See the remote but beautiful way of life of the Peruvian Jungle. Ride mountain bikes 30-50 miles per day on rural gravel roads to mountaintop villages. Travel by riverboat down the Amazon and hike in the Rain Forest. We will stay in air conditioned hotels and eat at restaurants during most meals. Includes: hotels, meals, guides, riverboats, buses and airline transfers within Peru.
Read about Lon's trip to set up for this tour.
Read Lon's Recap of this tour.
Accounts of the previous Peru Adventure.
11 days Across Peru
$1,595
Includes: double occupancy hotels, airline flights in Peru, bus transfers, riverboat lodging and transportation, touring van, airport shuttles, gear transport, guide fees,10 breakfasts, 5 lunches, 5 dinners, and daily refreshments. Does not include snacks or meals that will be available during leisure times during the tour.
| FRIDAY | Oct. 31 | Travel to Lima | Arrive about midnight |
| SATURDAY | Nov. 1 | Lima City Tour | Flight to Tarapoto |
| SUNDAY | Nov. 2 | Lamas Loop | 44 miles...6 hours |
| MONDAY | Nov. 3 | to Sauce Village | 33 miles...6 hours |
| TUESDAY | Nov. 4 | Back To Tarapoto | 32 miles...6 hours |
| WEDNESDAY | Nov. 5 | to Yurimaguas | 44 miles...6 hours |
| THURSDAY | Nov. 6 | Begin Riverboat | 40 hours on the river |
| FRIDAY | Nov. 7 | Jungle Tour | Speedboat excursions |
| SATURDAY | Nov. 8 | Nauta to Iquitos | 55 miles...6 hours |
| SUNDAY | Nov. 9 | Iquitos City Tour | 25 miles...3 hours |
| MONDAY | Nov. 10 | Bora Indian Village | Then Go Home |
OPTION:
$1,095
Includes: double occupancy hotels, airline flights in Peru, bus transfers, touring van, airport shuttles, gear transport, guide fees, 5 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 3 dinners, and daily refreshments. Does not include snacks or meals that will be available during leisure times during the tour.
| MONDAY | Nov. 10 | Sleep in Lima | |
| TUESDAY | Nov. 11 | Fly to Cuzco | Cuzco Sacred Valley Tour |
| WEDNESDAY | Nov. 12 | Train and Bus | Tour of Machu Picchu |
| THURSDAY | Nov. 13 | Machu Picchu | Return to Cuzco at night |
| FRIDAY | Nov. 14 | Fly to Lima | Night flight back to USA |
During our tour of the Rain Forest we will be traveling in Peru on the eastern slopes of the Andes Mountains. This is where the rivers of the Rio Maranon, Huallago, and Ucayali merge to form the Amazon River. It is the land of dense jungles, scenic mountaintop villages and friendly people. Lon has toured and visited this region seven times during the past three years. He has been looking for the perfect terrain and accommodations that would be suitable for American adventure travelers. He has found good cycling routes, remarkable scenery, and comfortable lodging for a group tour. This tour of the beautiful Peruvian Jungle is intended for cyclists and non cyclists. We will experience the basic way of life in this region by meeting and traveling with the local people.
We will maintain a balance between exploring the rugged back roads of Peru during the day and providing comfortable accommodations at night. All of our hotels in Lima, Tarapoto, Yurimaguas and Iquitos are rated as three, four, and five star hotels with air conditioning and hot showers. Our meals will be at approved restaurants that serve plenty of food for hungry American cyclists. Our lodging on the riverboat will have private cabins. We might not have air conditioning in our cabins. You will have the option to sleep in a hammock or on a pad under the stars on the roof of the boat. We will have a personal chef to prepare our meals while traveling on the river. Our routes have been chosen to go to areas that have a good source of roadside refreshments. Our trucks will always carry a supply of bottled water and packaged snacks.
The timing and distance of each day's cycling route were calculated by Lon riding his loaded touring bike and stopping to take photos. A strong racing cyclist could probably cut these travel times by several hours. The times listed should be able to be maintained by the typical PAC Tour rider averaging 6 mph. All cyclists should have mountain bike experience for riding on rough gravel roads. Each participant is expected to be in good health and capable of climbing stairs and walking at least two miles during jungle hikes.
There will be an assortment of activities that will fill our days as adventure travelers. Bicyclists will want to explore the rural roads of the region by mountain bike. Non cyclists are encouraged to experience the jungle from the comfort of our all terrain touring truck. At times during this expedition we will all travel by riverboat, jeep, bus, airplane, speedboat, and canoe. The optional extension tour to Machu Picchu will include traveling by airplane, train, and bus and is intended for non cyclists.
