 Amazon for a solo woman traveler? |
Amazon for a solo woman traveler?South America » Peru | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lima to Amazon via Iquitos - is it a recommended trip if on a budget? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 AriTraveler Ariana Post Count: 27 Msg: #1 115 days ago, May 15th 2008 | My friend will be joining me in Lima to go for a 2 week trip of some of the Peru highlights to the south - Machu Picchu, Arequipa and Lake Titicaca. I have more travel time than she does and am planning to arrive in Lima at least a week earlier than she arrives. | The question is...what to do near/ from Lima before my friend arrives? I really want to go to the Amazon...but am wondering if it would be expensive? I've heard those Amazon lodges are pricey. Are there cheap (and safe) alternatives? I am most interested in just BEING in the jungle and experiencing Amazon river daily life. I have already done a lot of Central American jungle exploration so I've had my fill of searching for monkeys, caimans, crocs, etc. But I do love the sounds, smell and feel of the jungle and I'd love to experience the culture of the Amazon. Ideas and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. [Edited: 03:17 - AriTraveler ]  KST Kit Taylor Post Count: 41 Msg: #2 114 days ago, May 15th 2008 | I ran across a few women travelling alone on my last Amazon trip (2004). | The best way, I think, to experience river life is to take a riverboat trip. Even if you want a cabin for security you will probably find a hammock on the deck more comfortable (Pay the cabin price and you can still hang a hammock on the main hammock deck). A week would be cutting things close though. With a week and half to two weeks you could fly to Iquitos, spend a few days there, possibly a jungle outing with a guide, then take a boat upriver to Pucallpa (usually about five days). From Pucallpa it is possible to bus back to Lima. If you speak even a little Spanish you will meet all sorts of people who live in the region. There are some (incomplete) notes from my Iquitos-Pucallpa trip posted as a blog here (look for KST under bloggers). Some people find this type of riverboat travel tedious, others get hooked (I'm taking off on my 3rd Amazon trip a month from now). KST AriTraveler Ariana Post Count: 27 Msg: #3 114 days ago, May 15th 2008 | KST, | I do speak Spanish fluently so communication shouldn't be a problem. How do you find a riverboat? What's the cost? I'm not looking for any luxuries, but a cabin would be nice. KST Kit Taylor Post Count: 41 Msg: #4 114 days ago, May 15th 2008 | My price knowledge on riverboats in Peru would be well out of date. My most recent Amazon trip was entirely in Brazil. Guide books give a price of around $30 for hammock class Iquitos-Pucallpa, including all meals. Probably about three times that amount for a cabin. I suspect that departures from Iquitos are much more organized than when I was there -- but the riverboats are a major lifeline and anyone in town would know where the boats for Pucallpa or Yurimaguas (another river town with road connections to the rest of Peru) leave from. The Bradt guidebook, The Amazon, has more info on the Amazon than Lonely Planet and the 3rd edition was just published a few months ago, so that is a good source. | In 2004 -- if memory serves -- my wife and I paid about 400 Reais (which was then about $125) for a cabin on one of the better riverboats from Santarem to Belem, which was a two night/two day trip. This was a large three decker which does the busy Manaus/Belem route. But I think boats in Peru would be a good bit cheaper. And prices are likely less set -- I recall bargaining over the price of passage when I was in Peru even with my far-less-than-fluent Spanish ("Espanhol é português mal falado") so you should have no difficulty. KST brotherJules Jules Lapprand Post Count: 3 Msg: #5 82 days ago, June 17th 2008 | Hello AriTraveler, | my friend and I just finished an excellent six-night trip into the Amazon in May with a very good local guide named Gerson. He is from a local village on the Ucayali river about 260 km South of Iquitos, so deep in the jungle -- be ready, there's no pre-packaged tourism here, just raw adventure. But we had an amazing time if that is what you are looking for, we went deep into the jungle and saw much wildlife and many animals. Gerson is very learned about all of the plants and animals and is so enthusiastic about his home. He works solo, but is hoping to create a company one day just for the local people of the Amazon villages. From his village we went much deeper and camped on the Cumaseba creek. The only people we saw were local fishermen and there were very few, and maybe two other tourists, but that was just on the way to our camp and we passed a jungle lodge. If you went with Gerson you would get to know a person who is very genuinely interested in making the selva known to you! A solid good guide. We went caiman spotting at night, we also went for nighttime walks through the jungle searching for tarantulas and scorpions (came across a huge poisonous snake), and by day we saw sloths, many birds (king fishers and birds of prey), monkeys. We also searched for anaconda, but couldn't find any -- you might be more lucky. Gerson also has a vast knowledge of the plant life in the jungle, and showed us many food-bearing and medicinal plants; the man seems to know his way around the whole jungle and we were never worried about getting lost. The people were great, we were well taken care of and looked after (bring a book because you will have a lot of free time too) and it was all around an amazing experience. If you want to contact me I can give you all the necessary information to contact him. You would be with a man who is from the heart of it rather than a tour agency so I would highly recommend contacting this man. He will always look out for your well-being and you'll be in good hands. Loads of fun, enjoy, hoping you will go with him! Also we got to know his family and the people of his village as we spent a while there as well and they were just lovely people. Gerson told us a lot about the culture of his village and the way they make money, they way they live, etc. His email is amazonguidanceservices@gmail.com Sincerely, Jules Number of Users: 3 | Number of Posts: 5 | |||||||||||||
