From Bogotá, I fly to Leticia which is the Colombian gateway to the amazon region. It lies right in the three-country border region between Colombia, Brazil, and Peru. I already know Leticia from my previous trip to Colombia. It is a small town with not much to see. However, just a few kilometers outside Leticia the deep jungle begins which I am planning to explore.
The weather here is hot and humid. It feels like entering a greenhouse when I leave the airplane. I appreciate that after a few cold days in Bogotá. Of course, it also rains… a lot! It’s best to always carry a raincoat in case.
I spend a relaxed first day in Leticia. I need to prepare for tomorrow when I am going on a jungle hiking adventure for 4 days. In the evening after everything is packed, I head out to my favorite restaurant in Leticia for a delicious Amazon ceviche. Delicious! Then I go to bed early to be well rested for the hike.
The next day in the morning I meet my guide, Marcos. With him I am going to spend the next 4 days hiking through tropical rain forest far away from civilization. No phone coverage, no streets, just small unmarked hiking trails.
It turns out to be a wonderful adventure. The first day of hiking is quite exhausting as we walk 20 km, lots of it during heavy rainfall. We only arrive at dark at the destination which is the small house that Marcos and his father have built in the jungle. It is located beautifully next to a river and there are no neighbors anywhere close. It makes me wonder what it is like to live so secluded in the wilderness.
I spend two nights at their home where we eat together the fish that we catch and the fruit that we pick. Specifically they have the most delicious pineapple I ever had as well as incredible avocados. I also get to explore the river on a small boat and see many animals, including Monkeys, Guacamayas, and Piranhas. Moreover Marcos father tells many interesting stories about the hardship and beauty of a life in the jungle. He is already more than 70 years old but clearly in perfect health and very fit—I guess you have to be for a life here. To get anything from the city, you need to either walk 20km through the jungle or take a 2-day boat ride along the river, one way.
On the third and fourth day, we walk back to Leticia via a different path. We stay over night in a jungle camp which is a very cool end to the adventure. The next day we are back in Leticia. To finish the tour we walk to Brazil and enjoy a delicious Caipirinha.
This adventure also concludes my time in Colombia. The next day I am going to take a boat up the amazon river to Peru.