Road conditions range from smooth pavement to melon size rocks. A bicycle with 2 inch wide knobby tires is required. Front fork suspension and rear shock post or suspension is recommended. A low gear of 1:1 (28 tooth chain ring x 28 tooth rear cog) is needed. All riders should carry a pump, spare inner tube and basic tools for roadside repairs. We will be able to transport hard shell bike cases by truck during our tour.
FRIDAY, October 31
Travel to Lima
Arrival times depend on your own flight to Lima, Peru. Most flights on American Airlines depart from Dallas-Fort Worth or Miami in late afternoon and arrive at the Lima Airport at 10:00 PM to Midnight. We will meet you at the Lima Airport and take you and your gear to your hotel in Lima to relax after a busy day of traveling.
SATURDAY, Nov. 1...Lima City Tour
Afternoon Flight to Tarapoto
Sleep in a few extra hours then enjoy a midmorning buffet breakfast at the gourmet restaurant next to our hotel. Later in the morning we will begin our bus tour of historic Lima. We will stop and see several sites including pre Inca ruins, churches and gardens that decorate the city. Our tour will include a lunch at one of the fine restaurants in downtown Lima. We will end our tour at the Lima Airport and depart for our one hour flight to the jungle town of Tarapoto. Upon our arrival in Tarapoto we will go to our modern hotel and enjoy an evening dinner together at their restaurant. We will then assemble bicycles for the next dayıs ride.
SUNDAY, November 2...Lamas Loop
44 miles...6 hours cycling time
We begin our day with an American omelette and cereal breakfast at our hotel. After breakfast we will begin our first day of cycling. Non cyclists will follow this same route in a extended cab pick-up truck suitable for rough road exploring. There will be room in the back of the pick-up truck for bicycles and more passengers if we need to transport any cyclists.
Our route will be a combination of paved roads along the river leaving Tarapoto for the first 21 miles. We will then turn uphill and climb 9 miles on the rural gravel road to the Spanish town of Lamas located almost 2,000 feet above the river valley. In Lamas we will have a great view of the surrounding area. A lunch of fish and chicken will be served at the scenic view restaurant. After lunch we will tour the Lamas museum and see the many gift shops in old town. Our return to Tarapoto is a fast 14 mile downhill on a twisting paved road. After arriving back at our hotel in late afternoon you will have the chance to swim in the hotel pool or see the sites in Tarapoto. Dinner is on your own at one of the many nice restaurants near our hotel.
MONDAY, November 3....to Sauce (Sow-see)
33 miles...6 hours cycling time
Again we start our day with an American breakfast of eggs, cereal and toast. We will not be staying in Tarapoto tonight, so before our ride we will check out of our hotel rooms and combine or extra gear in a storage room. We will then depart and begin our trek to the tropical village town of Sauce. The roads today are gravel and sand. It will take us almost 3 hours to go the first 23 miles to the ferry boat river crossing. At the ferry we will have a picnic lunch while waiting 30 minutes or more for the ferry to load and return.
After lunch we begin the the 10 mile climb up the river bluff to Sauce. The views are spectacular but the road is steep and rough. There will be plenty of time to stop and look around. The afternoon temperatures will be over 90 degrees here. It will be a relief to arrive at the Laguna Azul (Blue Lake) in Sauce. A motor boat will take us on an afternoon tour of the lake and to a swimming beach to cool off.
Our hotel is a tropical type lodge with a thatched grass roof. A deck with chairs overlook the lake. A group dinner will be served on the patio porch with a full menu of beef, pork, chicken and fish entrees. After dinner you can stroll on the lodge pier and view the quiet lake. Or you can walk downtown and visit the Plaza de Armas and nearby disco.
TUESDAY, November 4....Return to Tarapoto
32 miles...6 hours cycling time
WEDNESDAY, November 5....to Yurimaguas
44 miles of cycling (82 miles total)
6 hours of cycling (8 total driving)
Today is a busy day with lots to see and distances to cover. We will have an early breakfast with a full menu at the hotel. We then transport transport everyone to the fern lined jungle on the mountain slope. When we reach the waterfalls we will unload the bikes and tour the waterfall canyons. The cyclists will continue toward Yurimaguas at this point. The non cyclists will visit the wading pools and villages in the area.
