leticia to bogota

Desideria (Moderator) says on Jun 1, 2005, 11:19:

interesting choices since you can't fly, the choices are obviously limited to ground transportation. How are you planning to get from Peru to Leticia? By boat?
Cheers,
Desi

"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them."-President George W. Bush

biff107@hotmail.com says on Jun 1, 2005, 11:30:

yes by boat yes, I'll be taking it slowly by boat, which all appears possible (and safe, I'm 21, female, alone), but I can't seem to get any information about moving on from Leticia other than flying.

Desideria (Moderator) says on Jun 1, 2005, 11:57:

it'll be quite a challenge getting into Leticia seems to be easy from Peru. Getting out of there to Bogotá and not flying doesn't seem to be easy. Skip Bogotá and take a boat to Manaus and Brasil instead.

Another alternative would be trying to get a job in Leticia (doing what?) and save up the amount for the airfare to Bogotá.

Third alternative would be traveling over the land but I have no idea how, except walking...I don't think there are any roads out of Leticia.

If you could get to Caqueta River you might be able to get a boat upriver towards Pasto, but I don't know if it can be done. Then again, keep in mind the really complicated security issue in the southern jungles of Colombia. No, I wouldn't venture there.
Cheers,
Desi

"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them."-President George W. Bush

poco says on Jun 1, 2005, 11:57:

Getting there I'm almost 100% sure you need to fly and not sure about traveling the amazon river.

Your best bet, especially on a budget. Seems to take the riverboat trip back to the Pasto area and catch a bus. Reminds me,, saw some good advise here,, limit your stay in Pasto to no more than 3 days.

A link
http://www.adventuresofdiscovery.com/explorperu.html

"Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent" - Isaac Asimov

Desideria (Moderator) says on Jun 1, 2005, 12:16:

I've never been down there and don't much care for the jungle (everything is either poisonous, makes your skin break out or too hot), but I've been googling the map and it looks like River Putumayo is the nearest navigable river on the Colombian side.

All you backpackers and jungle people on the board, how about some info?

Cheers,
Desi

"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them."-President George W. Bush

Cessi says on Jun 1, 2005, 13:06:

Leticia is amazing! Well I spent quite some time in Leticia and I love it there. Well maybe the town isn`t the nicest but the surroundings are great. About getting out of Leticia. The options you have are:

Flying, if you`re 25 or younger the cheapest airfare is 220.000 pesos.

Cargo flight, with that flight you might get it down to 200.000 or less.

Boat to Leticia for five days and from there go up to venezuela and then from there to colombia.

There isn`t a road going up to the inland of Colombia. The river Desi was mentioning is a way but you would have to take a boat for a couple of days along the amazon towards Brasil and get of where the river meets rio Putomayo. However from there you would have to take other boats going up. It would probably turn out much more expensive that way then flying because not many people travel that way due to the safety risk in that area so in many places you would have to rent your own boat. And it will take you quite some time.

So if you`re taking the boat from Iquitos here (which is completely safe and very easy) then you`re only options are flying or the boat to Manaus.

However, as I said in the beginning, Leticia is a hidden jewel and the surroundings are amazing so it`s definetely worth it.

good luck,

Cessi!

ColombiaBoard says on Jun 1, 2005, 16:18:

Leticia SO, yeah, there´s no way of getting out of Leticia unless you pay your airfare...with AeroRepublica. There are no roads, no rivers (except the Amazon), nothing to get out of there, it´s a little city in the middle of the jungle.

juanalejo says on Jun 2, 2005, 06:27:

No Rivers???? Plenty of Rivers, like the Putumayo or the Caqueta. But no boats that run regularly, no. Maybe sweet talk the army to get you on their boats back upriver.

go2pr says on Jun 2, 2005, 07:28:

Desideria "Another alternative would be trying to get a job in Leticia and save up the amount for the airfare to Bogotá"


Was it a joke, or do you really urge her to THIS alternative ?

