Pozuzo – journey there
Tour-Programme
During the course of our tours you will be picked up at your hotel in Lima. We travel in small buses with maximum seating for 10 people. Experienced drivers and mechanically sound vehicles guarantee your safety. If the route is not passable we won’t travel.
Our route takes us via the Ticlio Pass. There will be many opportunities for a stop. If you have booked the pick-up in Lima, we will have a break for breakfast at 5.000 metres – a fantastic experience. Then we descent down-hill into the green thicket of the Selva reaching Oxapampa in the early afternoon where we will have a late lunch. We then continue our trip to Pozuzo crossing the National Park Yanachaga Chemillen by sunset, which, with the sunrise, is an unforgettable time in the rain forest. Here we will make another stop. We will arrive at the Hostal for a late dinner.
The Night journey runs in parallel with the official bus trip, but with us you experience the adventure of a personal journey. Many stops, with a small group and an experienced and well rested driver.
Individual bus trip
Buy your bus tickets in time to ensure a booking on the comfortable night buses. If you choose to travel at night you will miss the scenically interesting part of the journey but you will not have to spent a night in Oxapampa. The buses start almost without exception in Lima/La Victoria. Please beware of pickpockets, and do not leave personal belongings unattended. The buses are comfortable, mostly with air-condition and Video. Be sure to have dressed in warm clothes for the crossing of the Ticlio-Pass, and because of the height take enough liquid and glucose with you. The bus stops before crossing the Ticlio. Here you should drink a coca tea with a good amount of sugar. It will help you to adjust easier to the height.
At an altitude of about 4.500 metres you will notice the change in height. It means you will feel short of breath and/or develop a headache. Relax and drink as much as possible. With each additional 50 metres you will feel the altitude more. When the Pass is reached and the weather is clear you will be rewarded by an outstanding panorama. Once having crossed the Pass breathing gets better. The air becomes thicker and more sultry by the hour. This part of the journey leads through the Selva, but by then most of the travellers are sleeping. Early in the morning you reach Oxapampa. To avoid the bus being fully booked you should hurry to buy your ticket to Pozuzo, as the little buses fill up rapidly and you might have to wait for the next bus. It will be best to ask the village people where to buy the tickets. There are different bus lines but not all operate every day. For this last part of the route you should ensure that you have a comfortable seat on the bus. The track takes 4-5 hours across the National Park and has no asphalt. Potholes, mudslides and flooding complicate the journey but the bus drivers take it all as a matter of course.
In total you need about 14 hours to reach Pozuzo by bus.
Own Vehicle/Rented car
Starting in Lima you take highway No.20 to Chosica, Matucana, San Mateo then crossing the Ticlio (4818 m), and passing La Oroya (3740 m, distance to Lima 180 km ), Tarma (2247 m, 230 km), San Ramon (820 m, 293 km), La Merced (751 m, 305 km). There you reach the Chanchamayo Valley and the route to Oxapampa (1814 m, 385 km). The asphalt road ends at the Paucartambo Bridge (distance to Lima approx.325 km) The rest of the road to Pozuzo is a bumpy track. Driving along the Rio Huancabamba and passing several cataracts one crosses more than 20 smaller and larger rivers, eventually reaching the jungle and finally the village of Pozuzo (824 m, 472 km).
Flight connection
One can hardly believe it but Pozuzo has its own airfield. Yet with a length of about 550 metres it can only be used by small planes (3-4 persons) . Once a week, mostly at weekends, a plane flies from Pucallpa and Codo de Pozuzo to Pozuzo. We do not recommend to try this. We tried it out once but had to share the plane with a cow which stood tied down in the aisle of the machine.