Powerboat to Peru

The morning after we returned from the Jungle, Rebecca and I went about another day of pounding the pavement taking care of all of the things that we did the day after we arrived in Leticia the first time: laundry, internet, moving pictures to a CD, etc... We also did a bit of shopping for touristy items, but like Brazil, did not find very much that we liked.

The most important thing we did on our day in Leticia was cross back into Brazil where we went to the boat office and reconfirmed our tickets for the following day. We also went to the federal police station and officially exited Brazil. We spent all evening sorting and repacking all of our gear. It took a while to say the least. Mind you, we were technically not in ANY country at this point since we had gotten exit stamps in our passports!

The next day we got up at 3:15 in the morning caught a taxi down to a small harbor in Brazil where we caught a boat to an island out in the middle of the river that served as the boat station and immigration control. This is of course simply a large floating dock tied to the back that has two small tables. One had a guy that dealt with your tickets and after he was through with you there was another guy who stamped you into Peru. All told, we were country-less for about 12 hours, during which time we had technically set foot in three different countries.

Our transportation up the Amazon River was an enclosed speed boat that held 20 people. It hurtled along the river at a break neck speed and the captain would weave back and forth between the patches of vegetation, logs, and trees that were floating with the current. I found the pace to be wonderful as it meant that there was always something new to look at. I was also definitely over the whole slow boat thing by that point.



Including several stops for gas, it took 10 hours to reach Iquitos, Peru. Waiting for us at a small unassuming out of the way dock were of course. The touts. Within 5 seconds of the boat's door being opened we had ten offers for a taxi. My head just dropped and thudded against the back of the seat in front of me. I hate touts. Let me repeat that. I hate touts. The insistent, unrelenting, annoyance of "I have a taxi", "You need a taxi?" and "This way my friend" infuriates me faster than any other single thing when I travel. It was especially bad this time around because I had been cooped up in a tiny cramped seat for ten hours. Then you have to fight with them to carry your own bags. They are completely deaf to the word no.

In the end I did what I always do, I picked the one taxi driver who had not harassed us. I like to think that this strategy will teach something to the rest of the drivers, but I am pretty sure that the intention is completely lost.

The Wait

Disclaimer: I know that this post is really long, but I promise that it is worth the read. It is the single craziest story from my trip!

We awoke to our second morning in the jungle with more mosquito bites and more pains in our backs. To work them out Wilson took us for walk in the jungle right around the camp where we were staying. He showed us lots of interesting medicinal plants and told us what they used them for. The local people had plant and animal parts for almost any illness.

We also got to see tons of different types of butterflies, which are called mariposas in Spanish. While butterflies come in seemingly millions of different varieties, they are almost impossible to photograph with your average point-and-click digital camera. We saw every color imaginable. There were blue butterflies that were approximately 10 inches across and tiny little ones that were brilliant red. We even saw a species that has transparent wings. It was like looking through window glass.

One of the most amazing things that Wilson told us about butterflies is that you can find every letter of the alphabet in their wings. I was not sure if he was telling the truth, but a google image search quickly proved that he was correct.

After our walk through the forest we returned to our base camp, packed our things, and hiked back out to the main village along the Amazon river to await the boat back to Leticia. When we arrived in the village at 3:30 in the afternoon Wilson called the boat company to reconfirm our reservation for seats on the 4:00 boat. By 3:45 we were seated under a large tree where we had gotten off the boat three days earlier. You can see the big tree on the right hand side of the picture below.


Since we were in the Amazon Rain Forrest in a developing country I figured that the boat would be late. Around 4:20 a large speed boat went zooming by the village and it looked completely full. Rebecca and I just looked at each other with that, hmmm, that was interesting look on our faces that experienced travels make when they have just seen what might be the sign that the story has just started. Boy, oh boy, had it ever just started...

Wilson it must be noted did look a little concerned. He produced the receipt for our seats on the boat to show that there had in fact been money paid to get us back to Leticia. He assured us that another boat would come by soon and headed off to go call Antonio to check on things.

It turned out that Wilson was correct. Another boat did go by about an hour later. Like the last one, this one was heading down river, and exactly like the previous one, it did not stop and pick us up. About 30 minutes later the first boat went back up river, empty.

The looks on all of our faces became more and more concerned as the afternoon and evening wore on. At first we had the family whose yard we were sitting in to keep us company. Their kids came out and entertained us and at one point we were surrounded by pigs, chickens, ducks, geese, dogs, cats, and, because it was the Amazon after all, a big green parrot. In a less than desirable situation where there is really nothing that you can do about it there are only two ways to go. You can either freak out and lose it, or you can just start laughing like idiots at almost everything. We went the latter route and amused the locals to no end.

