos? Please leave a comment telling us about it.
What will you sue me for? Because some one made the comment, “you will only send innocent tourists to a tour company or guide that pays 20% commission; those that don’t pay 20% commission you bad mouth.” I know that for a fact!”
# 34: “Gee——let me get this straight—–it is all true but stop it or I’ll sue you—–hmmmmm”
# 35: “When Gerald said in his comment that he had not touched a street kid for 2 years he lied. I know because my balcony overlooks Gerald’s bar. One Sunday about 2 months ago I saw 4 shoe shine boys approach some of Geralds’s customers having breakfast outside. He immediately ushered them away. As it was Sunday morning there was no traffic so the street kids sat out in the street in front of The Yellow Rose of Texas. I was watching when Gerald came out with his big arms in the air telling them to go away. One little boy refused and stayed sitting on his shoe shine box. Gerald came over and told the kid to clear off but the kid stayed put, so Gerald pushed him and he fell over backwards into the street. What a sight it was, this little boy lying in the street with this 200lbs+ bully standing over him.”
# 36: “I was sent this blog by a friend of mine and I just cannot believe what I see. I have been to Iquitos 3 times in the last 4 years and I love the place. If it is true then why don’t the authorities do something? If it’s true you must send this blog to Save The Children or something.”
# 37: “Gerald, I am very guilty in the past for doing nothing to defend the poor people who you abused in Iquitos. These are sins I am ashamed of and ask for forgiveness of these people and my God.
I am only going to deal with fact and not opinion.
In August when I was Iquitos, about 6:45 AM, I was sitting at The Yellow Rose of Texas. You saw a homeless skinny kid sleeping way down the street by the drug store. You went down there and start kicking him and yelling at him. Later you told me he was a thief. He was sleeping, not stealing, when you were kicking him.
In August you were bragging to me and anyone else that would listen to you that you would take needles and poke the street kids to move off the public sidewalk in front of the Yellow Rose of Texas. You were not apologizing for this or for beating the small child that you admitted to in your comment on this blog.
You told me all Peruvians are thieves and liars, especially those that work for you. When a friend of mine was there a year ago you told him he forgot to pay his bill when he left earlier. He said he had paid it. (He ate every meal at The Yellow Rose of Texas for 7 days.) You said don’t worry about it; the money will come out of the waitress’s pay. He then paid his bill again, because of his compassion for your help.
You told me you would like to kill every stray pet in Iquitos.
You told me every woman in Iquitos is a whore and that is why you had to get your wife from Lima.
You told me that you never take commissions from guides for sending business their way but many have denied that to me.
One guide who is well known for dealing in child prostitution was in your restaurant one day with a tourist who comes to Iquitos regularly. I asked you why you allowed him in there. You said he is allowed in the restaurant when this tourist comes to Iquitos because this guide is selling what he wants. Does this make you an accessory to the crime?
Getting away from your disrespect of the people of Iquitos, treating friends and fellow ex-pats the way you do is stupid. If I was to get into all the rumors I have heard about you I would need my own website. I don’t want to hear the stories about how you treated your children, your ex-wife, and your previous business partners. Let alone the stories about how you treated your good friends who own and did own the restaurants on either side of you.
God forgive me for associating with this man,”
# 39: “Interesting reading this…hmm, hmm, I have sent it to the UNESCO office in Lima, why don’t you? lima@unesco.org.
# 40: “I have been looking at this blog for a few days now, wondering if I should comment or not. What I witnessed was; one evening while I was having a beer in front of the Gringo Bar I saw some tourists in front of the Yellow Rose of Texas and Mayaeux was talking to them. The girl from the Gringo bar looked over and Mayaeux said, “Wait your turn bitch”. I am ashamed to say I sat still but a tall man who I think lives in Iquitos but comes from South Africa confronted him. Mayaeux called his wife and she stood in front of the man while Mayaeux went inside and came back with a baseball bat. That is all I can say.”
# 41: Gerald Mayeaux, as accused in this Iquitos gringo colony version of the Salem witch trials as maltreating children. Did he stick pins in children? Personally, I doubt you could stick a pin in one, their arms indurated by sun and filth, but experiments could be carried out using different children, different pins under varying pressure. (Indurate is a high-class $20 word and much too good for this two-bit blog but no matter), Also, that he beat one with a belt, buckle end. Has no contributor ever totally lost it when put up against an absolutely perverse and stubborn child? Are you all moral majority morons who thrash a child in cold blood with a bible in one hand or liberal no-spanking wankers?”
