Anaconda Hotel Leticia

... in. I really wanted to stay closer to the center, although the second house looked like a nice jungle respite with its own lagoon and all. Nice resort like place.

So we went on moto to the other place but by then the final dorm had been filled. Now if I couldīve just registered in the first place, I couldīve had it. So I just walked to the next entry on lonely planet. The ...

... some havaianas since I lost my other flip flops. So I did the typical Brasilian things in a moderate Brasilian city. But wow is it hot here. Thatīs why instead of doing the normal hostel situation, I got myself a private hotel room with a/c. I couldnīt be happier spending the extra money for it.

I actually started off going for a dorm, but then I was shuttled around to a different place where the parrots were ...

... tabatinga are pretty much one city, so it was cool cause we went out and partied in colombia and brasil all within one night, and no more than 5 minutes of transportation between the two. the next morning i had to get ready because i had a flight to bogota, but first i had to take care of immigrations again in peru because i didnt have the proper documents the day before. long story, but to put it all short and easy, i had bad luck this week and my wallet was stolen right ...

... have always been an important area of drugs trade and over the years a lot of people have lined their pockets nicely. And Guerilla (Farc) and other Paramilitaries enjoy the remoteness from the capital Bogota here.. Although we did not meet any of these guys, fortunately!

See attached some impressions from the Amazon.

... from town but what you see on the other side is an island, not the far bank. While walking around I found a place where I could buy my ticket for the Rapidito to Iquitos. It costs $65 including breakfast and lunch and takes about 11 hours. Or you can take the slow boat which can take several days. The only drawback to the Rapidito? It leaves at 4 a.m.!!!

... 15 minutes in, NOT a good place to hike to at midday! Of course, it being a spur of the moment decision, we hadn't brought enough water either. I don't think I've ever wanted to drink the brown Amazon waters more! I didn't though, bearing in mind that the nearest hospital was 70km away. I did, however, get bitten by a wide variety of nasty, nasty insects, which bit me so hard there were dots of blood all over my back ...

... just to sit there listening to the jungle all around us. I wasn't as apprehensive as I thought I would be, probably because I could see everything so clearly in the moonlight. Unfortunately this meant there wasn't a lot of animals to be seen. It's easier to see them on darker nights apparently. We just saw a few pretty tropical frogs and contented ourselves just listening to the forest.

... it was time to go see the dolphins...unfortunately for us, we only saw a few grey ones, no pink ones :( I was so disappointed as this was one of the main reasons I wanted to come down here. On the way back we stopped off in Mocagua, one of the indigenous communities. They have a lake where Victoria water lilies grow - the largest in the world. The Americans who came with us stayed by the bridge, not wanting to venture further in. Me and Alex ...

... the river is so flooded!) and then to a lecture on eco-tourism and the different projects they were trying to implement in the area. It got dark during the lecture, and the jungle, which had been fairly noisy up til this point, suddenly errupted into life with birds, crickets, monkeys and lots of other sounds I didn't recognise. It was absolutely breath-taking to hear. The crickets, of course, were the loudest. Their song rose to a ...

... the surrounding hammocks. Got a few hours sleep at the most, may sleep on the floor of the top deck tonight. I think 6 nights in hammock is going to kill me! Really surprised how cold it was on the boat tonight, a big storm broke out in the early evening and it was bloody freezing. It was actually quite nice to experience some cold weather but strange to be so cold in the middle of the Amazon jungle. When I say cold, it was probably 20 degrees but compared ...