Colombia was supposed to be my last Spanish speaking country in South America, but instead it turned out to be the first.
As soon as we got off the boat in Tabatinga we were eager to get out of Brazil. We planned to stay in Leticia, which is right next door to Tabatinga and people are free to come and go across the border without needing entry and exit stamps.
We managed to hitch a ride to the minivan stop in the back of a ute, 8 of us piled in the back with our backpacks for the ride. I didn´t know when we crossed the border into Colombia, but as soon as we did I could feel the difference. Already the streets were cleaner, the people friendlier, the men less sleazy, the food better and the language easier to understand!
After eating a meal from a restaurant that had pancakes, eggs and omelettes, instead of just meat, rice and beans, we found a place to stay and tried to work out how the dual currencies of peso and real worked.
I wanted to get a boat to Iquitos and cross the triple frontier of the Amazon River, but I was swayed by the thought of going on a seaplane and seeing the river wind through the jungle, so decided that for an extra US$10 I´d rather fly than sit cramped on a speedboat for 12 hours.
We found a bar with heaps of pool tables and played a few games before Kylie and I went back to the hotel, via Mr Burger for a late night snack of burger, pizza and coke before hitting the hay.
The next day Kylie and I went to book our plane tickets as the others were investigating doing a jungle tour. We discovered that we would have to pay in US dollars and then get stamped out of Brazil and into Colombia (yay a Colombia stamp in my passport!). We went with the others to the Policia Federal in Brazil for our stamps, but Mike, Grant and Trudi only realised after getting their exit stamps that they would have to get stamped back in because if they did their jungle tour they would be taking the boat from Tabatinga, and need to stamp out on that day. While they were sorting it all out, with a very funny but almost embarrassing moment where Mike was trying to speak to the immigration in dismal Portuguese when the guy spoke perfect English. The guy asked if wanted to speak to him in English and Mike said "No, whatever you would prefer" not realising that his Portuguese was incomprehensible.
While they were sorting out the mix up, Kylie and I took mototaxis to the immigration office, only to discover that we needed to get our stamps at the airport, so we walked there past the cemetery, army barracks and zoo. The immigration officials were very friendly and asked us how many days we wanted stamped on our passports. They thought that Kylie´s skanky poto bite on her neck was a hickey and wanted to come dancing with us that night. (By this stage my poto bite on my arm was really skanky and showing no signs of letting up)
The next day Kylie and I decided to hire motorscooters and checkout the town. It cost $20,000 pesos for the day (AUD$10) plus petrol and we had an absolute ball! It was quite tricky getting used to the gears (it had been ages since I´d ridden a motorbike) and driving on the opposite side of the road, but I managed okay without any bunny hops or getting hit by another bike. We ran a few errands and then went for a ride to the airport, hoping to go further, but the road was blocked by an army truck. Riding back past the zoo we decided to visit it and hopefully see an anaconda.
It was a measly $2,000 pesos (AUD$1) to get into the zoo and we were given a tour by the zookeeper. It was a run down and ramshackle zoo but it had a certain charm about it. There was a large tapir sleeping and the zookeeper went over and hit it on the rump to wake it up. He didn´t want to get up and was making these whimpering, whining sounds and in the end it took some food as incentive to get up. Kylie and I got to pat it and had our pics taken with it. It was larger than I thought it would be and was very docile.
We really wanted to see the anacondas so we were taken there next. The zookeeper opened the gate to the cage and as he did a boa sleeping above the door hissed at him. He beckoned us in but we were a bit hesitant and first made absolutely sure that the snakes wouldn´t bite us. The anaconda was lying on the ground and the zookeeper asked if we wanted to have our picture taken with it. After a few anxious moments I thought why not. I almost freaked out when the heavy anaconda was plonked around my neck. The zookeeper held it´s neck and it´s tail hung down around my feet. I burst out laughing with nervousness when the anaconda started to curl it´s tail around my ankle. Kylie said later that it was the best rub up she´d had in a long time!!
All the animals had names and the caiman´s name was Paulisto. The zookeeper called to him from a jetty above the plant covered pond and we couldn´t believe it when the caiman (like a croc) surfaced and came towards him. The zookeeper told us that all the animals were his friends and that they all had names. Other animals we saw were owls, tigers, pumas, pigs, a manatee and some monkeys. The little macaco´s (monkeys) were cute and they would put their hands through the wire so shake hands. While I was shaking the black monkey´s hand he tried to pull my bracelets off my wrist and I had to struggle not to lose them. I was having my picture taken with the black macaco, concentrating on him pulling my bracelets off when suddenly a white macaco bounded over as fast as lightning, ripped my glasses off my face and pulled them through the wire. I couldn´t believe it!! As soon as the zookeeper realised that the monkey had flogged my glasses he went into the cage and he dropped them straight away. After handing them back to me, the macaco came over and held it´s hands through the wire for a light spanking from the zookeeper!
We then headed to go down another road that we saw lots of minivans heading down and stumbled across the township of Los Lagos where schoolkids were waiting to catch the bus for afternoon school. It was nice to get out of the town and see something that most people wouldn´t.
We rode to Tabatinga for lunch, but were depressed when it was so grotty and horrible so went back to Leticia. It started pouring while we were in our hotel and we thought of Trudi who had gone to the zoo after us and thought we would ride back and make sure she got the airport to get her Colombian stamps. It started pouring while we were on our way and we were soaked by the time we found the dry Trudi at the airport.
That night, Kylie, Trudi and I played pool again before hitting the Tabatinga nightlife. It was almost midnight and we took a taxi to Oasis and after seeing only a couple of people inside we started walking to Scandalous which was just a bit further down the road. Three guys on motorbikes were riding the opposite direction and Kylie yelled something out and they turned around and rode up to us. They were in the Brazilian airforce and were heading out. We managed to get them to dink us to Scandalous and then they said that they would come to the club later.
To our dismay they were playing forró at the club (which none of us liked), but this soon changed to some English music. The club was pretty big and quite full. About half an hour after arriving the airforce guys found us. I started talking to Jean and ended up kissing him, but he was embarrassed to kiss me as all his friends were around. I hadn´t wanted to start speaking Portuguese after leaving Brazil, but this was an exception. He was a bit disappointed that I was leaving the next day, but it was refreshing to kiss a Brazilian man who didn´t get all clingy and start calling me his girlfriend.
At the airport the next day we discovered that our flight had been delayed for the next morning, so we had to check into a hotel again and spend an extra night in Leticia. Again, at the airport the next morning, our plane was delayed another 3 hours, but we finally got onto the 30 seater, with a souvenir keyring as compensation for the delay.
What I learned
* I want to go to Colombia again
* Monkeys are thieving creatures
* Border guards aren´t as scary as I had imagined
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