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Boating the length of the Amazon is a big dream but it just occurred to me that it might not be that difficult. There is a public passenger boat that travels from Leticia to Manaus in four days. That is half the entire distance to the sea. While the cost of a voyage on this boat is reasonable (I've heard about US$100) it doesn't seem the most pleasant way to travel (24/7 in a hammock watching people drink beer all day and throw the cans overboard).

Instead, I would like to buy a small river boat in Leticia, and with a few friends, spend a month or more traveling slowly down the river, stopping in the towns and settlements along the way making rest stops, refueling, buying supplies and water, and continuing.

The total distance is about 3000km:

map of the amazon

What does one need to consider for such a journey?

pnuts
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Quinn Comendant
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1 Answers1

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Get out your computer and head for Google's satellite maps and work your way downstream. You can literally see where towns of any size are and their names. Then try doing some searches on what may be in that town. This will help you answer for yourself several of the questions you asked.

Call the Brazilian Embassy in Colombia and ask what the rules are on crossing the border with a boat you bought in Colombia. They will know better than anyone here.

Assuming you can get good answers from these first two steps, then ask yourself / your companions ... can you read the river, can you fix a boat's motor by yourself, do you love mosquitoes.

hippietrail
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