Peru Guide
The Jungle
Getting around
The three most common forms of river transport are canoes (canoas), speedboats (deslizadoras) and larger riverboats (lanchas). Whichever you choose, it's a good idea to make sure you can get along with the boatman (piloto) or captain and that he really does know the rivers. Canoes can be anything from a small dugout with a paddle, useful for moving along small creeks and rivers, to a large eighteen-metre canoe with panelled sides and a peque-peque (on-board engine) or a more powerful outboard motor. Speedboats tend to have lightweight metal hulls and are obviously faster and more manoeuverable, but also more expensive. Riverboats come in a range of sizes and vary considerably in their river-worthiness, and you should always have a good look at the boat before buying a ticket or embarking on a journey; note that the smaller one- or two-deck riverboats are frequently in worse condition (and noisier) than larger ones. The best are the Iquitos-based tour boats, with cabins for up to thirty passengers, dining rooms, bars, sun lounges and even jacuzzis on board. Next best are the larger vessels with up to three decks that can carry two hundred passengers, with hammock spaces and a few cabins (for which you pay two to three times as much); if you're over 1.8m tall, it's best to take a hammock as the bunks may be too small. Always try to get a berth as close as possible to the front of the boat, away from the noise of the motor. On the larger riverboats (especially between Pucallpa and Iquitos, or Tabatinga and Iquitos) you can save money on hotels prior to departure by hanging around in your hammock, as most captains allow passengers to sling one up and sleep on board for a few days before departure. Riverboats travelling upstream tend to stay close to the bank, away from the fast central flow, and while this means longer journeys, they're much more visually interesting than travelling up the middle of the river, particularly on the larger ones where it can be hard to make out even huts on the banks.