The route today in mainly rock and sand roads. The best part of todayıs route crosses a 3,000 foot mountain range in the morning that is filled with twisting scenic views. Near the 40 mile mark it drops down into flat jungle terrain. A picnic lunch will served at one of the scenic overlooks along the route. Depending on the time in late afternoon, a support truck will be waiting to take all remaining cyclists on to Yurimaguas.
Our hotel has an indoor pool to help us relax after a long day. A group dinner is planned at the best restaurant in town that has a great display of jungle animal artifacts mounted on the walls.
THURSDAY, November 6
Get on the Riverboat
This boat is kinda like if Carnival Cruises meets Humphrey Bogart and his ³Africa Queen². This is a public boat that makes the 40 hour trip down river to Iquitos and the 60 hour return trip every week. The boat is about 100 feet long and has three decks. The lower deck is filled with cargo like bags of rice, beans and bananas. The middle deck is a big open room where people can attach hammocks and pile their supplies. The upper deck has ten cabins and more open space. We will be staying in cabins on the upper deck. Each cabin has 2 bunk beds or 4 beds total. We will have 2 people per cabin which will allow extra room to store your bike and gear on the upper bunk bed. There are bathrooms and showers in a separate area near the cabins. You should bring your own toilet paper and towel.
We have several options depending on the boat schedule. We should know an approximate departure time the night before...plus or minus 3 hours. It is best to hang loose and see how the boat freight loading plans are going. The boat could depart at 10 AM if they donıt have much to load or they could depart at 8 PM if the loading is busy. Either way we will have several things to do in Yurimaguas during the day. There is a great street market two blocks from our hotel which is always a fun place to visit. We also have the option to cycle or drive to some of the areas along the river.
The boat will be filled with local families traveling with small children, chickens and people sleeping in hammocks. Now is a good time to get to know the boat and your neighbors. A late night cookout is planned under the stars on the open deck. Traveling by riverboat at night in the jungle is an experience you will always remember.
FRIDAY, November 7...Jungle Tour
We will be pulling a smaller speedboat behind the big riverboat. This speedboat will allow us to take several side trips to the riverbank for hiking and exploring rural jungle villages. Our naturalist guide will introduce us to the plants and animals that live along the river. This will be a unique excursion to see wildlife of the rain forest. Our speedboat will allow us to catch back up with the big riverboat later in the day. Once back on the riverboat we will eat and relax on the deck.
SATURDAY, November 8....Nauta to Iquitos
55 miles...6 hours cycling time
Depending on our original departure time from Yurimaguas, this will effect our arrival time in Nauta. We should be getting to Nauta around sunrise. Our plan is to get a few rooms at the local hotel as a place to shower and change into our cycling clothes. We will eat a filling breakfast at the local restaurant. We hope to start cycling by 8:00 AM.
Our road to Iquitos is dirt for the first 20 miles. The road then becomes smooth pavement the rest of the day. Many snack stands and resorts are spaced along the route to stops for lunch and refreshments When we reach the Quistacocha Resort on the outskirts of Iquitos we will regroup for an afternoon picnic. There is a white sand beach and with a warm clean lake for swimming. This interesting resort has a zoo with many panthers, jaguars, snakes, otters and other jungle animals.
When we have finished with our beach party we will load our bikes on the support truck and take moto taxies across the busy city of Iquitos to our hotel. We will be staying at the deluxe 5 Star El Dorado Plaza Hotel located on the beautiful Plaza de Armas. We will end our day with a fine dinner on the Regal Restaurant baloney that overlooks the fountain on the Plaza.
SUNDAY, November 9
Iquitos City Tour...20 miles
This is a good morning to sleep-in late at a luxury hotel. There are several churches within walking distance of the Plaza de Armas. We will eat a hearty American style breakfast at the restaurants near our hotel. After breakfast you will have a choice of taking an Iquitos city tour by bicycle or moto taxi. Iquitos has many interesting neighborhoods to explore and markets for shopping. Lunch will be on your own at one of several recommended restaurants. You will be free during the afternoon to relax at the hotel swimming pool or tour more of Iquitos.
In the evening we have a farewell party planned at the Monte Carlo Restaurant. The alligator shish-ka-bobs will convert you to liking jungle cooking. We will be joined by many of Lonıs local Iquitos friends for dinner. After we eat we have the choice of joining the night life in Iquitos. We might go to a local music concert or go with our friends one of the discos for more dancing. This will be a festive evening of Peruvian excitement.
MONDAY, November 10
Bora Indian Tour...Then Go Home
After a late night of celebration, today is another morning to sleep-in or go for an early bike ride around the city. We have a midmorning breakfast then begin a boat tour to the Bora Indian Village. These Indians are famous for their colorful costumes and dances. We will join in their dances and participate in target practice with a blow gun.
