Blogs from Leticia, Colombia, South America - page 4

Salut les mignons! Juste deux ou trois ligne pour vous dire bonjour de Colombie, mouarf! Ma première expérience de voyage en lancha s'est bien passée, avec ma copine de voyage Martina, from Suède. Et me voila à Tabatinga-Leticia. Tabatinga, c'est le côté brésilien. De l'autre côté de la rue, Leticia, le côté colombien. Alors pourquoi râter l'occasion de visiter un autre pays? The suite amañha (et oui mettons nous au portugais allons!), en route pour Manaus, en plein milieu de l'Amazone. Quatre ou cinq jours de lancha, ça c'est du vrai voyage! Mon fidèle hamac hamac est au rendez-vous et me fait passer de belles nuits. Le rêve prend vie, et je vis comme jamais!! Une joie immense m'anime, puisant dans une énergie profonde et saine. C'est bon, oh oui! Pura vida, en souvenir des ticos! ... read more

Time had come for us to get organised and get back on another boat and head further down river to Leticia, Colombia. This time we were ready to be hassled at the port by people trying to help us to do things that we were more than capable of doing ourselves. For instances organising our voyage with the captain of the boat. As we arrived in our moto taxi it was surrounded by men trying to help but this time in no uncertain terms we told them that we did not need any help and that we were fine by ourselves. It is suprising how long it takes some people to realise what you are saying to them and it really does take getting angry to finally get the message across.....even if I had to do ... read more

We arrived In Letitia airport Thursday 12th July in the morning and we were shocked by the heat, as we were coming out of the plane. We were ushered into the arrival area and were welcomed with singing and keyboard playing y two Policemen. It was a really neat welcome. The security was very tight, with all baggage checked, drug dogs sniffing around and you could not leave the arrival area without paying the arrival tax and your baggage tickets checked by a policeman. It felt really good to be in such a secure and welcoming place. Leticia is Colombia, Tabitinga is Brazil and Santa Rosa is Peru, all places you can go freely without boarder stamps. The locals call it the frontier, and it is really like a country of its own. There are not ... read more

Stepping off the plane to Leticia I remembered that actually I wasn't quite saying farewell to Columbia yet and that we had just entered the gateway into the Amazon, and 150% humidity. God was it hot and sticky; it was the sort of humidity that meant you were wetter when you got out of the shower than when you were in it. The next couple of days were spent preparing ourselves for the journey ahead, buying supplies (Vodka, Munchies, Oh yeah and what would be our bed for the next 4 nights a hammock!) The pousada (that's a guest house) where we were staying was home from home and the owner Renee told us to treat the place like home and that we could use the 2 bikes. Only problem was that there was 3 of ... read more

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 ... read more