Trip from Yopal, Colombia to Cusco, Peru

I left from Yopal , Colombia around 3 am on the bus bound for Bogota. It turned out to be an 8 hour ordeal filled with constant stops and latin music blasting the entire way. Now, I like latin music as much as the next guy but not blasting in my ears for 8 friggin hours.

In Bogota, I had what was quite possibly the worst hotel room I have ever had. My mistake was booking it online. I have not had very good experiences with this in the past.

Early the next morning I was at the airport to catch my flight to Leticia, Colombia on the Amazon river. It was a good flight and I had a row of seats to myself. Once in Leticia, I was immediately hit up for a 10 dollar "tourist fee". That is a great scam they have going there. I caught a taxi (for another 10 bucks!) to a guest house called "Mahatu" owned and operated my an old hippy. Again, I booked it online nd it was a mistake. The place was filled with dredlock, BO smelling hippies. I split and walked down the road to another place that was half the price and hippy free.

In the am, I was out the door to find an ATM, then caught a taxi to Tabatinga, Brazil and the hotel "HB" or Hotel Brasil.

It is ran by Alfonso and Annabell, both great people and the cost was the cheapest for a room I had found in the area. Alfonso hooked me up with information about immigration for Peru , and I was able to purchase my ticket on the fast boat to Iquitos, Peru from him.

I had to head to the Tabatinga pier at 3 am to catch the ferry boat to santa rosa , Peru where the fast boat departed from. The journey turned out to be a 12 hour ordeal which I would not care to repeat. My plan was to catch the slow boat to Pucallpa, Peru from Iquitos but changed my mind. 12 hours on the Amazon was enough. In Iquitos, I was accosted my many scamming tuktuk drivers. I chose the least offensive looking one and asked him to take me to a cheap hotel. Of course we went to "His friends" hotel - where Im sure he got a commission for each tourist he brought there.

I spent 2 days wandering around Iquitos and found it to my liking. I was reminded of the Philippines and felt comfortable there. I was surprised to see how cool it gets in the Amazon in the mornings.

After 2 nights in Iquitos, I caught the 1st flight to Lima, then an afternoon flight to Cusco, Peru. Cusco is OK I suppose, but ruined for the budget traveler by euro tourists, and rich kid hippy backpackers that dont mind shelling out 100 bucks for a room per night or 3 bucks for a cup of coffee. I managed to find a room that fit my limited budget. But over all, Cusco is over priced and I consider it a real touron trap. Tourists can have it. I wont be back.

Im a traveler NOT a tourist.

Tomahawk

Here are a few additional pictures