Feels like I imagine prison would be

We haven't made many big mistakes, but the last three days have been one of them.

We came to Hotel Tucuxi because the boat we had planned to take from Iquitos to Pucallpa was not confirmed, and in any case the company had not been straight with me about how long the journey would take. (That would have meant we would miss a flight) Two months before, the company was very sure. The boat leaves every Monday and arrives every Thursday. But when I asked at the end of March that they confirm this, total silence. Then I searched and found some customer feedback. "The boat leaves on Monday, or not. It basically leaves when it has enough cargo, and the time of day is entirely unpredictable, so you need to camp out at the quayside. " Then, after we changed our plans, I learned from locals that the travel time is almost certainly not 4 days, but more likely 5 or 6, and it could even be 8.

So it was probably a good idea to change our plans and route .

But...

The changes we made turned out to be sub-optimal to put it mildly, and that's not because we didn't do our research. The place we chose for 3 days was rated 9.6 on Booking.com and 5* on Google Maps. Both are very high scores. The location looked interesting next to Monkey Island, and there were plenty of photos of Monkeys around the hotel.

In short, we signed up for a prison like experience. We were trapped in the hotel by a combination of weather and economics. All the pictures we had seen were in the dry season. Now, in the wet season, the only way in our out is by boat . Now, normally, in most places, you can go paddle in a canoe, or at least there is a large terrace outside, but not here. Even swimming is not possible, because although the whole area is flooded. The water is only 45cm deep, and below it's sticky and muddy.

So it felt like a prison . For good measure, the food from the "restaurant" would not have been out of place in a prison. Fried eggs and banana, that was it for $40 for 6. A very high price by local standards. There was nothing else, no menu, no drinks.

I almost forgot the economics. As background, we paid for 4 activities at the previous place, a total of $115. This place wanted $90 per person per day. That would have been over $1,000 for the two days. So, of course, we said no.

I think you can guess my rating.Read more