Wilson made more phone calls as time went by and the situation appeared to be getting worse and worse. We watched the sunset and day fade into night. Rebecca and I were beginning to think that we would have to spend another night out in the jungle. Wilson came to us around 8:00 in the evening and asked us if e wanted to stay another night in the jungle or go back to Leticia even if it meant that we would be arriving close to midnight. We said we wanted to go back. He looked much relieved to hear it and it was clear that he wanted to return as well.

He headed off, made another phone call, and returned to inform us that we would be leaving in about an hour. Eventually a long wooden canoe with a small arched tarp for cover and a small ouboard motor pulled up to the bank and intense negotiations in Spanish began. After several heated minutes a deal was struck. I had to produce about 22,000 pesos ($7) to help the cause. Money well spent if you ask me.

We all piled in and headed down river at 9:15 in the evening. We had waited on the banks of the Amazon for 5 hours and 45 minutes. The boat was about 20 feet long and moved at a snails pace compared with the motor boat that had brought us out to the village. It is important to let you know at this point that it was completely dark, cloudy, and a new moon. Oh, and we did not have anything besides small flashlights. Oh yeah, one more thing. Entire trees float down the Amazon River. Not just branches, not just trunks, but COMPLETE trees! Big ones!

First we were stopped by the Colombian Federal Police. "You have what?" I heard one of the officers ask when he said that he had two tourists in the boat. A flashlight was soon shining under the tarp at us. I busted out my best gringo "Hola!" with a big grin and the poor guy looked totally astounded. I heard "pelo rojo" as we headed off. Ah, Rebecca's hair strikes again.

About 30 minutes later it was the Colombian Coast Guard, and the scene was repeated complete with the comment about the red-head. Apparently having two dirty, cold, tired tourists is a free pass down the river when you are out in conditions most commonly used by drug smugglers.

Have I mentioned that Wilson said that it was VERY rare for a small boat like this to be out on the river at night?

The next stop was Peru at about 11:20 pm. We needed gas. The gas station was totally closed up, but there were a lot of lights from the other side of the building and really loud Peruvian music. It was a fiesta and it took Wilson about 5 minutes to find the gas station attendant at the party. He was completely trashed on chicha - a very strong corn alcohol. The scene with the two gringos was repeated again, except this time we were offered alcohol. We politely declined and were soon on our way.

We docked in Leticia at just before midnight and Wilson, Rebecca, and I walked the two blocks to our hotel. Wilson had gone beyond the call of duty for us in countless ways and I was so grateful that I scared the shit out of him by giving him a huge hug. We gave him what we hope was a very generous tip. We had no idea how much was appropriate and I really do hope that we guessed correctly.

Rebecca took the first shower and I headed out to get burgers and cokes at the 24 restaurant right down the street.

Oh, remember those mosquitoes? When I got back to the room, Rebecca came out of the bathroom with bikini bottoms on and turned around... The backs of her thighs had been bitten so much that there was a higher percentage of bitten area than non-bitten area.

And those 1 am burgers, they proved to be divine.

Canoe Ride

Our guide Wilson was very sympathetic and understanding about our rather poor display of fortitude in the jungle and quickly reorganized the afternoon's activities to include a canoe ride. We boarded our new favorite leaky dugout canoe and headed off through the flooded part of the forest. Rebecca and I were able to simply sit back and relax and enjoy the scenery. A few of the best photos from the afternoon are included below.

One of the interesting things about Amazonian dugout canoes is that they are steered from the front. The most experienced paddler sits up front and he is in charge of determining where the boat goes. The person in the back is simply there to provide a little extra propulsion.

A small channel.

Dense flooded understory.

Flooded banana field.

A small village.

Sunset over the Amazon River.

Roughin' It

Our first evening in the jungle Rebecca and I discovered why Antonio had said that jungle was really hard. The mosquitoes. They are big. They are everywhere. They are fearless. They are immune to insect repellent. Oh, and they can bite through clothes. As soon as the sun starts to drop towards the horizon they seem to instantly multiply until their is a constant black buzzing cloud around you. The mosquitoes did not seem to be too interested in the locals, but were very keen to devour the new foreign cuisine that had just arrived in town.

With nothing to do after dinner we headed off to bed. In hammocks. Again. These were the cheap nylon ones too. Not the nice large comfortable cotton ones. As we lay there, waiting to fall asleep one of the truly amazing things about the jungle became clear. A trip into the jungle is truly and auditory experience. There are always hundreds of different creatures composing a natural symphony of sound. Insects, birds, and mammals all meld together into a continuous dynamic melody. This music changes over the course of time as some animals wake up and others go to sleep. While the musician of each sound was unkown to us, we did come to recognize certain sounds. Eventually we did fall asleep.

