Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Finally, there is tiny Puerto Embarcadero, for speedboats to the tri-border (with Colom-
bia and Brazil). These depart at 6am daily except Monday. You'll need to purchase your
ticket in advance. Speedboat offices are bunched together on Raimondi near the Plaza
Castilla. Standard fares are S170 to Pevas or S200 for the 10- to 12-hour trip to Santa
Rosa, on the Peruvian side, including meals.
You
may
be able to book a berth on a Leticia-bound cruise ship (
Click here
)
if space is
available, although this is more likely coming from Leticia to Iquitos (the captain is more
likely to take pity on you if you're stranded in Leticia).
Getting Around
Squadrons of busy
mototaxis
are the bona fide transport round town. They are fun to ride,
though they don't provide much protection in an accident. Always enter
mototaxis
from
the sidewalk side − passing traffic pays scant heed to embarking passengers − and keep
your limbs inside at all times. Scrapes and fender bending are common. Most rides around
Iquitos cost a standard S1.50; to the airport it's about S7 for a
mototaxi
and S15 for the
harder-to-spot cabs.
Buses and trucks for several nearby destinations, including the airport, leave from near
Plaza 28 de Julio. Airport buses are marked Nanay-Belén-Aeropuerto: they'll head south
down Arica to the airport.
A paved road extends 102km through the jungle as far as Nauta on the Río Marañón,
near its confluence with the Río Ucayali. Riverboat passengers from Yurimaguas can now
alight at Nauta and pick up a local bus to Iquitos, thus making the journey shorter by some
six hours. Boats from Pucallpa do not stop at Nauta. Minivans to Nauta take two hours
and depart from the corner of Próspero and José Gálvez. There are swimming opportunit-
ies at the creeks and beaches en route.
Around Iquitos
NEARBY VILLAGES & LAKES
About 16km from town, past the airport,
Santo Tomás
is famous for its pottery and mask
making, and has a few bars overlooking Mapacocha, a lake formed by an arm of the Río
Nanay. You can rent boats by asking around (motorboat with driver about S30).
Santa
Clara
is about 15km away, on the banks of the Río Nanay. There are white-sand beaches