:-)

biff107@hotmail.com says on Jun 2, 2005, 08:01:

thankyou Thanks for all the advice. I think I will have to take an alternative route into the country, never mind

Desideria (Moderator) says on Jun 2, 2005, 10:05:

why not go2pr? Ok, there might not be a lot of jobs available in Leticia for a foreigner (or anybody else for that matter), but if I found myself stranded in a little town in the middle of nowhere, with no roads leading anywhere, the nearest river (except the Amazon) 100 miles through unpenetrable jungle (maybe less...) I'd try to scrape together enough pesos to buy a one-way to nearest town with an airport. If that meant teaching conversational English to contrabandistas, customs people, hotel and tourism employees (just to mention something I could do myself) then what's the joke?

No, I'm not encouraging this alternative. I'd rather call Mom and ask for a loan.

Cheers,
Desi

"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them."-President George W. Bush

go2pr says on Jun 2, 2005, 10:14:

I thought you were refering to 'another' alternative.

I was surprised

:-)

poco says on Jun 2, 2005, 12:38:

Amazing new insight Iquitos Peru seems to be at the upper end of navigateable Amazon. Humm, river trips are quite expensive. Nope, no roads. Maybe the military suggestion is the best? I wonder if they stamp your passport when you walk across the Leticia border with Peru? Do they even have a stamp?

Excerpts from the NET about the exciting things you can do on your Peruvian / Leticia River safari:

Morning jungle walk and visit to Paranaquiro village followed by a piranha fishing expedition. (don't stand in waste high water,, piranhas no problem but those little things that have a tendency to swim up your pipi when you take a leak,, avoid.)

A morning jungle hike at Chimbote area to observe a wide variety of flora and fauna. (Seems a pair of hiking boots a necessity,, think of all the different animals you can see copulating,, with your own eyes !!!!) I'd think snakes and monkeys would be most interesting, better than the Discovery Channel for sure.

You might want to visit the local zoo and museum for a slight extra cost. (also a lot of monkeys with the uncanny ability to piss in their water dish from several feet away,, the pink posteriors are amazing.)

visit to the remote Leper hospital at San Pablo. (something I wouldn't want to miss)

Afternoon stop at Yanamono to visit a sugar cane still. (Wow)

Eye opening !!!! I'd bet you could remove the centerfolds of playboy magazines and take them along to trade for airfare passage.

"Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent" - Isaac Asimov

bradk says on May 4, 2008, 20:15:

how is the situation in Leticia now?

bickerss says on May 4, 2008, 20:19:

try flights with satena - they fly there now, maybe cheaper.

adrimm says on May 4, 2008, 23:13:

what situation? I was there in November it was awesome. I flew with Satena.. Aerorepublica still flies there - the flights are only about 1 hour apart. Some competition is great.

One of the girls where I stayed in town (Letica - Los Delfines) had just come up from Manaus and I accompanied her on her fare-search. I don't remember what she ended up paying for her one-way, but the best price was from the airline counter at the airport in Leticia.

Poco - you can't walk to Peru from Leticia, you have to go across the river to a little native town called Santa Rosa. You can walk to Tabatinga (Brasil). You can spend the day circling between Santa Rosa, Tabatinga & Letica and nothing extra is required. The local communities are quite close - people flip from portuguese to spanish radio, events in one community are advertised in the other two and people come to them. Papers are not checked for either trip since they are all end-of-line trips (each community is only accessible by river boat or plane). .

Before moving further into any of the three countries from one of the others, it is on the traveller to seek out where they get an exit stamp and an entry stamp, because it is at the airport or the river boats where they *do* check papers.

Also foreigners flying out of Leticia to Bogota (even if they flew in from Bogota) need a DAS stamp on their boarding pass (not passport). The DAS office has an irregular lunch schedule so it can be very inconvenient.

kat1 (Moderator) says on May 5, 2008, 01:45:

My husband did that trip, he went from Brasil (Manaus) to leticia and from there he flew to Cali then Bogota.

engage brain before opening mouth