Olde-Heuvel & Velasquez - Tarapoto & Cocachimba Review

• Read thoughts of Dutch-Peruvian couple who visited Northern Peru over New Year.

• Their itinerary was expanded version of Tarapoto & Gocta trip, with additional nights at Pumarinri Amazon Lodge.

• Included a short visit to Gotas de Agua, a private dry forest reserve, near Jaen.

“Our trip to Peru was great we enjoyed both of the stays and both of the places, Tarapoto and Cocachimba. 

The Pumarinri accommodation was at a beautiful place and the people were warmth and great hosts. The room had a great view and was spacious however it needed some taking care …

The Manager was a person from Catalonia [Alex] with a great knowledge of birds. That we enjoyed a lot.

The excursions in Tarapoto were simple … but the country is so beautiful you don't need much. We came at New Year's so I guess we were more limited.

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Reference Cocachimba, it was a great difference. Gocta Lodge is a Luxury accommodation with breathtaking views.

The food at the hotel is top. We met the Spanish owner and had a talk with him. He was very nice person and considers himself now a local. Good for him and congrats with his hotel venture. 

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What we enjoyed a lot also was the travel between the two places.

Our driver was friendly and the care he took was phenomenal. We were lucky that the driver was assigned to us for the remainder of our trip at Cocachimba.

What we also enjoyed was the travel to a couple of bird sanctuary and we were able to see the famous Spatuletail Hummingbird among other beautiful, unique hummingbird species.

‘I enclose a picture [of a hummingbird] we took. As you can see it came out great. Is it the camera or the artist behind the camera, I wonder?!’

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We were able to enjoy Kuelap a lot and on the way back we also went to Chachapoyas and enjoyed visiting a local small museum that's located at the main plaza of the city.

The city itself is nice to see because the mayor has taken care that is kept traditional Spanish Colonial architecture and the streets are clean. 

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Reference the Gocta Falls is great but a lot of hard work, we walk all the way there and back. We think we are in very good shape but due that is a lot of climbing you need to have good legs. I don't see it easy for people that are not in shape.

‘We are enclosing the iPhone read of the [Gocta Waterfall] walk.’

That being said we had a great time there and the pictures we took were amazing.”