Sail the Amazon from Peru to Colombia

The boats plying the upper reaches of the Amazon are still largely undiscovered by the hordes of tourists visiting Cuzco, Arequipa and Nazca on their Peruvian adventures. A trip floating leisurely downstream provides a great opportunity to get to know the Amazon region and the people for whom the waterway is a way of life.

Iquitos is the largest city in the world not reachable by road and the majority of its nearly 500,000 inhabitants use the Amazon as their route in and out. You can too, taking a boat from Pucallpa or Yurimaguas, both of which are further upstream, or catch a plane from Lima if you are pressed for time.

Spend a few days in the humid environs of Iquitos before boarding your new home, one of the boats to the tri-national border with Brazil and Colombia. Cabins are available, but do as the locals do and string up a hammock on one of the decks. There are no fixed schedules for the boats, so your best bet is to turn up and ask if one is loading. It is not unheard of for boats to load for three days as they await important cargo or a sufficient number of passengers.

Once on board, get to know your neighbors who will look after your stuff as you take photos of the sunset over the wide, slow moving Amazon. Journey times vary, but you’ll soon settle into the rhythm of life in a hammock. Needless to say, it’s relaxed.

Upon arrival in Leticia, either fly to the Colombian capital of Bogota or continue downstream by boat into Brazil, following the Amazon to its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean.