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. . .