Boats are the only way to travel in the Amazon.
Boats are the only way to travel on the Amazon River. We began at Iquitos and traveled upstream which is not commercial at all. I noticed that the local people travel mostly in dugout canoes but also use deeper larger boats that can have a thatched roof put over one end for shelter. There are also tugboats and barges to transport goods but most stop in Iquitos. Tourists travel in large boats, called Rapidos, to get from one Explorama Lodge to another. There are 14 seats with room in the back for luggage. The Rapidos have Explorama painted in large letters on the sides and top. I first thought it was just for advertisement but learned later from our local guide that it was for safety. Peru was stable in 1996 when I went but it wasn't that way a few years before that, so the Explorama identified this boat as a tourist boat especially from the air. I guess that was a good thing! There were...
