Amazon House Hostel

The room was near an awfully loud street, and the hostal is far from the city centre in a district that didn’t feel very safe to me. I had a much better stay at Flying Dog Hostal. There’s no 24/7 reception. I asked three times for a key because I wanted to go out that night, but kept getting put off. We’d also arranged an 8 a.m. checkout and for them to hold our bags during our tour, but nobody showed up, so we had to find a last-minute solution. At one point during our stay, the old man at reception became very disrespectful and unfriendly.

The room and terrace were nice, and the staff apart from the owner seemed nice too, I think they’re family. His wife was especially kind when she returned my laundry, which was carefully dried and folded. That was the one thing that went well. I felt disrespected many times, and I cancelled my second stay, which I’d planned for 2-4 August after my forest trip. My first booking was for 21 July - 25th July. When I arrived on 21st July, they made me pay 22 soles extra for using a card, without the owner having warned me beforehand. They also wouldn’t move breakfast an hour earlier, even though I’d only have eaten two of the four breakfasts because of a trip. Breakfast was just a piece of bread with juice. I left for two days of activities with my belongings in the hostel, and when I came back they’d put two big mattresses in my room because they knew it was empty, saying there had been an emergency. The laundry service was the worst part. They’d promised by email that it would be done between 15:00 and 21:00, since I was leaving for an Amazon tour the next day, which I’d booked elsewhere. I paid 35 soles, 10 per kilo, then the owner said they couldn’t dry the clothes unless I paid more. When I complained, he offered to return the money and leave me with dirty clothes. In the end, though, his wife returned everything properly dried and folded.

The hostel itself is decent, but the staff’s lack of respect and professionalism left a bad impression. I stayed at Amazon House Hostel before and after my jungle tour, booking directly both times for the same room. On the second stay, they charged more than the first time, more than the Hostelworld listing, and more than the other people in my dorm paid. When I asked the older man at the front desk about the higher price, he was rude and gave me a dismissive, nonsensical answer. There are plenty of other places in Iquitos, and I’d choose somewhere that doesn’t treat guests as easy targets.

The day was disorganized in several ways. We’d told them we wanted to fish for pirannahs and walk in the jungle, but on the whole-day trip we fished for only 15 minutes and never took a jungle walk. We’d paid Carlos, a hostel staff member, a lot for what we booked as a private tour, but it turned out to be a group tour. We asked to pay the cheaper group-tour price instead. Carlos refused, saying we could call the tour company, though they would most likely say no. He offered to drive us to the airport the next morning, but that wasn’t close to covering the extra cost. The company said it was too late to refund the difference since we’d already taken the tour. We messaged Carlos on WhatsApp asking him to refund it himself. He saw the message and didn’t answer. We asked again if he could at least drive us to the airport as he’d offered, and he saw that message too without replying.