Heat, pouring rain and the largest river in the world

Sunrise on the Amazon

Wow, it’s been almost a month since I last wrote, how did that happen?! Since then I’ve been to the southern hemisphere and back! Let me explain…

After 2 weeks back in the office having been away the previous fortnight, Laura and I found we had very little to do. As the Cartagena conference draws ever closer there is of course much to be done, but less of it involving translation, and with another Laura having arrived on her year abroad too, there just wasn’t enough to split between three of us. So Laura C and I went to the Amazon. Well, we had actually booked our flights a few weeks before having checked first, but basically that’s why we went. And because Colombia is a country with Everything, so how can we not make the most of it?*

The flight was 2 hours and for the second hour all we could see out of the window was green. Endless stretching soft green, occasionally broken by a winding river, but from horizon to horizon there were only trees. And stepping off the plane, into the thick wall of heat, we were greeted by the sounds of parrots circling above us and a solitary passport control officer, who was waiting by the door, poised to greet foreigners as they waited for their baggage. This was Leticia, the biggest town on the Colombian side of the Amazon, at 37,ooo inhabitants. It lies at the furthest south-eastern tip of Colombia, where Brazil, Peru and Colombia meet and become one, without borders. Leticia is on the Colombian side, Tabatinga on the Brazilian, and across the river the Peruvian island of Santa Rosa. Three cultures, three currencies, two languages.

The Amazon basin has the most devoloped tourist infrastructure of anywhere in Colombia, and rightly so, there’s a lot to see! With 7 days and a limited budget, Laura and I had to decide how to spend them wisely, which was not easy. All the 2-3 day jungle tours were extremely expensive, and we felt that our money could be better spent on day trips and the 10-hour boat ride to and from Iquitos, Peru – the biggest city in the world unreachable by road, with 500,000 inhabitants. So, decisions made, we headed for Puerto Nariño, 2 hours upstream. Just before the boat was due to leave, there was an almighty storm. The rainy season had arrived. The roads flooded within minutes and we waded to shelter in the booking office, barely kept dry by our raincoats. Huge drops, columns of water, pouring, streaming from the rooftops, thunder: real rain, pure pleasure. This is how it should be done. An hour of beautiful chaos, where the people stop what they are doing to watch as the most welcome of all weather arrives in force. And the calm afterwards is like a sigh, a relief from the oppressive humidity that haunts the daylight hours.

Puerto Nariño is a town of about 500 inhabitants, mostly of the Tikuna tribe, and a hub for tourists in the area. We stayed there 2 nights, the first in cabins about half an hour’s walk from the centre, run by an ex-friar with 3 pet monkeys, a parrot, a cat and 3 dogs. The second night we stayed in a hotel in the town, where the shower was free from other worldly insects and we could make use of the internet that came with the 4 hours of electricity daily. There were 3 other travellers in the town, also staying with us – a Colombian, and a couple who were living in Canada but originally from Germany and New Zealand. Together, we hired a guide and walked for three hours through the jungle to an indigenous village. And the jungle is just how I pictured it: hanging vines, trunks stretching upwards so far that they appear to meet before they touch the sky. Chirrupping chatter floated above us mingling with singsong to create a hubbub that breathed fertility and possibility.

The indigenous village was on the banks of a tributary of the Amazon, and when we arrived there were several people swimming and bathing in the borwn water. All the wooden houses were on stilts, to protect them from the rising river water – after the rainy season the Amazon rises by 15m. We were invited to try the local drink, made of fermented plantane, which was actually quite nice, and we walked around the whole village, greeted by children very used to tourists. There are very few villages living in complete isolation these days, only sticking to traditional methods of living - the people were wearing jeans. But their techniques for cooking and building houses were their own and they were sticking to them.

The return journey was by boat, along the Amazon in a dug-out canoe, with the water lapping the rim. On the way, we saw a school of pink dolphins, leaping out of the water to show off their rosy bellies. We turned off the motor and watched them for a while, frolicking in the sun, unafraid. Completely impossible to photograph, like the butterflies who followed us wherever we went, but memorable.

