The Trip: From Coca to Iquitos

• 20 December 2009 at 00:52
• Traveling

Careful: this is a long and boring post.

If you're looking for info on this trip, you should check this page on Follow The Road. As well as Hobo Traveller.

Day 1. To get to Peru, we had to get up early to take the boat at 7am sharp. The boat was full and we were given chairs in the middle. Actually it was better because there's often water splashing on the sides.

The trip lasted 12 hours and finished at night in Nuevo Rocafuerte, the last town on the Napo river before the peruvian border. On the boat, we also met Tatzjo, a 21-year-old guy from Holland travelling alone.

Once there we met a Peruvian, Fernando (There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Fernando...), who took us to a hostel and offered to take us to the other side of the border the following day. Sorted!

Day 2. We woke up early, went to the migration services to get an exit stamp from Ecuador and took our boat to Peru. A picture of the border:

In 2 hours, we were in Pantoja, Peru. The visa thing was very quick. Fernando introduced us to Maryan, a Israeli travelling with his bike and desperate to leave Pantoja to join Iquitos. There was a pekepeke (tiny engine) leaving the day after but the price was way too high for us. He bargained a lot with the captain and finally decided to pay a big part of the trip and was really pushing for us to come with him, so we accepted.

The night at the hostel was nice. The kids (who greeted us with a warm "Hey gringos!") came to do some slack line with Ada and Peter. After they went to bed, we drank and slept in tents to pay less. When all the lights went off, we could see the fireflies everywhere around us, hear the animals...

Day 3. Unfortunately, some ill-intended people heard the price we got (advice: always give the original price or the group price if you're asked, not the one you got for cheaper as some people try to keep the prices high) and stole quite a lot of petrol. It delayed us but didn't prevent us from leaving.

We navigated all day long and it's only at 9.30pm we could stop to cook some food and sleep, in an empty school, lost in the forest. (...why not?!)

Day 4. Same thing: getting up early, very tired, navigating... but this time, we stopped at Santa Clotilde, the time to buy a bit of everything. Peter and I had an argument but as soon as we got back on the boat, we talked and everything was alright. That night, we stopped at a small village and slept at some hosts'. We could also use their kitchen and sleep in our hammocks.

Day 5. We didn't take a shower since Coca, we were very tired and looking forward to get back in a town. Which explains this:

The pekepeke finally stopped in Manta, where we took our first mototaxi to get to the other side of the town, where you can find the Amázonas river. There we could take a rapido (it was kind of difficult to get Maryan's bike on) and we FINALLY ARRIVED IN IQUITOS!!!

• Permalink The Trip: From Coca to Iquitos