Well i have had to back date this blog a tad as i have been off the radar for a few days. from where i left you guys in Manaus i have had to catch a quite expensive plane trip to tabatinga... which of course i had to pay in cash... this meant another trip to Bank do Brazil and 5 hours waiting in lines and getting my credit card approved. not the most pleasent day in manaus but i managed to get my ticket so i was happy.
I decided to spoil myself today and went on a day trip with the owner of the amazon backpackers hostel and three others to a nice little river side bar where you could swim and eat whilst watching people fly past on jet skis on a river inlet off the rio negro... it was really great as it was only accessable by car so it wasn´t overcrowed and filled with only locals. in the afternoon he took us to the most expensive hotel in town where we snuck past security and swam in their amazing pool out back which hung over the rio negro and in the evening i and
went to the buffalo churruscaria (bad spelling, but highly recommended) basically an all you can eat barbeque meat returant where you pick your salads and then the waiters will run around and carve off fresh bbq chicken and beef off their skewers. you also have unlimited access to the salad bar which was quite extensive including some quite good sushi. so all in all a good way to go out and leave manaus behind i thought after a crap day before spent at the bank.
my plane day went quite smooth caught the bus to the airport and had a beautiful flight over the amazon jungle into tabatinga. here i was mobbed by people offering taxi ride but i weaved my through until i thought i was in the clear and began looking for the bus. suddenly i was approached by a guy waving a card of his taxi prices... 25 reals he said...
no thanks i am looking for the bus
ok 20 reals
no thanks i am just looking at the moment and i need to visit lots of places, immigration, get a hotel, change money, buy tickets etc..
yes yes no problem i take you
the town of leticiai really wanted to get a photo of the 4 million motor bikes the rode up and down this street but when i got the camera out the never seemed to be around
no problem 15 reals.
everywhere?
yes yes 15 reals...
ok but 10 reals..
ok fine lets go i have taxi here
he then walks me to his motor bike mind you i am carrying my backpack and my small day pack so a tad aqward but i managed and the guy lived up to his word zooming through hundreds of bikes we visited the brazilian immigration office which was the equivenlent of a drive through window passport stamp. then at the boarder crossing which i imagined to be filled with military was replaced with a young boy selling helmets on the side of the road...
the deal was you have to buy a helmet as the columbian law requires all passangers to wear a helmet of course my driver was wearing his already disregarding my safety i bought one chucked it on then crossed the boarder into columbia... instantly i was impressed. a bit of a nothing town but it already seemed cleaner and the places looked in better repair.
my driver then took me to a great hostel where i dropped my bags and ran back out where he took me to the tourist office to
reserve my tickets... then the cambio to change my money then back to the tourist office to pay for my ticket and then back to the hotel where the ride ended. what i loved about all this sure mabey i could have got the same deal for 5 reals, but i had done everything i needed to do and i spotted people checking into the hostel from the same plane i was on after my nice hot shower. yes i think i am going to like columbia.
the next day i spotted some aussies from my hostel in manaus... robbie and jules and caught the plane with them to bogota. where we checked into the platypus hostel.
Colombia's Flag
Map of Colombia