Tarapoto, Peru | The Nomad Files with Emily Luxton

Today on the Nomad Files I am joined by Emily Luxton, a blogger who I have followed since almost the start of my travel blogging. I have been interviewed on her blog and also contributed to an article or two.

Getting into it, tell us a bit about your story and what types of adventures you go after.

I’ve been travelling and blogging for nearly three years now, but 2014 was the first time that I took a long term trip. My partner and I spent five months travelling across South America, visiting Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil. By the time I returned, the travel bug had truly taken hold, and after three months working as house sitters to explore the UK, my indefinite gap year continued with a six week trip to Vietnam, before housesitting brought me to The Netherlands.

I love slow, overland travel above all else, especially train travel. I love hiking and exploring the great outdoors as much as possible, and I value getting to know one place really well over collecting new passport stamps. When I travel I look for all kinds of new adventures, from climbing mountains, to finding the most idyllic beaches (even if I have to hike for two hours to get there), to white water rafting – but I also like to balance out all that action with a little luxury every now and then!

Do you have a particular song/video/poem/quote that particularly inspires you to travel?

I’ve always loved a quote which is usually incorrectly attributed to Mark Twain, but is actually from an unknown source (most likely H Jackson Brown). Whenever I have doubts about trying something new, or booking flights when I really ought to be doing boring things like paying my credit card, this quote reminds me what’s important…

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

What? You mean that a quote on the internet has been misattributed??? Surely not! Well, extreme sarcasm aside, where have you stumbled upon through your travels that was truly ‘the road less travelled’?

In northern Peru I visited quite a few places which are much less frequented than the south of the country – at least by foreign tourists. One of my favourite places was Tarapoto, in the Amazon basin, which I visited just after Iquitos. There were a few hotels there, but I think they’re mostly by local tourists, as getting there is pretty tough. I didn’t see a single other foreigner in the city while I was there, and there are no hostels so other backpackers tend to avoid it.

This photo is one of the backstreets in Tarapoto. No tours or souvenir shops here, just local homes and a few mototaxi drivers taking midday naps! In the distance you can see the scenery which is Tarapoto’s real draw, those misty mountains and all that lush farmland!

So with no tours or souvenirs to buy, how on earth did you occupy yourself?

We did a few hikes and enjoyed the scenery, which is incredible. The city is on the edge of the Amazon, sandwiched between tropical forests and towering mountains, so it’s brilliantly green and so pretty. The highlight was visiting the Cataratas de Ahuashiyacu, a huge waterfall outside of town, especially since getting there was an adventure in itself. We tried to hike to it, got lost, went the wrong way, took about three different moto-taxis which all took us to the wrong place (we can blame my terrible Spanish for that) and finally went back to town, where we took a taxi. FYI – you could hike to the waterfall, but it would take a few hours, mostly up a mountain, in intense Amazonian heat. So I wouldn’t recommend it!

A section of the 40ft high (or so) waterfall at Cataratas de Ahuashiyacu. The fall is named after the legend of Ahuashiyacu, because the top section of it is in two steams emerging from a section of rocky cliff-face which supposedly resembles a woman crying. 

What took you to Tarapoto and how did you find out about it?

I visited Tarapoto more or less by accident. My boyfriend and I were trying to do as much of South America overland as possible, but once we’d arrived in Iquitos in the middle of the Peruvian Amazon, our onward options were an unreliable 3-5 day boat trip or a costly flight to Lima, as there are no roads leading to Iquitos. We settled for a compromise: a short, cheap flight straight to nearby(ish) Tarapoto, from where we could press on overland. I hadn’t planned on spending more than a night in Tarapoto but it turned out to be awesome, so we stayed a few days!

Tell me about the food. Was it different to anything you’d experienced before?

The food in Peru in general isn’t all that exciting (sorry, Peru). The staple diet involves grilled chicken or beef served with rice, banana, potatoes and beans. Peruvians love carbs. Things weren’t particularly different in Tarapoto, but it was cheap and there were a few nice restaurants out on the main plaza.

Was there anything you actually missed out on doing that you wish you had?

I wish we’d gone on to Sauce, a small lakeside town not too far from Tarapoto, and also stopped by more of the surrounding villages. Plus there are the Cataratas de Huacamaillo, which involve more of a hike than the other waterfall; I wish I’d seen those!

I’m sure you’ll add it to your list for next time, and speaking of next time, do you have any other tips for your future self (or other readers I guess) to fully experience Tarapoto?

Avoid the tour companies, which are generally overpriced, and just head out of the city on foot. There are plenty of great hikes through the farmlands, and it’s really fun to just explore. Otherwise, you can take a bus or a shared taxi to some of the nearby villages – most of them never see tourists so it’s a great way to get off the beaten track.

Thinking broadly now, can you share with us one specific hidden secret you’ve stumbled upon in a favourite city of yours that most might otherwise miss?

In Vietnam, my boyfriend and I rented a motorbike to drive from Hue to Hoi An in the centre of the country. Not particularly the road less travelled, as this route – which takes you over the famous Hai Van Pass and through Danang – is pretty popular with more adventurous tourists. But, on the way we stopped off at a few places recommended by a Lien, a local we met in Hue, including a gorgeous private beach on the mouth of a river, which we’d never have found without her help. I have a feeling no one ever visits it!

There was also this awesome old lady who is a bit of a legend in Hue. You can find her at the Tanh Toan Bridge, a small Japanese style covered bridge in a small country village not too far from the city, and she’ll read your palm for a small fee. It’s worth the trip just to get your fortune told; this lady is so much fun!

And in An Bang there is an enormous graveyard of towering shrines, all vibrantly colourful and truly beautiful, which seems to almost never receive visitors unless they’re tipped off by a local.

To find them: instead of taking the usual route out of the city along the famous Highway One, drive North East out of Hue as far as the sea, then follow the coastal roads which are smaller, quieter, and much more beautiful. Take a left turning at Vinh An to find An Bang, and after the bridge over the Vinh Hien river mouth take another detour left to find a stretch of deserted beach which is great for swimming. From there you can continue on to Danang and Hoi An via Highway One and the awesome Hai Van Pass, but take random turnings and stop whenever you see something worth stopping for.

It’s a great drive and there are loads of untouched little fishing villages and other brilliant spots just waiting for discovery! I’d also really recommend stopping in Danang for a night if you can, it’s usually overlooked by tourists and it’s actually a very cool city; the bridges are amazing to see at night when they each have a ridiculously impressive light show.

A mosaic dragon on one of the elaborate shrines at An Bang, the so-called “Ghost City” of huge ancestral shrines which can be found more or less in the middle of nowhere about 20km from Hue. 

Last question before I let you go, where do you live on the internet and social media for people to come visit?

I blog at both www.emilyluxton.co.uk.

You can follow me on Facebook, @em_luxton on Twitter and @emluxton on Instagram

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