Peru Travel Preparation FAQ

When booking plane tickets, you should land in Puerto Maldonado EXACTLY on your program start date (this often means you will depart from your home country the day before). Arriving earlier than this date would mean waiting a day or more in Puerto Maldonado for the rest of your cohort and/or an FPI staff member to escort you. Arriving later might mean not being able to travel upriver to the field station with the rest of us.

Depart from Puerto Maldonado (PEM) the day AFTER your final program date. The final date of your program is the day that you head back downriver to PEM by boat. You do NOT want to schedule a flight that same day because there may be delays with the boat or other transportation issues that cause you to arrive late. Instead, reserve your flight for the next morning. 

In the majority of cases, someone from FPI will meet you at the designated hostel. This hostel booking will be arranged by us. Very, very early the next morning we will head upriver to the field station.

No. While FPI will reserve space for you on the first and last nights of your program at Hostel Tambopata, participants are responsible for covering the cost of overnight stays and meals in Puerto Maldonado.

The currency in Peru is the Peruvian Nueve Sol. We say 1 “sol” and many “soles.” The currency exchange rate is ~ 3.7 soles to 1 USD.  Changing US dollars in Peru is a difficult thing to do; you will need to bring brand new,high-denomination bills, without any blemishes on them, for a bank to exchange them for you. You can find currency exchanges easily in the airport in Lima as well as in Lima city. In Puerto Maldonado you will have to change currency at a bank (so keep in mind bank working weeks and hours). Thus, the easiest way to get money is to use an ATM via a credit or debit card.

Things to consider: Bring two cards, in case one doesn’t work. Test that your pins work on both of your cards before you come to Peru. You can use an ATM in Lima and Puerto Maldonado very easily. The most you can withdraw in a single day from an ATM is 700 soles or ~$260. ATM charges can apply, including conversion fees, so check with your bank about that. Withdrawing from an ATM is convenient, and prevents you from carrying around a lot of cash, which is always a much safer way to travel.

Traveler’s checks are entirely a thing of the past – just don’t buy them!

You do not need to have cash on you at the station except for possibly 100-200 soles at the very most, for emergencies. There’s nothing to buy, no stores to spend it on; cash, in short, is irrelevant in the rainforest. You only need enough to allow you to return back to town in comfort.

What the field station provides:

• Electricity every evening
• Mosquito net
• Bed sheets & one pillow
• Safe drinking water
• Showers and facilities

What you will need to bring:

• Rubber boots
• At-home COVID testing kit with at least 2 tests (one for testing out of quarantine at the field station, and one in case of symptoms in the field)
• Binoculars (suggested models/specs: 10×42 or 8×42 Nikon Monarch/Trailblazer)
• Flashlight/headlamp
• Refillable water bottle(s)
• First-aid kit
• Ziplock bags
• Fast-drying clothes
• Rain jacket/poncho
• Laptop – for data entry, assignments, and practice with software. Also good for internet. Please download Garmin Basecamp prior to arrival.
• Pocket knife (optional, but handy)
• DEET-based repellent (natural can used, but we find this most effective)
• Long-sleeved shirts (lightweight, worn to protect arms from thorns and biting insects)
• Towel (one spare towel, fast-drying and thin)
• Unscented shampoo/soap/body wash
• Day pack (small backpack/flashpack to carry lunch, rainjacket, etc., in the field)
• Warm clothing for cold weather (possible friaje events): sweatshirt/jacket, wool hat, warm socks, gloves
• Hat or bandana
• Wristwatch (digital, with a repeat countdown timer)
• Notebook
• Prescription eyeglasses (good idea to bring a spare pair in case they get lost or broken)
• Contact lenses and saline (preferably use contacts that you don’t have to change every day)

*Hiking boots are not needed, but bring comfortable footwear for the station/lab.