Bec and I awoke to a different tune the following morning. The plan for our first full day in the jungle was to head out on a five hour hike deeper into the jungle and away from the Amazon river. We would be staying in a VERY rustic camp site next to a waterfall and we would have the opportunity to see wildlife that had not been disturbed by development.

There is a funny thing about the jungle. While most people think that it is extraordinarily hot, it actually isn't. It is in fact rather temperate on the forest floor due to the shade of the trees above you. What the jungle most certainly is, is humid. Very very humid. I am not sure if it is possible to have more than 100% humidity, but if it is, it happens in the Amazon Rain Forrest. The humidity makes the air very thick and heavy; almost as if it is pressing in on you. The other curious thing about the jungle is that because the vegetation is so dense there is very little wind. It also doesn't help that you have to wear long pants and long sleeves to protect yourself from the bugs.

These interesting characteristics combine in a rather nasty way. As you hike carrying a small pack you quickly begin to sweat profusely. The catch is that because the humidity is at 100% and there is no wind the sweat does not evaporate, which means that you are not able to cool yourself. Your body just gets hotter and hotter.

I noticed the effect and noticed that my brain was starting to get a little cooked. Rebecca also commented that she was starting to get hot. When we stopped about 30 minutes into the hike to refill our small water bottles from a larger bottle. Rebecca became rather pale and shortly thereafter passed out and collapsed. We caught her and set her down gently. She quickly came-to with a very confused look on her face, which was probably only matched by my concerned look. We had some water and decided to continue onwards. Not long after Rebecca fainted again and the hike was called to a halt. Not feeling too hot myself we took an extended rest and ate some oranges to get our blood sugar back up I made the executive decision that we were heading back to the base camp. Continuing back out into the jungle would have violated one of my rules of travel: Do not engage in strenuous physical activities that may result in the need to call a traveling companion's mother from the hospital.

I can only imagine what the locals must have thought of us when we returned back into camp. We really were weak gringos.

After returning to the base camp we took a bath in the stream, had lunch, and took long naps.

Animals

Our first afternoon our guide Wilson took us on a short 30 minute hike that wound its way through the jungle. We eventually arrived at a stream where there was a dugout canoe waiting for us. The canoe was about 12 feet long and was literally a hollowed out tree trunk. There were three roughly made benches and some clay packed against a leaky spot. We climbed into it and Wilson paddled through the flooded forest for another 30 minutes until we arrived a village.

It was by no means a "traditional indigenous" village, but it was an example of the way the poor people in this part of the world live. The houses where rectangular is shape and were partitioned into two or three large rooms. They were all raised up at on stilts at least two feet. Most of them had some sort of covered porch on one side. There were a variety of pens next to them for pigs, ducks, chickens, and geese. There were also dogs around, but it was very apparent that people in this part of the world didn't care much about them. They were all VERY skinny and parasite ridden.

The villagers were used to have tourists come through and so they had collected examples of jungle animals to let us see and hold. Wilson said that this group of people traditionally kept these types of animals as pets even before the tourist trade. Needless to say, my overly cynical self didn't believe him.

Anyway... On with the cuties!

Toucan

Baby Three-Toed Sloth

Squirrel Monkey

Coati (His name was Bruno.)
This little guy is closely related to raccoons.

He really liked the camera.

Parakeets

And the not so cute...

Anaconda

Tarantula
This guy was on Rebecca's mosquito net when we went to bed one night. It was about the size of a tea saucer.

Into the Jungle...

After spending the better part of a day going through various tour offices, Rebecca and I got the best feeling from Antonio, the owner and operator of Amazon Jungle Trips. We may have gotten the best vibe from him because he was the only person we found that spoke english. He offered us two different possible packages. The first was to go into Peru to a jungle lodge. There would be rooms with beds and a regular restaurant. It was $60 per day. The second option was the jungle camp, which was much more rustic, but only $35 per day. We chose the second. Antonio warned us that it would be hard. At the time we had no idea how serious his warning was...

We spent the night repacking all of our gear so that we only had to take the essentials with us out into the jungle. We managed to get everything that we would need into one bag. We had been told that we would be wearing long pants and long sleeves for pretty much all of the trip. All of the repacking of course led us to try on our big rubber boots that Antonio had provided us with.

The next morning Rebecca and I headed down to the local docks with Antonio to meet our guide who would be taking us out into the jungle. His name was Wilson and he did not speak any English. Antonio had told us that this was going to be the case the night before, and while Wilson certainly seemed friendly, I was still a little nervous.

