Hey Tad,
Mark and Manuel took me around Peru this past August and it was amazing! It’s a must do for any serious frogger, and well worth the money (this coming from a college student who had to save for five months to go on the trip). The diversity of amphibians in Peru will just blow you away, it’s like nothing else.
The price of airfare certainly is expensive, and it caught me off guard at first too. I just went to the local travel agency and asked them to find me the cheapest ticket, which turned out to be around $940. I poked around online a little later and actually found tickets for as cheap as $800, so I think $1200 is a little high for an estimate. I think if you’re pricing everything out, a more reasonable estimate is $1000, but you could call your local travel agent and see what they say too. I guess these prices were all from Chicago, so it might differ depending on where you depart from.
Most everything that you need is covered in the tour package. They basically take care of you while you’re down there, and all you need to buy is supplies for the trip (I can give you a list of what I bought if you want, probably budget around $75 - $200 depending on what you already own) and airfare. I also had to buy a hotel room in Lima because of the timing of my flights, but that was really cheap, only $35 a night in Peru!
Regarding meals, I wouldn’t bother budgeting for a third one. When you’re in the jungle looking for frogs the last thing you can think of is food. All desires for comfort go away when you’re chasing a wild pongoensis or reticulatus! I was concerned about it too when I read the site, and did bring quite a bit of extra spending money with me, but not once did I buy a third meal. If you did want to budget for an additional meal you wouldn’t need a lot, maybe $1 to $3 per small meal depending on where and what you eat. When you do eat it’s almost always great food. The worst you’re going to get is rice, beans, chicken, and plantains (unless you order fish soup in Pongo de Cainarachi). Other than that meals are good. I ate really well when I was down there, tons of great fish, but other options if that’s not what you want.
As far as bar tabs, that’s up to you and how much you drink. I don’t usually drink much, but Mark and Manuel corrupted me down there and we had to have at least a beer or two every night. Fortunately, in Peru you don’t generally pay $4 for a beer anywhere, everything is much cheaper. I’d say if you want to budget $75 to $100 for extra money down there (bar tabs, souvenirs, possible emergencies, etc.) that would be reasonable, but you certainly don’t have to bring $400 like some of the tourist books recommend. In fact, I think if you do bring anymore than $100 you’ll probably just be coming home with it unless you buy a bunch of expensive shirts and mugs at the airport. All that is necessary is included in the package, the money that you bring will just be for extra stuff.
My understanding is that the only dangerous areas of Peru these days are down south, far away from where you’ll be. The people that I spoke with while there were extremely friendly, particularly in rural areas, and I don’t think there is any rational reason to be concerned for rebel groups kidnapping you and holding you for ransom. I felt very safe during the trip once I got past the culture shock.
It definitely would be possible to work a trip to Cusco in with this tour if you planned it right. Maybe head down there a few days before the frog tour, and then make it back up in time to catch the flight to Iquitos. It would be more expensive, I think tickets to Cusco were around $200, plus you’d have to budget for hotels, food, etc. but if you’re into that kind of thing you might want to take advantage of being in Peru and go check out Machu Picchu.
I’ve typed a lot now, and could type a lot more, so if you have any specific questions don’t hesitate to ask. Overall it was an amazing experience, well worth the money, and definitely the place to be if you enjoy frogs. Hope you decide to and are able to go,
its not so bad.
