Iquitos – city without cars

everywhere motocarros

We will disappoint you – this entry is not about ecologically clean place. Iquitos – is a huge city without cars. Let’s try this. Close your eyes and come into the middle of any road. Open your eyes. In front of you – only motorcycles – isn’t it?  We repeat this exercise. The view is the same – only motos. Really, the existents of cars in this city is almost none. Alright, we saw few trucks, and couple of strangers (or maybe rich men) with mazdas, toyotas, volkwagens and even Russian Lada. Actually there is a 100 km road to the South West of Iquitos, which leads to Nauta. There are several small companies offering a ride to Nauta in a car for 10 soles ($3.5). But in general, to drive a car in Iquitos should be a disaster. The amount of motorcycles here is enormous. Street lines do not exist to them. They drive how they want, they cut curves as it is faster for them, just the colors traffic lights, surprisingly, they do recognise and respect. But still, being a pedestrian crossing the street I would try to be noticed by the drivers. Otherwise they freeze by staring at the traffic lights like zombies. They see nothing else. Whenever a green light shows a sign to be lit, all the motorcycles are already in the other side of the crossroad…

Motos with two wheels are mostly private ones. They make about 20% of all the traffic. The crowd of traffic is formed by the 3-wheel constructions, which are, by the way, the most effective means of moving in Iquitos. These constructions are called motokars (moto-cars). Their function – taxi. Common taxi cars in other places does not exist in Iquitos. Nevertheless motokars successfully replace them as there are crowds of them. Motokar obviously has a motorcycle, which is driven by the driver. Behind him – a soft bench for up to 3 passengers. 4 people would also fit, if there is a need. Behind the seat for the passengers, there is a bit of space for the bags or backpacks, which are usually fixed with couple of ropes. All this construction has a roof, and if it is raining, the driver fixes a big plastic in front of the motokar as well – so your trip will be more or less dry.

Most of the motokars do not belong to the drivers. They rent them for 20 soles ($7) per day. That means one needs to earn at least 30 ($10.5) soles daily, in order to feed his family at least with a plate of rice.

city center of Iquitos

The cost of the trip with a 3-wheel motokar is negotiated between you and the driver. The tariff starts from 1.5 soles ($0.5). This you will be charged for a 1-2 km trip. The longer the distance, the higher the price – 2, 2.5 soles and more. For example, if you will need to travel from the center to the faraway located airport – don’t even dream about the ride cheaper than 7-8 soles ($2.5). Actually, for the shorter distances, motokars tend to ask 50 centimos more than the trip is worth, so if you will hear 2 soles for a short trip, immediately ask for 1.5 soles. Oh, forgot to mention, the price should be arranged before the trip!

By the way, if you are traveling solo, the cheaper is to use city buses for 70 centimos ($0.25). We are talking about miniaturistic buses without window glasses for 40 passengers. Well, they actually have something for the windows in case it is raining. one needs to pull a framed plastic glass from the bottom of the window. The routes of buses usually go via the main roads of Iquitos. So if you need to get to the other side of the city, the trip by such bus would be much more economic than by motokars. Specially, if you need to get to the airport.

So, WELCOME to Iquitos – the world’s largest city (half million inhabitants) without road access. The closest town with the roads connecting rest of Peru is Yurimaguas – 3 days by boat on the rivers Marañón and Huallaga (70 soles – $25).