In short order The three of us, our bags, and all of the food and water that was going to sustain us was loaded onto what is best described as a water version of the mini-bus. It was an 18-foot v-bottom speed boat with a Mercury 150 outboard on the back. There were about 17 people packed into the boat. These boats serve as the local taxis for people getting to and from the smaller villages around Leticia. And believe it or not, but life jackets are mandatory! You won't find a seat belt in any taxi in the entire town, but every boat has enough life jackets for everyone on board.

We were soon roaring up the northern bank of the Amazon River with small villages and homesteads whizzing by. After a week on a slow boat it was actually a little terrifying to be going as fast as we were. Before long we pulled over at what appeared to be a single house at the side of the river. While we didn't know it at the time, we would come to know the yard around this house very well in about 60 hours time.


With our long sleeves, long pants, and rubber boots of we headed out through what turned out to be a fairly good sized community of 20 or so houses. We proceeded on a 45 minute hike through the jungle to the camp that was going to be our home base for the next two nights. The jungle camp consisted of a main "cabin" where the kitchen and dining area was and two "cabanas" in a small clearing along the banks of a stream. We slept in two hammocks that were strung up in one of the cabanas. As you can tell they were open to the jungle and the bugs were very much a part of our experience. The camp had only recently been established and there were several construction projects in the works. Another cabana was being built and a variety of plants were being collected from the jungle and replanted in the area.

We had hosts for our time out in the camp. There was a young couple and their four children, which ranged in age from 3 to 10. While we did not ask, we guessed that the mother was probably younger than either Bec or myself. The kids were of course super cute. Especially the littlest girl. As usual they were very shy around us, but they soon warmed up and chatted away to us in spanish. Little kids can be the best for practicing a foreign language. You can play games with them to learn words by pointing at things like your node, eyes, a color, an insect, or your boots. They are also interested to learn english words.



After a lunch of fried fish and a banana/rice mash, which we would learn to love, we headed out for a short hike and visit to a village to see some of the wild animals of the jungle up close.

Tres Fronteras

We finally arrived in Tabatinga, Brazil just before midnight on May 4, 2006. There was, of course, a cab waiting to meet the boat. Bleary eyed and exhausted I nodded my head in the driver's general direction as acceptance of his offer for transportation.

“Un momento,” he replied to me “Necesito a mas gente.”

I looked around and realized that there was only one taxi on the dock, a small rancid-buttery colored sedan. Judging the ratio of rust to paint on the thing, I guessed that it was probably originally manufactured in the early to mid-1970s. The humidity of the jungle had not been kind to it. Too tired to care Rebecca and I put our bags into the trunk and climbed into the back seat. As with all taxis in developing countries, the springs were totally shot, the padding was non-existent, and the seat belts were missing.

Before long five people - three women and two children - who had been on the boat with us were piling their bags and boxes into the trunk and themselves into the car next to us. Two of the women and one of the children ended up in the back seat with Bec and I, and the other woman and child ended up in the front passenger seat.

We all headed off through the empty city of Tabatinga. After a few blocks we stopped in front of a house and the women and children got out. We then headed off again and eventually made our way down a large boulevard. At one point our driver looked in the back seat and announced, "Bienvenidos a Colombia." Apparently we had entered Leticia, Columbia without even realizing it. There was no change to the street, no sign, no immigration building, no fence, and not even a border guard. The only real change was that the signs on the building were now in Spanish instead of Portuguese.

The most amazing thing about the Tres Fronteras where is Peru, Columbia, and Brazil all meet is that the only way to get there is by long distance boat or airplane. This means that unless you try to travel out of the region by one of those means, nobody ever looks at your passport. There is complete free movement and free trade between the three countries. It is not uncommon for Brazilians to work in Columbia or vice-versa. You can also use any of the three different currencies anywhere you are, and there is a real fusion between the Spanish and Portuguese languages here.

We had our driver take us to Hotel Anaconda, the nicest hotel in the area. We had to bang on the door to get the night watchmen to open up for us. He was gracious enough and we soon found ourselves in what we considered to be the lap of luxury: a quiet, clean, private hotel room. We were ecstatic to say the least. I was able to stand up straight. There were clean sheets on a flat bed, which was heaven after a week in a hammock. Most importantly there was a hot water shower with clear water!

After you travel enough you learn to appreciate the simple things in life.

Leticia turned out to be a fabulous little town with a real "wild west" kind of feel to it. It is laid out on a nice grid system that is about 8 streets by 12 streets, but everything you need can be found in a 2 to 3 block radius. Like previous cities, we were almost the only tourists and we were quickly recognized about town.

We spent our first full day in town pounding the pavement and taking care of all of the business stuff that has to be attended to: laundry, internet, burning photos to a CD, buying boat tickets to Iquitos, and finding a tour company to explore the jungle with. We eventually did sign up for a tour out into the Colombian jungle. We were scheduled to depart the following morning. . .