The Amazonas
June 10th 2019 (Entry for June 8th-10th)
Arriving in Leticia, I couldn’t believe I had made it to the Amazonas. It felt so surreal. From the plane, I had already seen the endless greens and several rivers along with the Amazon river itself. What a sight!
The airport is absolutely tiny. There is one conveyer belt for the luggage that appears to be running constantly. Before being allowed to leave the airport, you have to pay a tourist tax of COP $35,000. The only security at the airport seems to be two guards at the exit. You show them your receipt for the tourist tax and off you go.
I walked to the hostel from the airport. It was about 2km and took me half an hour, both the humid heat and my over 20 kg of luggage slowing me down. The sun was already setting, so I tried to not waste any time and get to the hostel before dark. I made it with only a few minutes to spare. Even though I had booked a bed in an 8-bed-dorm, I got to stay in a 4-bed-dorm that I only had to share with one other person on both nights. I put down my things in the room and went to the common area, hoping to find someone who also wanted to take the slow boat to Iquitos. I had no such luck and retreated to my room, and after reading for a few hours, I fell asleep around 10 pm. It was a restless night.
The next morning, I got up early, made scrambled eggs for breakfast, had a bread bun and some fruit with it, and then tried to find out more about the slow boat I wanted to take the next day. I couldn’t find out more information than I already had (what with the internet being extremely slow and there not being official schedules and the like). So, I got ready to go out and explore Leticia for a bit. I walked around the “city center” for an hour or so before I headed towards where I thought the slow boat would leave. There weren’t a lot of people in that area and after seeing that where I wanted to go to was fenced off, I turned around to head back to the busier (and thus safer) area. On my way back, I turned down a side street as I wanted to take a photo of the Amazon river (or, a tiny side arm of it as I later realized) with the “slum” in the foreground. (I am not certain whether it really is a slum and I hope I do not offend anyone with my choice of words.) I had no intention of heading down there, but as I stood there to take a photo, a woman came up the path, carrying a Tupper box of homemade cake. She told me to put my camera away for safety. I tried to tell her I didn’t want to go down there, just take a photo and head back. She bid me goodbye and went on her way. After taking a few more photos, I turned around and headed back to where I came from. Not too far ahead of me, I saw the woman walking in the same direction as me. (She would later introduce herself as Guiovana.) She saw me, stopped walking and waited until I caught up with her. She then told me again that it’s dangerous to have my camera out and that someone might rob me – at gun point – if I walk around in this area on my own with my camera out. She kept talking to me and so I decided to just walk with her. I was skeptical as to what her motif may be, but as it later turned out, she was acting out of pure kindness.
She walked around town with me for almost two hours, showing me different things and telling me to take photos whenever she saw something interesting. She saw a few people that she knew and sold them cake at COP $1,000 per slice. Upon seeing that, I thought I would buy a piece of cake from her when we part ways – as a way of saying ‘thank you.’ She ended up walking me all the way back to my hostel. We had passed a few restaurants on our way there and she told me where I could get good food. In front of the hostel, she asked if she could have my email address and gave me her full name as well to stay in touch. She didn’t even ask if I wanted to buy a slice of cake from her, told be goodbye, and left. I couldn’t believe her kindness.
It was only 2pm, but walking around the humid heat had made me really tired and exhausted. Therefore, I sat back down in the common area, where I started talking with two Dutch guys. They were both really nice and we talked for a while before I went to the supermarket to buy some essentials for my boat trip the following day. I had already bought a hammock and some rope earlier that day, so all I still needed to get was some food and toilet paper (as I’ve read that you always need to bring your own toilet paper). I also finally figured out where the slow boat would leave; it doesn’t leave from Leticia, but from Santa Rosa, which is an island in the middle of the Amazon river and is part of Peru. Roughly knowing where the boat dock was put me a bit more at ease, but I was still very nervous about my upcoming trip. Almost no one here speaks a second language, not even the police, and since my Spanish is extremely limited, communicating is never easy.
I put my worries aside when Robin asked me if I wanted to play cards with him. His friend, Skip, joined us, too. We set down on the balcony and talked and played cards until after it had gotten dark. Then, we went out to a restaurant to get some food. We all had different kinds of fish and everything was really delicious and the servings huge. I had a maracuja juice with milk (yep, milk. That made me very happy, because that’s how I like to drink my juice but everyone back home thinks it’s weird.) The meal cost me less than €12, but that was still very expensive for South American standards. It was worth it, though. I had a great time with Robin and Skip and might even meet Robin again once I get to Lima.
I had another restless night and an early morning. Breakfast was prepared by an employer that morning and after eating, I packed my bags, checked out of the hostel, said goodbye to Robin and Skip, and walked to the docks. I went to the Migración there and had to wait in line for a long time because there was a gig group (maybe a school class on a field trip) in front of me. I was lucky as there was both a Colombian border official and a Peruvian one in the office, so I could get both my stamps at the same place. When I had my stamps, I then hired a boat for COP $4,000 to take me across the river to Santa Rosa. When the boat left the dock and I got to see the Amazon river for the first time, I was overwhelmed with emotion and almost started crying. Sometimes, I can’t believe that this trip is real. The things I get to see and experience; it’s absolutely insane.