It seems like something out of a Max Ernst painting, but residents of the Peruvian Amazon community of Belen, which has been called the "Venice of the Jungle," live half the year on the water, using canoes for transportation.

As reported by The Associated Press, this Peruvian water world exits from January to June, a time when water overflows from a river that feeds the Amazon, and goes on to flood the northeastern jungle community of Belen, which is part of the city of Iquitos.

When this occurs everything changes for the 16,000 inhabitants of the area.

Although this six-month long phenomena draws curious tourists, life gets increasingly tougher for the people who have to live there.

In an effort to keep their homes from flooding when the Rio Itaya spills over its banks, the residents of Belen build their houses three meters above ground, holding them up with stilts of wood gathered from the nearby jungle.

And life is already pretty trying in the region, as 40 percent of the children in Belen, according to official statistics, suffer from malnutrition and 66 percent of the entire population is considered to be poor.

Peru's Health Ministry has stated that the inhabitants of Belen very often suffer from respiratory illnesses, as well as diarrheic illness, which is caused by people and animals defecating in close proximity to the river.

To deal with the deluge, a good many of the inhabitants work in a market in a nearby area that does not flood.

As a means of alleviating the situation, the Peruvian government has offered to spend $58 million to relocate the community to a piece of land that is 12 miles away. Approximately half of the residents of Belen are okay with this, while the rest have stated that the proposed area of relocation is too far from the market where they must work.