Tabatinga - oops Colombia!

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We arrived at Tabatinga and headed straight for the travel agent advertised in the Lonely Planet. It was very hummid and +35 degrees c. We had to lug our bags quite a distance before we found the place and the three sets of incorrect directions we had been given didn't help. If it hadn't had been for a friendly tout we would probably never have found it. The travel agent turned out to be a man who knew someone with a boat and plane, the plane did not run for another 4 weeks and the boat had already left. We were a little underwhelmed.

Tabatinga and Leticia are the same town divided by an international border, the Tabatinga side is in Brazil, the Letcia side is in Colombia. There is no border post between the towns and the citizens can move between the two freely. The tout told us Leticia had an airport from which a plane was flying to Bogota the next day, from Bogota we could then fly to Ecuador - not our intended destination but better than going back to Manaus. We were intending to go to Ecuador after Peru anyway.

Our tout took us to Letcia where he offered us a room in his house for the night and showed us the travel agent. The ticket we got took us to from Leticia to Bogota, Bogota to Panama and Panama to Quito. Not exactly direct but economical.

Leticia was a crazy place, everyone rode motorbikes often families at one time - mum, dad and child and on one occasion the dog too! Boyfriend and girlfriend out on a date, the girl riding side saddle if wearing a short skirt. We also saw a man on crutches and a man with a 1m x 1m square of plastic on the back of a bike!

We spent a bit our our time emailing our families to tell them of our new plans. The last thing we wanted was for us to get kidnapped in Colombia and no one to know where we were. The rest of the evening we spent at the pub watching Colombian life go by. We both agreed we would like to see much more of Colombia but would need a definite plan as not all areas are safe, so we were definitely not going to explore the place off the cuff.

The next day we were up early. We had breakfast with our host who was very worldlywise, he had lived in Europe for quite a few years mainly in London and Brussels. He was very politically aware and informed of us of some signficiant events in the history of Colombia that had led to its current state. We have his email address and are likely to keep in touch.

We left Leticia at about midday on one of the worst flights I have ever been on. I had already started to feel quite unwell at the airport, nauseous, aching, and headachy - all very ominous so soon after being in the jungle. To make matters worse - there was a lot of turbulence due to big rain clouds and hot temperatures on the ground. We never left Bogota airport and were only there long enough to have a beer and buy and postcard. We finally arrived in Quito after our brief visit to the northern hemisphere at about 10pm.

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Photos

let2
Bikes rule the streets

let1
Us in Leticia - Colombia

let3
The whole family on the bike

Comments

[Brian & Tony]

Thanks for the postcard
Thanks for your postcard, we now have it pinned up on our Fridge, and it is reminding Tony of when he was in Brazil. Im not too sure if the statue is nice or just eerie, as im not sure how i'd feel about the messiah looking down on me each day!! Cheers xxx