# 43: “If you want security then eat and drink on private property. Not the public sidewalk.”
# 44: Children do have rights. If under the legal age they are deemed to be innocent. No one has the right to hurt them, not even the police, it is a crime. No one has the right to take the law into their own hands.”
# 46: “I know very well that the street kids can be a nuisance and even I have lost my temper with a persistent t-shirt seller who would not take no for an answer BUT I have never hurt one. I think that someone who does must have a problem. I would like you to meet one called Luis who claims that Gerald stuck needles in him twice. Just click here to meet him; www.iquitostimes.com/street-kid-jan-2007.htm . Just gives you a name and a face. Could you hurt him?”
# 49: “We really thank you for writing and your interest in what is happening to children in Iquitos. We as Save the Children Sweden´s Regional Office for South America and the Caribbean at; http://www.scslat.org/ , thank you so much for the information provided. We are contacting local organizations in Iquitos in order to act with the pertinent entities that have to do with these problems. We have alerted the organization IDEIF and they will also start to work on it.”
# 50: “I have known Mayeaux since he first came here with Parker Drilling. I know all about him.
In 1998 a new politician came onto the Iquitos political scene, Ivan Vasques. Mayeaux supported his campaign with hard cash in return for the promise of the position of the Director of Tourism for Iquitos if he won. Ivan became mayor and so began the reign of terror that Mayeaux brought to tourism in Iquitos. One of Mayeauxs first tasks was to organize the Millennium festivities in Iquitos. Mayeaux had a great idea which he put into action in late 1999. He rented 6 big, flat topped barges and had them anchored below the Malecon boulevard, He had a great canvas canopy put over the barges and a walkway built from the bank for access. He filled the floating platform with tables and chairs, built a stage and then proceeded to sell tickets for the Iquitos Millennium Gala at $50 per person. He booked a top class band and everything was set. The gala was a sell out, all the “wanabees” of Iquitos were there, it was a great idea. During the first week of January 2000 the auditors found that they were short about 200,000 soles ($60,000US). Neither the money nor the culprit has been found. The gala turned out to be a financial failure.”
# 52: “As a resident of Peru responding to the many of you asking why no one “informs authorities, agencies, etc…” all I can say is, ‘If only it were that simple.” Yet, here in Peru, nothing is as simple as many of us think it should be. If nothing else, Bill, this will bring awareness to the future visitors of Iquitos, as it seems nary a resident is unaware of the darker side of Gerald Mayeaux. Oh, and if you decide to begin working with non-profits in order to deliver goods to the people on the river let me know. I’m sure I can find plenty of folks in the states willing to donate and come along and help!”
# 55: “Hi Micah, it is great to hear from you, and thanks for bringing us full circle back to where we started, when I asked for help finding generous donors to supply educational and medicinal supplies to deliver when we travel to remote jungle villages in need. As you can read here, this blog has a life of its own, and there is plenty of work to do confronting the problems that challenge us right here in Iquitos. Hundreds of people are reading this everyday, and I say again, we can make a big difference. Let’s do it.”
# 53: “As a means to liven things up I am going to answer as if I were Gerald Mayeaux:
Hey y’all!!! Stop pickin on me. You all knowed I were somewhat on tha shady side wen y’all startid to deal wit me. What in tarnation did ya ekspect? Honesty?? Gimme a break. Yu invitin me inta yur club was not zactly an inteligunt move I dare say (heh heh). Why back in Lusiana (where I reely come frum) they sur do recunize snakes when they see um. Thas why I lives here now. But golly gee, I am gibbin y’all too much infermation. I surly do promis I ain’t gonna kick no mor street kids when anybudy is lookin (especially that Tom fool theavin varmint Mike across the street). Why I alweys thouht I cud trust him!!! Now that sheep eatin fatso Santa claus is rattin me out and plannin to catch me with hiz camera machine. Why I may gust disguise myself as a Texas man so they’all never know. An as fer that Gulf Cours stuff, why yu’all shud be real happy I saved all yur asses from that theavin Mike and Bill (Capt. Hook) Grimes. Why iffin it wern’t for me yu’all wud be havin to contend with what to do with this infernal club I seem to hav inherited. I mean lawdy lawdy, i’ve had to sell golf balls, clubs, tee shirts an lawnmewers. I hav been havin to dispose of green fee money, donations and all kinds of stuf just to get the club book balance to zero. That sur be a lot a work fellas. Give this here Lusianna boy sum credit by golly. An whilst yu be at it, pik on sumboddy what has the grit to defend himself.”
