Amazonias

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After the most amazing views my eyes have ever been blessed with from Bogota to Leticia had a job fighting back the tears, was absolutely beautiful and we are so lucky to see an ariel view of the Amazon Basin. Leticia is the largest city in Colombia without roads into it, the only way to arrive is by plane or boat. Leticia has borders with Brazil by land and Peru the other side of the Amazon river. Our first afternoon was spent getting over the incredible heat and humidity, was very intense here being at 93mtrs elevation and 4 degrees off the equator. The next morning we decided to head to the small amazonian village of Puerto Narino 40miles upstream, the boat took 2 hours with 2 150hp Yamaha engines! This idyllic village has no cars no motorbikes and no pushbikes only method of transport is by the river or by foot. The Cabanas we had chosen were a 30 minute walk to the west of town uphill, was hard work with 18kilos of backpacks each! Upon arrival we were greeted by 2 dogs, 4 chickens, an Blue Macaw, a monkey, 3 cats, several Caymans, and a huge snake! Cabana was fairly rustic but adequate for a couple of nights. After relaxing for a while the owners nephew rocked up with his boat and asked if we wanted to go for a ride, and to change cos we could go for a swim in the Amazon. First stop on the trip was to see the prehistoric looking Pink Dolphins, of which we spotted several times, very rapid as they frolicked in the water. Afterward he said we could have a walk in the jungle for a while so we did unfortunately was getting towards dusk, we both had shorts and flip flops on and malaria is rife! Thank goodness for Doxycycline! Went in as far to see a huge tree 200 years old before regressing back to the boat and resuming the trip. We were invited to de-mud ourselves and take a dip in the Amazon, which was another amazing experience the water in this part was red and there were definite spots of colder and warmer water. From what we understood from the solely Spanish speaking nephew was the color of the water is to do with the sediment, but it was a very strong color like it was half water half cochineal! Spent bout 30 minutes swimming and having fun with the underwater camera! Didn't see or feel any fish though! It was now time to go back to our huts. On the way I saw something out the corner of my eye, grey dolphins! There were so many of them in the water playing and jumping we watched there for an hour or so until it was nearly dark 2 different types of dolphin in 1 day! :o) The next day we went on a 10 mile walk in the Jungle with size 6 wellies (no problem for me but poor Darren....) it started off pretty tame and the path wide, getting progressively narrower and harder to find the route luckily our guide knew exactly where he was going at some parts the water was nearly welly deep and we had to maneuver through some small gaps in the trees, la cuccarcha flew at me and nearly went down my t-shirt causing quite a commotion! We saw macaws flying overhead and heard loads of toucans and saw different types of monkeys, also a dead baby condor and the most biggest colorful butterflies, one was an electric blue color and as big as my hand! After arriving in the “indigenous village” we were given fresh pineapple and had a look around at their homes and way of life, unfortunately the children are only educated up to the age of 9 which we found rather sad. We were supposed to be walking back but Darren couldn't get his foot out of his boot for fear of not getting it back in so we settled on a boat ride on the way back it took near on 2 hrs and when we get back there was no water at our huts. There was water at the next huts but I had already been in there in the morning and spied the biggest spider I have ever seen it was huge fat and hairy at least 10cms in diameter - confirmed by Darren - so there was no way we were going in there again no less it could be poisonous! We were ringing wet with sweat- have never been so sweaty in my life, it had been pouring off the whole 3hr hike the humidity is something like 90% and was wet through and now no water...... nothing could be done, doing it like the locals, just hung around drinking coffee and water till we dried off! That night went to town for some dinner and upon arrival the heavens opened this was a rainforest rainstorm eh?? luckily after a couple of hours it subsided and we made a hasty dash for the walk back to our huts spying a whopping snake on the way slithering across the path.
After 3 days it was time to get back to Leticia and finish our amazing Colombian adventure and get grooving with the next one - Peru - but a bit more. We had to got to Brazil for boat tickets and Peru for immigration stamp (3 countries visited in 1 day!) and the next morning at 2.30 am we headed off to the boat in Brazil 11hrs downstream of the Amazon we arrived in the Jungle town of Iquitos Our plan was to fly to Lima then take the bus to Cusco and visit Machu Pitchu but they are having a bad case of El Nino in southern Peru and La Paz in Bolivia so seems we have to re-think our plans.....
After spending a good few days in Iquitos taking in the sights and sounds of the Amazon (and traffic) we took a flight to Lima stayed for just one day and then took a 19hour bus down to Arequipe where we will now stay for a few days.......... Plan on doing something else jungley in Bolivia because of the rainy season we hit in Jungle Peru!
Hope all is well with everyone :o)

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Comments

[Nigel]

Wow!
Sounds like you're having a brilliant time Sarah, what a fantastic experience. Keep up the blog, they're a great escape to read on another dull day at the Bank! tc Nigel x

[Barry]

Hi, what fab photos, makes it seem very real. Dont think I like the idea of swimming in the Amazon - man eating fish in there you know !! and are really sure you want to be there with spiders that big.... Thank you for the Email, nice to hear from you all sounds like you are having a fantastic time I guess its quite difference from Asia - the weather sounds very extreme. From what you say, I dont think you will ever forget the Amazon - you're hooked. Let us know how your trip progresses - with more lovely photos. Take care. PS. thats not a house on the river - can't be - its not straight for one thing......