Peru - Lonely Planet Publications [420]
TAXI
Mototaxis charge S1.50 to take you anywhere around town.
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LAGUNAS
065 / pop 4500 / elev 148m
Travelers come to muddy, mosquito-rich Lagunas because it is the best point from which to begin a trip to the Reserva Nacional Pacaya-Samiria. It’s a spread-out, remote place: there are stores but stock (slightly pricier than elsewhere in Peru) is limited, so it’s wise to bring. There are no money-changing facilities and hardly any public phones either.
Tours & Guides
Spanish-speaking guides are locally available to visit Pacaya-Samiria. It is illegal to hunt within the reserve (though fishing for the pot is OK). The going rate is a rather steep S100 per person per day for a guide, a boat and accommodations in huts, tents and ranger stations. Food and park fees are extra, although the guides can cook for you.
Several years ago, there was such a plethora of guides in Lagunas that to avoid harassment and price cutting, an official guides association was formed. Of course, this being Peru, things weren’t so straightforward. The head of the organization left and set up a second ‘official’ guides association; there are currently two guides associations but watch this space. Estypel (40-1080; estypel@gmail.com; Jr Padre Lucero 1345) is the original organization and generally considered the best. Located near the market, it’s headed by the reputable guide Juan Manuel Rojas Arévalo. Confusingly, many Estypel guides will tell you they work for Acestur but this is an affiliated agency. To muddy the waters further, former Estypel boss Gamaniel Valles has now set up Etascel (40-1007; etascel@hotmail.com; Fiscarral 530), found down a side street near the market. Both organizations give guides jobs in turn, so it is harder to get a particular guide. Juan Guerro, working for Estypel, and Etascel’s Kleber Saldaña are experienced guides getting good reports from travelers. However, you don’t know whom you will get until you arrive.
Sleeping & Eating
Accommodation is improving, but still very basic. Hostels provide cheap meals; if you like chicken and fried banana, try the basic restaurant on the plaza.
Hostal Eco (50-3703; hospeco@hotmail.com; s/d S15/20) Seven simple, clean rooms here flank a small courtyard. All have private bathrooms and nightlights for when the power cuts out.
Hostal Samiria (40-1061; Fitzcarrald; s/d/tr S15/20/30) This is probably the best option in town. Rooms are smallish but clean enough, with Spanish-language TV and OK bathrooms. The best feature is the secluded central courtyard that the rooms face onto, which includes an elevated area with hammocks. Situated near the market.
Getting There & Away
Boats downriver from Yurimaguas to Lagunas take about 10 hours and leave Yurimaguas between 7am and 8am most days. Times are posted on boards at the port in both Yurimaguas and Lagunas for a day in advance. To continue to Iquitos or return to Yurimaguas, ask which radio station is in contact with the boat captains in case of problems. Fast boats to Yurimaguas arrive in Lagunas between 12pm and 2pm for the four- to five-hour trip against the current.
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RESERVA NACIONAL PACAYA-SAMIRIA
At 20,800 sq km, this is the largest of Peru’s parks and reserves. Pacaya-Samiria (www.pacaya-samiria.com) provides local people with food and a home, and protects ecologically important habitats. An estimated 42,000 people live on and around the reserve; juggling the needs of human inhabitants while protecting wildlife is the responsibility of 20 to 30 rangers. Staff also teach inhabitants how to best harvest the natural renewable resources to benefit the local people and to maintain thriving populations of plants and animals. Three rangers were murdered by poachers in late 1998.
The reserve is the home of aquatic animals such as Amazon manatees, pink and grey river dolphins, two species of caiman, giant South American river turtles and many other bird and animal species. The area close to Lagunas has suffered from depletion: allow several days