RSCSWC
Ralph & Shaun Combs Joined: December 18th 2005
Logged in: September 2nd 2011
Logged in: September 2nd 2011
Travel Blog Posts
Slackman: There are many internet cafes in every town and village I´ve been in, yes a lot easier than Thailand for finding access, also phone cafes in or adjacent to internet cafes. Speeds are quite good as long as there are not alot of people in the cafes. I´m not emailing just responding on this blog to peoples questions or comments. 2/29/08-went to Belen again, (for all readers that know of Belen skip this part, it´s the same old stuff every other blogger writes, this is for my friends and family) spent about an hour in canoe touring the "Venice of Peru", yeah right, this Venice has much floatsom and jettsom, in other words much trash consisting of plastic bottles, bags, various forms of rotting food, non-swimming animals, the dead type, and many unidentifiable articles. This ... read more
To Sophie, I was on the Eduardo VI boat I noticed approximately four cabins on this boat and as far as I could tell there were no bathrooms in the cabins except for one which was the capitans, wouldn´t you know. As to the other Eduardo boats I don´t know about bathrooms in cabins. In accuality the bathrooms I wrote about for the upper deck were very sanitary being cleaned numerous times a day. In speaking to other travelers that were on boats in Brazil they said the Brazilian Boats were nicer. I guess that´s relative to what one considers nice. As I wrote before, I´m an old man and all worked well for me. To JJ: What do you mean, sharing my blogs to the other girls at work, all of these blogs were for ... read more
Have been in Iquitos for a few days now and an enjoying all about it, except the heat and humidity but it´s to be expected so just enjoy all there is to do. Have really just been relaxing along the boulevard as the malecon is called. Went to Belen the floating market area and this time of year all is floating as this is high water season. Quite interesting to take a canoe through the homes and stores. Staying at Celibri hostal close to the boulevard and central plaza, walking distance to everything. Cost I believe is 33 soles so about $11-12 US, quite nice on second floor so at times a bit of a breeze. It´s fairly new, couple of years old, private bath, cable tv, double bed, tile floors. Small kithen area downstairs for ... read more
Fellow Bloggers, always remember to save your entry, just lost 15 minutes of typing, dang, user error. First to Slackman, no fine wine or continental breakfast, however, did supplement the fine on board fare with tuna, pork & beans, and oreo cookies, so all was not lost. This little journey is unlike our jaunt through Thailand a couple of years ago or Baja Mexico before that, remember that travel book I gave you when in Fairbanks, Alaska the summer before last, the author wrote about "threading", this trip is that kind of travel, wish I could remember the name of that book. On to Day 2: As stated somewhere in the last entry was up about 4-4:30am Stopped at villages numerous times, don´t ask how many, I don´t remember, many 5-15 homes and all the people ... read more
Went to the port in Yurimaguas about 8:00am, put up the hammocks, stored our packs with the capitan and walked back downtown for breakfast. Back at the boat about 9:30 and waited for the 12:00 departure time, ended up being 1:30 departure. Top deck where our hammocks were had 21 total. Lots of open space and not bumping into others. 2nd deck was crowded praobably 100-125, bottom deck, cargo hold full of bananas, plantains, metal roofing, paint, cement, petrol, and to many other things to list, but you get the idea. It was a floating Wal-Mart. On the forward deck were 18 head of cattle penned up in an area of about 25x25 feet, they stayed there for the duration. Passangers on top deck included a mix of Peruvians, one American (me), three Chilians, a Spanish ... read more
To David Skinner, the road from Tarapoto to Yurimaguas really is not bad, yes there were land slides, mud, rain, all that good stuff that makes the old saying "its the journey not the destination" true to the core. I can only highly recommend it, some say its for the adventurist, but when you see old men like me in a taxi going through the mud, etc. anyone can do it. Now to qualify this, I must say that I am traveling with my friend from Iquitos, he met me in Lima 2.14.08 and we are putting the last few pieces together for forming a tour company, the name is Curuhuinsi Eco Adventure Tours & Expeditions located in Iquitos, you can contact Gerson Pizango, my partner, at (51) (065) 9940011, email: alexander.pizango@gmail.com. Yes, this is a ... read more
Had the decision made for us to go to Yurimaguas today, Sunday, as on Monday the road from Tarapoto to Yurimaguas will closed for 18 hours mas o manos due to construction, rock slides and all that other good stuff traveling is made of. I had read many accounts of travel on this road, however, they do not live up to those stories, minimum of 10 times worse in some peoples opinion. But what a trip into the mountains, over the mountains, down the mountains. Once in Iquitos maybe I can find a better internet cafe to upload photos. Shaun, the road from Mae Hong Song to Chiang Mae is like traveling on the highway along Turnagain Arm. You would have enjoyed some of the construction activity, or not. Not up to your engineering standards in ... read more
Ok, guys, Gerson and I are in Tarapoto. Arrived last night, found a nice hostal, bloody Macaws talking in espanol waking you up in the morning. Anyway went to the small village of Lamas today beautiful little village at 1,000 mts., cold like 70 F, got to get back to warmth of the lower elevations, JJ you would probably need your heater. Michelle, you would like it here not like some of the places I have drug you to. People are very friendly, helping me with my espanol, I can now order cervasa all by myself. Mac, I finally heard from you, thank the lord your still alive. Gerson and I should be in Iquitos by the 21st depending how the cargo boat goes. Am trying to leave Tarapoto to Yurimaguas the 18th, however, there have ... read more
Thur. morning, just finished a great breakfast at Safe In Lima. After the last blog came back to the hostal and relaxed a bit. As always, started with my cold the follows me when I first head out on travels. The little guy showed up a day early, usually, he arrives about day 5, and it was day 4 when he arrived. However, I am fighting him back with some zinc stuff and he´s not able to get through the defence of zinc, yea zinc. Gerson arrives from Iquitos today, we were going to leave Lima for Tarapoto on 2/15/08, but are going to Star Peru Air and change our departure date to 2/17/08 to allow more time in Lima. Mike, thank Bill H. for the additional time to travel, if it wasn´t for him, I´d ... read more
Well let´s see, left MFR 4:00pm 2/13/08, arrived LAX 6:15pm, 15 minutes early. Checked in at Taca Air and then waited for my 12:50am flight to San Salvador, arrived SAL 7:15am 20 minutes early, are we seeing a pattern of early flights. On to LIM at 9:05am, arrived 2:05pm, 10 minutes early. Who said flights are delayed, just lucky I guess. Now that the boring stuff is gone lets talk about Lima and Barranco a little suburb of Lima. Very pretty plaza with restaurants, cafes, and BARS, that´s what I needed, due to Heat and Humidity, get some moisture back this old body. After checking in at Safe In Lima Hostal in Barrnco, this place is great, they made flight reservations for my friend in Iquitos, who will arrive Thur.; flight Res. for both of us ... read more