Back in Leticia the next day, we cycled to Brazil for lunch. Speaking Spanish and getting replies in Portuguese made trying to order vegetarian food for Laura interesting (You’re a vegetarian?? So what do you eat, salad? But you eat chicken right?). And tyring to get directions to a restaurant with a salad bar was a long process involving much gesticulation. But we managed to get some lunch, shading from the scorching heat, and then cycled back to Colombia! We went for another trip later, this time to Kilometro 26, where there is a reserve which offers high rope expeditions and also has a snakery. Thankfully, these were the only snakes we saw, at a safe distance, sleeping, but impressive nonetheless. We climbed the trees, up to the canopy, for a view of dense leaves of all shapes and sizes, and branches and birds and bugs. And the zipwire was so much fun, flying through the treetops in the sunshine.

The boat to Iquitos left at 4am from the Peruvian island of Santa Rosa. We had a mild panic at 3.15am when the key to the hostel broke in the lock and our rickshaw taxi hadn’t arrived, but thank goodness for the German who woke up and lent us his phone and his key so we could get out and away. So we took the rickshaw to the port inTabatinga, Brazil to get a boat taxi so Santa Rosa, Peru - 3 countries in half an  hour! The port was thriving, with 2 boats leaving for Iquitos and taxi drivers, boat taxis and street vendors hustling for business. What a journey. We passed canoes, fishermen, children swimming, small islands, sand bars and all the time surrounded by jungle on the far off banks. I remember thinking, before the sun rose, how symmetrical nature is – the silver of the water reflected the silver arc of the cloudy sky and all the way around the horizon, the sillhouette of the dense forest. Being in the jungle makes you think a lot about nature – there is so much to marvel at, and everything survives, balanced and in its element, evolved to cope perfectly with the situation. And actually I think the people have evolved too – they were just so much less sweaty than I was! Seriously it was pretty gross. After a day’s walking, all you want is a shower, and the minute you step out of it, you need another.

In Iquitos, we did another day’s jungle walk, this time in primary jungle, which was denser, more vine covered and noisier. We saw all manner of butterflies and insects – I got stung by a wasp and it was so painful! We saw birds, monkeys, a caiman and armadillo tracks – but no jaguars, trantualas or poisonous snakes. And we swung from a vine, hicimos Tarzan. We ate a fruit that our guide called guava which hangs from trees in long thin green pods and is furry and sweet. Bizarre, but quite yum! We returned to Leticia the next day, on the 6am boat, this time leaving as the sun rose. It’s amazing how you can spend 10 hours on a boat and hardly notice the time passing, with an ipod for company and the sun on the water.

That day was Halloween, which is big in Colombia. When we got off the boat we were surrounded by children and families, costumed and ready with their little pumpkin pots for treats. But at 9pm the town went quiet and the children dispersed, leaving a lull before the adults came out to party the night away. And on our final day in Leticia we shopped a little, ate ice cream and watched the rain. My conclusions from the trip? It is no coincidence that Amazon and amazing are such similar words!

Since returning to the office, work has been hectic and buzzing. On Tuesday we had a team meeting, the only one we’ve had with everyone present. We discussed what everyone’s going to be doing in Cartagena, and what everyone is doing until then, and I am excited! The three inglesas have been given the task of translating for the 15 survivors going to the conference, funded by Mercy Corps – who are also paying our flights and accomodation! (And we tried to persuade them that we could stay in a hostel, because I definitely feel bad that we’re using charity money, but they are determined we’ll all be together!). Also going to the conference are the four youth delegates from around the country funded by Mines Action Canada, who are running a youth forum alongside. Daniel, who I stayed with in Popayan, is one of them. And they all need to have a reasonably good level of English, since delegates are coming from all over the world, so I now have daily afternoon Skype English conversation classes. It’s been fun, chatting to them, helping them, working on their presentations. So 2 and a half weeks of busy busy and then the Conference!

*Here I would like to quote the Italian photographer Giovanni Diffidenti, newly arrived in Bogota to work with the campaign, meeting landmine victims and documenting their experiences. “Colombia is a country where beauty and horror coexist in inexplicable contrast.” So True.

If you like photography check out his website, it’s ace: www.giovannidiffidenti.com or landmine specific: www.theperfectsoldier.com, and another good one is Gervasio Sanchez.

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