The first thing I want you to know about Itaituba is don’t arrive there on a weekend! It was too late for me to reschedule as I had Cristalino booked for specific days and it was sold out so I couldn’t change it. Don’t count on being able to change money here or the ATMs accepting foreign cards, bring cash from Manaus, Santarem or elsewhere. The 3 most important things you need to do in Itaituba are:
- 1. Get a permit from IBAMA to visit Amazonia National Park.
- 2. Stock up on food to take out there.
- 3. Preferably hire a car as transport there is very limited.
I got lucky and a new birding friend helped me get the permit in advance from IBAMA but that person has transferred out from the Itaituba office and is no longer around to help.
Itaituba can be reached by plane from Manaus or Santarem on Azul, by bus from Mato Grosso or by boat from Santarem.
In this map, the “A” in the bubble is the IBAMA office. You can see the jetty where the ferry from Miritituba will drop you if you arrive by bus. There are a couple supermarkets within a block of the jetty. The red dot with the arrow is Juliana Park Hotel which is your best bet if you get stuck in Itaituba overnight.
Av. Mal. Rondon, s/n. Aeroporto Velho. Itaituba – PA. (IBAMA/ Parque Nacional da Amazônia). (93) 3518-4519
Any taxi can take you there. You will need your passport, maybe an extra photocopy and it wouldn’t hurt to bring some passport photos just in case. The permit was free in 2012. They are open M-F “business hours” so plan to get there before 4pm.
CAR HIRE COMPANIES
SHOPPING
There are small supermarkets in the area near the jetty where you can get very basic goods. Although the guards at Urua have limited refrigeration for their own use, don’t count on them being able to store your perishables. We bought tinned goods like cocktail sausages, corned beef and other items like rice, Ramen noodles, biscuits/cookies and water. You can boil water when you are there if you can’t carry too many bottles of water. There are larger supermarkets called Duvalle and Tradição but they are further away. Looking back, I wish we had made the effort to go there for a better selection of goods.