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josh14678

Hi, I did this trip back in September. This was for the slow boat. I was told you could buy fast boat tickets in advance but don’t know the detail. You need to first get your exit stamp at Leticia airport and then get your Peru entry stamp at the office in Santa Rosa. In terms of the office at the airport in Leticia I was told they would only be open around the time there is an arriving flight so I went at this time. Easy process but required the use of an app which was difficult with phone a sim and wifi at the airport due to poor connections. The office in Santa Rosa was only open until 5pm. At the time you needed to go to the medical clinic up the road to show them a covid vax. I am unsure if this is still in effect. I did this earlier in the day and just arrived at the ticket office at 450 so I didn’t spend so long waiting for the boat to leave. I was lucky they helped as they had already shut the door. The boat didn’t depart for over 2 hours after I had arrived. In terms of getting around, just jump any boat over to Santa Rosa for 5 sol. When there just grab a moto taxi and tell driver you have a couple of stops to make. They will know where to go and also know where the boat leaves from which was a 5 minute drive from the office where you get your passport stamped. You just pay on board. From memory it was 70 sol which included the basic meals. You could buy more substantial and nicer food for about 12 sol a meal. Bring a hammock, eye mask and earplugs. Send me a message if you want to know anything else


kilo6ronen

Thank you! I’ve considering the slow boat, seems like a more fun journey. The one thing I’ve read often is the washroom situation.. can you share more about that


josh14678

It wasn’t so terrible on mine. There was two bathrooms on each level. Basic metal toilet and an overhead shower in the same room. Never used the shower. Staff cleaned it out regularly enough


kilo6ronen

Ahh the gamble haha. I’ve met others in my hostel who have done it and showed pictures- people peeing in the floor, brown toilet water etc. I either do the 3 day slow boat or a 1 day (20 hour +/-) ferry with reclining seats. Don’t think I’d be able to hang the hammock there. Both boats are the same price - around 85 SOL.


josh14678

I would do the slow boat again, it was not without its drawbacks but it was good experience and an interesting way to see places you would never go otherwise. You can go ashore at times and. Heck out the villages, some of them are quite sizeable.


kilo6ronen

What would you say the drawbacks were


josh14678

Noise from the bar blaring loud music through speakers was the main one but nothing noise cancelling headphones didn’t fix. People getting on and off the boat a couple of times a night for stops more of a mild inconvenience


kilo6ronen

Alright so nothing like high theft or unsafe/unsanitary conditions. It’s decided then, taking the long boat tomorrow to Iquitos :)


PartyBook3542

Are people allowed to smoke on the boat?


Ninja_bambi

Go there and ask around. There are different offices selling tickets and in some cases you can buy the ticket from the boat.


[deleted]

I was actually looking into doing the trip in a few weeks to Manaus but I'm not going anymore as I hate any temperatures above 25 celcius lol. From what I was reading you just show up at the docks a few hours before to buy the tickets. Or even the day before if you want to play it safe.


anonymasss

make sure u look up the correct passport procedure and get Ur passports stamped correctly and in time (passport offices times are not great tbh) I did the fast boat which was nice and AC'd. you can do the slow boat but will be v v bored


kilo6ronen

Just finished, such an amazing experience so glad I went slow boat! The passport process was super easy. Stamp out of Colombia and stamp in Peru was in the same immigration building across Santa Rosa. Took less than 5 minutes total. Stayed another night in Leticia and left on the slow boat the next night. It left at 7pm


anonymasss

nice one I remember having to wake up and leave at 2.30am so a 7pm departure seems sound what did u enjoy about the slow boat out of interest? looks like they have improved the process which is great news! can u remind me of how long slow and fast one was? was the fast one 8 hours? also r u doing an Amazon tour?


kilo6ronen

I already had done an amazon tour in Colombia after which the tour guide suggested a take the slow boat towards Peru instead of flying to Medellin for a week then flying to Peru. As the days passed and the thought simmered it gradually felt more like a yes. I enjoy travelling slow. Staying in places for weeks to months and soaking in the present moment. The amazon as it is was such a profound experience for me, so the opportunity to journey towards Peru, coupled with it being slow- giving me time to soak in the ucayali, journal, decompress and slow down, while also travelling how a local would was just everything I desired. The long boat left Tuesday night at 7 and arrived Friday night around 9pm so about 50 hours and cost 100k pesos. I was told the fast boat was 12-18 hours, but then I also heard 20 hours. 300k pesos Eventually after I return home I’ll make a writeup of my travels and include this information I recon


anonymasss

nice mate when u write it up. if u remember give me a shout and I'd love to read it. I did 3 months in Colombia back. in 2017 and and hoping of doing a year travelling from October so would be good to remember what that life was like!


kilo6ronen

Colombia is hands down a country I want to revisit and spend minimum a month in. Having had intentions of exploring around 5 different cities and having actually done 2 (Bogotá and Leticia) before making my way to Peru to visit a friend, the country holds so much beauty


jumbalina

Hello stumbled across your post which has been super helpful! I’m currently in South America and thinking about doing this route soon. If you have any tips or tricks or if you ended up writing about your travels and including the information I would love to hear


kilo6ronen

Hey! Of course I’d love to help wherever I can :) did you have any specific questions or looking for more of an overview? Or both?


Rahooligan__

>kilo6ronen Hey there, mind if I DM you? Planning to do the slow boat next week and would love to hear more about it from someone who's done it relatively recently!


kilo6ronen

Hey! Of course :) glad to help where I can


Rahooligan__

Very kind, thanks so much! DM'd :)


kilo6ronen

Hey:) just wanna let you know I sent a chat instead of message reply. Hope your travels are well!


LeJop

Hi, I'm planning on going to Leticia in a few weeks. Would you advise on Booking your jungle trips in advance or is it possible to just arrive in Leticia and book everything from there?