Puerto Nariño.

Trip Start Jul 22, 2008
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18
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Trip End Jun 20, 2009


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Flag of Colombia  , Amazonas,
Wednesday, April 8, 2009

    It was SO hot today. I swear I've dropped a few pounds just by sweating! Proper jungle weather. Alex and I took the public boat up to Puerto Nariño today. It's a beautiful little town - one of those places where every house has a little front garden, neatly tended and displaying tropical flowers. Our first stop was the local museum dedicated to the cultures and traditions of the peoples who inhabit this part of the world. After that we went to another place where they showed us a video and talked about some of the eco-tourism projects going on in the area. It was really interesting to hear about the work the community was doing, but by this point I was seriously struggling to stay awake because of the humidity and mid-day heat.
    We then decided to visit the Yagua community, which was about a half hour walk from where we were, and, as we realised 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, and because of the intensity of the heat, my "extreme conditions" bug spray was rendered totally useless.
    The Yagua community is different from the others in that their eyes are this beautiful clear blue/green colour which contrasts sharply with their dark skin. Apparently it's due to their part European decent and a strong gene which has been passed from generation to generation. We bought some more jewelry from them and then it was time to go.
   I wish we had more time to spend there, but we just couldn't. The last boat back was at 4.30pm and we had to be in Leticia the next day. The boat back was interesting...people brought their TVs, banana produce, fans, everything that needed to be transported back to Leticia, the "big city" was on that boat. It must be tough here - unless you have your own boat, movements can be very restricted.
 
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