Amazon Part 2 - to Leticia

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We ended up staying 6 nights in Iquitos as there were no slow boats leaving until after the weekend due to Dia del Peru celebrations. On the Monday the only boat heading to Leticia had no camarotes available so we decided to book onto the fast boat as time was beginning to slip away a little. The rapid boat left first thing the following day and was RAPID, taking just 9 hours to cover the distance that takes the slow cargo boat 3 days. The boat took us to Santa Rosa on the tri border where we got our passports sorted. Santa Rosa looked chilled, ladies playing volleyball and parrots lolliing around the place. Took the long route over to Leticia with the Austrian lad and another travelling couple (yawn!). One of the jumping fish landed in our boat and we had yet another stunning sunset.

We loved Leticia. Why? Because it was just what we´d hoped Iquitos would be, more tropical, felt more in the jungle so to speak. We stayed in Los Delphines and this is why we loved it there;

1 - Proper Coffee - sadly lacking from Bolivia and Peru, this was the real deal.

2 - Isla de Micos - How mad is this place? Turned up on our tour and there were hundreds of the small squirrel monkeys everywhere and they just jump all over you, sat on your head or shoulders, right cheeky imps! Mrs P got to feed them a banana and she must have had at least 8 of the fellows hanging off her, a fantastic experience. There fingers are soo small and cute.

3 - Parque Santander - If you´re ever in Leticia get yourself over to the church bell tower which overlooks Parque Santander around 4:30pm. The park itself is nothing special, around 20 trees or so, but come sunset around 15,000 birds descend on the place to spend the night. It´s out of this world, the parakeets fly around in groups, chattering away, before plonking themselves in the trees but the real highlight is the parrots that gather high above the park in groups of around 200 and the descend kamikazi style into the tops of the trees. The seperate groups seem to queue in the sky waiting for their turn to descend, usually 30 seconds or so after the last group. This goes on for at least 20 mins. It´s truly a magical sight and the noise is deafening.

4 - Macaws & Anacondas - Got to have our pirate pictures with Macaws on either shoulder. Stunning birds. Good fun.

5 - The Nightlife - Firstly we had a couple in a cool bar on the main street. It was full of old blokes chewing the cud, playing chess, watching the Olympics, listening to old latin music and drinking decent beer, perfect for us. Later the trendy bar just round the corner. A younger crowd listening to more modern dance music, drinking decent beer (but paying double the price), and doing some sexy dancing. Bob on!

And that was just a selecion, we also saw loads of dolphins, visited a rural village and climbed a view tower in Puerto Narino just upstream. The heat here is almost stifling but although it´s hot and sweaty during the day, the pace of life is soo slow and the heat just feels good on your body that we really enjoyed it. The rain comes, in torrents, but then as quick as a flash it´s gone and the streets are dry. There was a warm, friendly vibe to this place. We´ll miss it.

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