Peru - Lonely Planet Publications [418]
Several inexpensive restaurants and lively bars line the Puerto Callao waterfront. The better ones are toward the right-hand side as you face the lake, where you’ll find La Maloka and the Anaconda, a floating restaurant, among other choices.
LAKESIDE
La Jungla (57-1460; www.thejungleecolodge.com; bungalows per person S75) This enthusiastically run place currently only has two rustic bungalows open to guests, each sleeping up to four people. There is a zoo, a resident tapir, a spacious bar-restaurant and a swimming pool on a floating platform on the lake. The owner’s father can guide you in the surrounding jungle. La Jungla is within an hours’ walk of the botanical garden.
Pandisho Albergue (57-5041, 961-65-9596; www.amazon-ecolodge.com; 2 days & 1 night incl meals per person S285) About 40 minutes from Puerto Callao, this place has eight rooms with bathrooms, and electricity for three hours in the evening. Its bar is popular with locals on weekends when there’s music, but it’s quiet otherwise. Tours include transportation from the airport to the lake, a welcome cocktail and a full program of walks to visit wildlife and indigenous communities, as well as piranha fishing! Ask about cheaper, room-only options.
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CONTAMANÁ TO REQUENA
Contamaná has a colorful waterfront market, a frontier-town atmosphere and is settled mainly by mestizo descendents of colonists. It also boasts an airstrip, 24-hour electricity and some internet cafes, as well as a couple of OK accommodation options near the plaza for around S30 a room such as Hostal Augustus. The next major port is Orellana, which has electricity from 6:30pm to 10:30pm and half a dozen basic hotels charging up to S10 for single rooms and S15 for doubles with shared bathroom. Further on again, Juancito has some very basic rooms.
In the town of Requena (two to four days from Pucallpa), with 24-hour electricity, the nicest sleep is tiny, cute Hostal Jicely (065-41-2493; Manaos 292; d S30). There are other more basic hostales. Boats to Iquitos leave on most days, taking 12 to 15 hours.
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NORTHERN AMAZON
Raw, vast and encapsulating the real spirit of the Amazon, the northern Amazon Basin is home to the eponymous river that wells up from the depths of the Peruvian jungle before making its long, languorous passage through Brazil to the distant Atlantic Ocean. Settlements are scarce in this remote region: Yurimaguas in the west and Iquitos in the northeast are the only two of any size.
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YURIMAGUAS
065 / pop 45,000 / elev 181m
This sleepy, unspectacular port is one of the Peruvian Amazon’s best-connected towns and the gateway to the northern tract of the Amazonas. It’s visited by travelers looking for boats down the Río Huallaga to Iquitos and the Amazon proper or by those wanting to experience one of Peru’s most animal-rich paradises, the Pacaya-Samiria reserve, which is accessible from here. There is little to detain visitors from continuing their Amazon adventure. A paved road now connects Yurimaguas with Tarapoto to the south.
Orientation & Information
Yurimaguas is a compact town, easily negotiable on foot. The Plaza de Armas abuts the Río Huallaga, and buses and taxis arrive and depart from offices 2km southwest of the center. Go to Lagunas for a jungle guide, although touts will approach you in Yurimaguas.
The Consejo Regional (Plaza de Armas) can give information, as can Kumpanamá Tours (50-2472; Jáuregui 934). It is better to arrange Pacaya-Samiria tours in Lagunas. Banco Continental (with a Visa ATM) and BCP will change US cash and traveler’s checks. Internet and phone booths come and go frequently but there are a few around the plaza.
Sleeping
Few hotels have hot water. Other budget hotels flank cuadra 3 of Arica and cuadra 4 of Jáuregui.
Yacuruña (965-735-767; Malecón Shanusi 200; s/d without bathroom S15/25) This is a great rustic retreat right by the river. Four simple, nicely decorated rooms share a bathroom. Tours