# 58: “Where do you suggest the missionary type go to eat now? We’ll be there soon.”
# 59: “I recommend you start with Bill and Marmelita’s Favorite Restaurants, on my web site at http://www.dawnontheamazon.com/ . Scroll to near the bottom of the home page and click the live link.”
# 61: “There’s more than one RAT in Iquitos. He stole the money we sent for her. We came to Iquitos to take a little disabled girl to Lima for surgery and met a very helpful ‘missionary’ who helped us translate. We had a tumor removed from her back and sent her back to Iquitos when she was able to travel. Our ‘missionary’ offered to set up an email account so we could keep in touch, so we sent the money. We also sent various other amounts to help her, over the next few weeks. In December last we received an email from our ‘missionary’ to say she had been hit by a car & needed urgent surgery to save her life. By this time we were suspicious but when we received an email from a surgeon at the hospital telling us she had 48 hours to live we sent the money. We phoned the hospital & a contact in Iquitos & confirmed she was in fact OK and it was a scam. The ‘missionary’, the girl’s ‘mother’ and the ‘doctor’ are the very same person, URI TORRES. We recently met an American who claims he was duped out of $8,000 by this RAT.”
# 68: “I spent 6 months in Iquitos last year and I just love the place. I know all about Mayeaux and always avoid his bar. Now about Uri Torres , of course I know him and yes I have been uried at least 3 times. I never thought he would go so low as to cheat a Peruvian disabled street girl. Shame on you Uri I hope they lock you up and throw away the key and leave you locked up with your cellmate Mayeaux.”
# 73: “Mayeaux Takes over the “El Gringo” Bar: For many years the place where once stood the “El Gringo” bar was derelict until an englishman called Steve Elliot opened it up as “Jungle Jims Pub”. What a great place it was, great music ,good food and open 24 hours a day. Mayeaux saw its success and opened up his place right next door. So started Mayeaux’s reign of terror, causing trouble everyday, putting up big signboards so no one could see “Jungle Jims”. Steve Elliot didn’t come to Iquitos for this day after day problems with Mayeaux so he sold out to Mike Ella another englishman. It started again, the war of attrition. So Mike Ella sold out to Doug Morris an american. Mayeaux made Doug’s life a misery so he too sold out to Cleve and Parodia Durden. They said they would never give in to the inherently evil Mayeaux so they stayed put. So Mayeaux got someone to help him buy the property over Cleve and Parodia’s heads. So now the evil Mayeaux, “Ryker” has got what he always coveted the “El Gringo” bar. I hope you are pleased with yourself Mayeaux. If there is any justice in this world you will lose your ass.”
# 65: From Justin: I hope potential and returning tourists to Iquitos take this blog as a forewarning to spend their dollar, and thus use their influence, wisely. Don’t be afraid to ask tour companies what arrangements they have with local communities, how their Peruvian staff is paid, and what efforts they take toward sustainability. The tourist industry will respond to the desires of its consumers. Iquitos should avoid becoming a de facto area of Western influence - rather a confluence of ideas, peoples, and rivers which advances a beauty and spirit compatible, and commensurate, with that of the Amazon basin. Best of luck to all whose paths cross the Amazon and I look forward to continued comments from travelers past, present, and future.
# 69: “Hello Justin I enjoyed your thoughtful comment. I tried to respond here but the response became so long I decided to make it an article of its own. Thanks for giving me an opportunity to tell a little about how Dawn on the Amazon affects the economy and the people of Iquitos, Loreto, and Peru. I would appreciate if you would read my post and share your thoughts with us in the comments, at http://dawnontheamazon.com/blog/ , titled; To Answer Questions You Should Ask Before Booking an Amazon Adventure, posted Feb 8 2007. Thanks for caring.”
Is Gerald Mayeaux the Scoundrel of Iquitos Peru?
Bill Grimes, Bill and Marmelita’s List of Favorite Restaurants in Iquitos Peru,