We will return to Iquitos for a final meal together at the Aris Burger Diner. To help you remember cooking, American style hamburgers are their specialty. During mid afternoon we will pack bike boxes and get ready to depart from our hotel. A shuttle bus will take us and our gear to the Iquitos Airport. Our return flight to Lima will depart at 6:00 PM and we will arrive in Lima about 8:00 PM. Most American Airline flights to Miami depart from Lima after 11:00 PM. This concludes our busy and adventuresome tour of the Amazon Rain Forest.
If you are continuing the tour to Machu Picchu you will stay in Lima and sleep at our host hotel tonight. The following morning your flight will depart to Cuzco.
If cycling in France was civilized, then cycling in Peru is at the other end of the scale. Lon had scouted this tour three times so he was aware of the highlights and difficulties everyone could experience. This was adventure travel and nothing was predictable more than a few hours in advance. Fortunately the eight riders who joined were ready for about anything.
The tour started in Lima with a day to tour the city and recover from the flights from the United States. We then took a shuttle flight over the Andes Mountains to the beginning of the upper Amazon Basin and Rain Forest. Our base hotel in the city of Tarapoto was as clean and modern as any American Best Western. From here we rode a series of day trips by mountain bike to villages in the surrounding mountains.
Each day was planned as a six hour destination. The distances averaged 35 miles per day which didnıt seem so far, but always took us most of the day to complete. The second night we rode to the mountain village of Sauce. We stayed in grass roof lodges on the banks of a jungle lake. The restaurant was the outdoor patio. We ate fish caught from the lake by the lodge owner and chef. There was no television to entertain us tonight. We ate and talked for several hours on the patio. Bugs were not a problem even in the jungle night. We questioned our English speaking guide about life in Peru. I think the more we began to understand Peru we began to accept and appreciate their simplicity of life.
A few days later we rode a long day to Yurimaguas to catch a riverboat. Our boat was loading at the dock and was scheduled to leave the next afternoon. We would sleep two nights on the boat and be traveling down the river for about 37 hours total. The following day our boat was still not ready to depart. However another boat was loaded and ready to go. We learned that boat should have departed the previous day. We stayed on our original boat and waved to the departing boat which was jammed with hammocks strung across the upper decks and cattle in pens below.
After waiting several hours to leave, we realized our boat would not be loaded with cargo until tomorrow. We returned to our comfortable hotel in town, then went on a guided hike in the jungle. We learned about a wide variety of rain forest plants. We also learned a good lesson about Peruvian travel. Basically donıt worry if you see a boat departing today. That was really yesterdayıs boat. The boat you want to take today, is leaving tomorrow.
Once our boat got moving the voyage on the Amazon River was an interesting experience for our group. We had options to sleep in cabins, hammocks or foam mats on the roof. We bought blankets, pillows and tarps in the street market to handle all the possibilities. We mingled with the local passengers who slept in hammocks surrounded by chickens and other animals. We made friends with the women who prepared the meals for everyone in a small hot kitchen at the back of the boat. We had brought along groceries and food we preferred for our group. The cooks were more than happy to provide us with a separate meal time and use of the crewıs dinner table.
Our boat would stop at more than twenty villages along the river. They would unload bags of rice and sugar and take on bunches of bananas. This exchange of goods must of been the weekly entertainment since the entire village would gather on the riverbank to watch.
The nights on the Amazon were probably some of the lasting memories of the tour. A full moon was almost bright enough for reading. The jungle trees were silhouetted on the distance shore. We sat on the roof of the boat until late into the night. Later a lunar eclipse cast an eerie shadow across the moon. Even if our traveling conditions were not first class it would have been difficult to improve the feelings of contentment that night.
We departed the boat and made a final 55 mile ride on a mostly paved road to the town of Iquitos. The bustle of the big city in the jungle was a contrast to our rural river tour. That night our group split up and walked the streets of poor Iquitos. Each of us handed out invitations to a dinner party for the street orphan children. The invitation listed the secret restaurant and time the dinner would take place. We handed out 35 invitations in less than an hour.
Our riders were the waiters and servers at dinner. A local restaurant provided a 1/4 chicken, French fries, salad and beverage for less than one dollar a serving. Many children brought along their brothers and sisters. It was the first time many of them had eaten in a restaurant. We served over 55 meals that night. It was hard to turn anyone away. It was another memorable night. This tour had been advertised as a mountain bike trip. We learned our bicycles were just a prop to expose us to a world many of us had never seen.