Thirteen hours downstream of Coca, NUEVO ROCAFUERTE is just about as far as you can go along the Río Napo before the Peruvian border. A row of thatched houses strung for several kilometres along the southern bank of the river, the town is dominated by Quichua speakers, the police and the military. Houses are connected by footpaths, and taxi-boats ferry people up and down. A few people (try asking around for Celio Rodas) rent out bicycles for a couple of dollars an hour, the cheapest means of transport in town. Boats to Nuevo Rocafuerte leave Coca on Monday or Tuesday morning and return on Thursday or Friday morning. The return journey takes around fifteen hours, usually broken at Pañacocha settlement on the Napo, a couple of kilometres east of the tributary that leads to Laguna Pañacocha. Nuevo Rocafuerte has one simple hotel and a couple of basic restaurants.

 

Until early 1999, there was little reason for tourists to make the backbreaking journey by boat to Nuevo Rocafuerte, but this could change following the improvement in relations with Peru and the opening of the newly accepted border to international traffic. If you are attempting to cross here, make careful preparations and get all the information you can from your own country's embassy, the Peruvian embassy in Quito, and the Capitanía in Coca, making sure you have all the necessary stamps and paperwork before leaving either place. The SAE in Quito will also be able to give up-to-date advice. Crossing here is not a well-established practice and the rules and conditions can change rapidly. As the situation stands at the moment, you cannot get your Peru entry stamp until arrival in Iquitos. There is no regular boat service from Nuevo Rocafuerte to Iquitos in Peru, but ask at the Capitanía for upcoming availability. Expect to wait several days to find one, the cost of which is likely to run into hundreds of dollars.