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Published: January 29th 2009
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This blog entry details our journey from Vilcabamba in Ecuador to Iquitos in Peru. It is not a very common route and is definitely off the Gringo Trail. Backpacking at its best! For other tourists, we have a summary of where to go, duration and costs below the bulk of the entry.
The two of us and Darran left Vilcabamba at 7:00 in the morning on a bus headed to a town called Zumba close the the Peruvian border. This leg of the journey took us through beautiful green valleys and ridges. We stopped for a small brunch of rice, beef and potatoes in a village called Palanda. Palanda has a beautiful town square, filled with palms and other exquisite plants. It was rainy and misty and we passed quite a few remote settlements.
Arriving in Zumba we had to wait for a colectivo for two hours, spent next to a gravel plain with a bunch of kids running amok. One kid gave LM a mini Spanish lesson, so at least the wait was not totally in vain. After our wait was over, we climbed onto our colectivo which was a truck with eight rows of seats on the
back. We travelled on a very bumpy gravel road toward the border post. We stopped several times on the way to drop off people who live in a very remote part of the world. At one of these stops we saw three old men drinking on their veranda (they were a bit drunk). One of them saw us watching and strolled over to offer us a sip of his Aguardiente (liquorice flavoured sugar cane rum). LM hates Aguardiente but didn´t want to be impolite so we, with everyone looking at us, took a few swigs. We found the people in this area to be very friendly.
La Balsa, the border post, is very remote and quiet and we passed through without any delays. We were the only gringos around which was refreshing. After passing through all the formalities we took a colectivo (a normal car this time) to San Ignacio. The trip would have been much shorter if the taxi driver did not take many detours, including one where he drank a beer with his friends while we were waiting in the car. We finally arrived in San Ignacio after a very long day of travel. We stayed in
a nice hostel with a television in the room and restaurant. The food they serve is good for the price and the portions are huge.
The next day we left very early (again) with a colectivo (again) that was packed to the maximum with lots of people and crowing roosters for company. People fasten a piece of string to the rooster´s leg and treat them like pets. The roosters stay on their owners´ laps for the entire journey. On the way, we passed through a couple of beautiful and fertile valleys with rice paddies and papaya and coconut plantations. We never imagined that Northern Peru would be so beautiful. After many stops, changes of transport medium and many many hours on the road we finally arrived in Tarapoto. Our mototaxi driver dropped us off at a hostel that was an absolute dump. We have never stayed in such a horrible place before but as it was after midnight, we paid upfront, just closed our eyes and stayed for the night.
The last day of travelling consisted yet again of taking a colectivo to Yurimaguas. Unfortunate for us, a large part of the road was closed due to road
works. The road is only open between the hours of 18:30 to 6:00 and as a result all busses, cars and trucks queue and wait as not to be behind all the others once it opens. We waited next to the road for 3.5 hours. It was a beautiful spot next to a river. For once, LM was spared an unfortunate event and it happened to Bernhard. He stepped in some poo while being barefoot, and it wasn´t dog poo! Quite a mission to clean and get rid of the smell, let us tell you! We finally arrived in Yurimaguas, a remote river town at the edge of the Amazon. It was perfect timing as the next boat to Iquitos was departing the next day.
The next day, we boarded the boat, the Eduardo II at 11:00, only to depart at 14:00. We stayed on the top deck which is mainly for people with a little more money. We paid 140 pesos per person and rented hammocks for 20 pesos. The top deck was more luxurious than we expected and we had ample space. We were more or less 23 people on the top deck as opposed to the
crowded and cheaper lower deck. We were served 3 meals a day (by two very gay cooks). The deck had 3 bathrooms with toilets and showers. Not too shabby! The lower deck was cramped with about 120 people squashed in with about 200 chickens, a car and loads of other goods in the front. Throughout the trip, occasional wafts from the hundreds of chickens in the front would envelope us.
We stopped at several jungle villages on the way to drop off and pick up people, goods and livestock. Throughout the day small peque-peques would rush up to the boat to deliver more passengers. Our days on the boat consisted of sleeping, reading and more sleeping. We had a good view of the jungle, which got more dense as the journey progressed and also saw a couple of pink river dolphins along the way. Unfortunately we didn´t see any other wildlife. We arrived in Iquitos at 7:00 after 41 hours on the boat.
In Iquitos (the largest city in the world that cannot be accessed by road) we left for a lodge that we had booked beforehand, between Iquitos and Nauta in the forest. We stayed here for
a week.
Here is a summary for other travellers wishing to do the same route:
Day 1:
Vilcabamba to Zumba: 4.5 hours
Zumba to La Balsa border post by colectivo (truck): 1.5 hours
Border post to San Ignacio (Peru) by colectivo (car): 2 hours
Day 2:
San Ignacio to Jaen with colectivo: 3 hours (10 pesos p/p)
Take a mototaxi to other paradero (station). This takes 10 minutes and shouldn´t cost more than 5 pesos.
Jaen to Bagua Grande with colectivo: 1 h (3 pesos)
Bagua Grande to Pedro Ruiz: 1.15. h (10 pesos p/p)
Pedro Ruiz to Tarapoto by bus: 6 h (35 pesos)
Day 3:
Tarapoto to Yurimaguas: total drive time is 3 hours but including waiting is 6.5 hours. The road should be finished by end 2009.
Day 4 to 6:
Yurimaguas to Iquitos with a river boat: 41 h (80-140 pesos p/p)
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Ciska
non-member comment
Still jealous! Enjoy every moment, remember what you are experiencing is a great priveledge!