Tarapoto and Yurimaguas

16/09/2013 It's long time that I didn't update the blog. Where I am now there is no internet, so I'm writing without knowing when I'll be able to upload new posts. I wrote the last long post from Chachapoyas. From there I took a collettivo to Tarapoto, one of the biggest cities in the north, on the way to Amazonas. The trip with was very long and not comfortable at all. The road was full of curves and the minivan driver was driving too fast for my stomach. The landscape was absolutely awesome. If I didn't feel so bad I would have taken some pictures. After 8 hours, we got to Tarapoto. It was a rainy day, so I decided to take a moto taxi to look for a hostel ( moto taxi is the most common transportation in this area). But the hostels that the driver showed me weren't really good, so I decided to go searching by foot. I went to other 3 hostels, but I didn't like them at all. I decided to give another chance to the moto taxi (another one obviously), but with the same result: he showed me 3 hostels, all of them really bad, but it was going on raining and it started to be dark, so I decided to take one of them (the worst hostel I took till now and also the most expensive ). After that, I went to the Plaza and I met in the street some guys I first met in Chachapoyas. They showed me the tour agency where they booked some tours. All the tours that this agency proposed were very expensive (compared to the ones I took in Huaraz and Chachapoyas) and not so much attractive. Besides this, I didn't like the city, so I decided to leave as soon as possible. The next morning I got up at 6 am and I went directly to the bus station,  destination: Yurimaguas. Getting there took us only two hours, but also in this case the driver was driving too fast for my stomach. I don't know if I'll get used to it... Once arrived, some moto taxi drivers came offering to take me to the port. One of them seemed nicer, so I decided to go with him. During the way he stopped many times to talk with me (strange behaviour) and when we finally arrived to the port, I discovered that the next boat would have leave only the morning after. So he proposed me to take me to a nice hostel... Again the same story... I wasn't really sure about it, in particular after what happened the day before, but he wanted to take me there free of charge, so why not? We stopped at this place surrounded by wood buildings, most of them in very bad conditions. I thought that the guy took me to one of those bad and dirty hostels and I was already thinking to go by myself to look for another place. Then we went down the stairs, and we reached the river level and here, hidden by the vegetation was the hostel: a nice wood building, decorated with many statues, paintings and with this beautiful balcony on the river. I think that this is the most beautiful hostel I've ever been (just you to know: 5$/night - double room only for me). Right now I'm writing from the hammock in the balcony, an Argentinans guy is playing a melancholic song with his trumpet, some boats are crossing the river, the sky is getting pink as the sun goes down, and the mosquitoes are waking up (this is the only negative point in this place). Everything here is so peaceful... In the hostel I met also a 20 years old Israeli guy. We talked a little bit and because we both wanted to go to Lagunas the day after, we decided to go to the port together to check which boat. The port was very interesting to visit, full of life and good atmosphere. We found a boat for the next morning to get to Lagunas, about 10 hours trip. For people that doesn't know, most of the river boats haven't seats, you just have to buy a  hammock and choose a nice spot in the boat where to hang it. Also in this case the guy of the moto taxi (his name is Eber) gave me a free ride me to buy all I needed (the hammock and a mosquitoes net). I'm sure he got some commissions, but the price was good (even cheaper than other places) and I have nothing to complain about. Sometimes I feel I'm just too suspicious, not really sure if I can trust someone or not, but till now I had only good experiences. I'm not sure if I would trust a stranger in Italy or Israel that offers to do something for me for free, but here it's different. It's completely another world. And for all those people that told me how much Perù is dangerous, I can say that I never felt unsafe till now (ok, maybe crossing the street, this is very dangerous). But don't worry, I will still be very careful all the time :-) If I didn't trust the moto taxi driver, right now I wouldn't be sitting on this hammock with the view on the river....