Basics about boots: You will require gumboots (aka wellingtons, rain boots, or muck boots), which are knee-high rubber boots. These are essential for all outdoor activities, every day while on- and off-trail at the field station. You can bring these from home or buy them in Puerto Maldonado (usually around $10 USD). Bear in mind that very small women’s sizes can be difficult to find, as well as very large men’s sizes.  If possible, if you have an atypical sized foot (very small, large, or wide) or have particularly large calves, our recommendation is to bring your own boots from home, break them in, and make sure they will be comfortable to wear for most of the day, every day.

Tips: Consider insoles to help with increasing the comfort level. Select a natural-colored or black pair of boots, if possible, to not be conspicuous around wildlife. 

Boot etiquette: At the station, it is important to put your name on your boots to avoid confusion. We take our boots off and leave them outside most buildings so that the boots do not enter and muddy up the bedrooms or common areas.

Notes: A pair of sneakers will come in handy during your travels and for use while at camp itself.  You may prefer to bring a pair of flip-flops so that you can wear them to –or in– the shower.

Pack in something you can carry on your shoulders. Suitcases are not very practical (though people have managed with them). We recommend bringing a big duffel bag, or a backpack with most of your things in it. Try to make it waterproof, or buy some kind of waterproof cover. In the worst case scenario, though, you can put your whole bag in a giant plastic bag to keep it dry once you get to Puerto Maldonado. You’ll also need a small daypack when on site.

The most important things you need in the forest that we will not be providing (other than rubber boots, which we have already covered above) are your daypack, a water bottle, insect repellent, rain jacket or poncho, a small first aid kit, and a pair of binoculars. Additionally, for those joining us for research programs, a laptop (not a Chromebook) will be extremely helpful. In addition, a digital watch with a repeat timer will greatly assist those collecting behavioral data (see below). Check your packing list for more details.

Some other things to consider bringing include a pocket knife (check it with your luggage, don’t hand carry – it will get caught), a bandana or hat, and a favorite snack.

You will need to use a headlamp with LEDs at this site. This headlamp will be your best friend and is useful since it is hands-free. If you’re interested in seeing wildlife at night, bring one that is bright (high lumens) and that has a red light option, as the red light disturbs nocturnal animals a lot less. We suggest that you bring a rechargeable headlamp, or bring rechargeable batteries. This means that you must also obtain a small battery charger. If you can’t and absolutely have to bring regular batteries, please buy energy efficient ones so you use as few as possible, since you will have to take all batteries back with you and recycle them (you cannot leave them at the field station).

Yes. Make sure that you have something extremely reliable as an alarm clock – whether you use your phone or watch is up to you. Please buy a digital watch with a repeat timer – this last factor is essential in allowing you to collect behavioral data. When at the store, please specifically ask if you can set a timer for a specific duration (eg. 1 minute) that will continually beep every minute. That is what we mean by a repeat timer. If in doubt, purchase a watch like this from Amazon Smile.

Passports are valuable items that you want to protect from mold in the rainforest. The best way to do this is to put them in small ziplock bags with silica gel packets and then leave them entirely alone.  Do the same with any cash you bring with you also. Paper gets moldy very quickly.

While the weather at the station is typically warm and pleasant (~24C or 75F), we do get moments of cold weather coming in from the Andes. We call these friajes and they can last anywhere from a day to a week. At these times, temperatures can drop as low as 8C (~46F) but tend to be around 12C (~54F). Now a lot of you have definitely experienced temperatures a lot worse than this, but experiencing this type of weather in the rainforest is quite different from anything you have been through. Since the station is designed to keep people cool for most of the year, all the buildings are made of wood and wire mesh (to keep bugs out). Unfortunately, this lets the cold weather right in, so you have to be prepared for this to happen. Bring at least one pair of warm socks, a pair of light gloves, a hoody or warm hat and sweatshirt, and some thick sweatpants. If you tend to feel colder than most, bring a little more warm clothing than listed above.

We cannot promise you a friaje but they occur often from May to July, so you have to be prepared for one to happen!