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.