Colombia!!!!: August 2011

I’m probably back in Bogotá or even Cartagena by the time you are reading this, but here is a brief summary of my time in the Amazon. Hopefully it will also explain why I wasn’t able to post anything for a while!

WEEK ONE

So, I left Bogota on the 7^th August. I had the cutest, ancient little Colombian taxi driver on the way to the airport, who chatted away nonstop for the entire journey. I understood bits of it. Saw a big bus crash on the way and then the most bizarre sight ever – a massive truck was chugging along and as we overtook it I looked at the drivers and it was two ancient old nuns. Wish I’d been able to take a picture.

I got to the airport with ages to spare, so wandered around. There wasn’t much to do. I found Jack at the boarding gate. He seemed nice enough. Then we had the flight. I had been quite looking forward to it because I’d been told that the plane stays quite low so the view as you go over the Amazon is amazing. However, I’d woken up on the Saturday with a cold, and my eyes were agony for the entire flight so couldn’t really appreciate the view.

When we got off the plane at the airport the heat immediately hit you – it was roasting! The airport is literally a tin shed. They have a man pulling a big trolley with all the luggage on. Then we saw everyone buying a tourist card, so presumed that you had to, but then later realised that we didn’t need to because we had a visa – oh well.

Next task was getting a taxi. There were a few outside, all very old decrepid cars. We got in one and I showed them the address of where we were staying. The man looked very puzzled, got out and spoke to some of the other taxi drivers, and then came back and we set off. We drove through what I now know are indigenous communities. The buildings are very basic wooden huts, raised off the ground. They seem quite run down and have little in them, but then considering the amount of rain they get it is probably not worth having anything any better as it would just get ruined.

When we arrive at the reserve we followed the sign to the office, which was someone’s house (the houses are very nice on the reserve). Eventually I manages to explain who we were, and they said we needed to go to someone else’s house on the other side of the reserve. There we met Clara and Oskar. They seem to run the reserve and had organised what we were going to be doing whilst we were there. Or not. They explained how the reserve worked, and what we would be expected to do. But it wasn’t very clear. We thought that maybe they were just telling us briefly. We had to wait for someone else to arrive who had the key for the house we would be staying in. That’s when we realised that we weren’t staying there – a VERY nice house.

When the other person arrived we were shown to our house – except the key didn’t work. They then realised that we were staying in the other house, which immediately didn’t look as nice. We went in, and there was no electricity on (this is quite common – there are power cuts most days and seeing as it is pitch black by 6pm it can get quite annoying!) Clara showed us around – a bat flew into me as we went into the kitchen – not a good start! And the kitchen was basically a bit of an addition to the house, with a 2 ring gas stove, a cold water tap, and some pots and pans COVERED in ants! There is at least big fridge, though with the power cuts it does seem a bit risky leaving any meat in it.

I got the room upstairs, which has some holes in the roof, but at least it was off the floor and away from the ants. The bathroom was outside and has a toilet, a cold water tap for the sink, and a cold water shower. . . though the shower is actually very nice with how hot it is all the time.

We had dinner back at Clara’s house with a few other people who live on the reserve. We got told again what we were going to be doing whilst we were there, but still weren’t completely sure. They then asked us what food we had bought with us – none, seeing as we had flown. They seemed very shocked, but seeing as the coordinator of the whole thing had told us to go straight to the reserve and that transport would be arranged to go and get food either that afternoon or first thing the next morning we hadn’t worried.

They took us back to the house, and in the fridge we found one egg, a bit of milk and some coffee. Apparently that was plenty for breakfast, and then they told us where to get the bus from to Leticia, gave us a sketch of the town and where the supermarkets were, and that was it!

Then it was time for bed. I covered myself in DEET, attempted to put up my DEET mosquito net, covered

my bed in DEET, got inside my DEET sleeping bag, and attempted to sleep. The buildings don’t have glass in the windows here, just a mosquito mesh because of the heat. It makes sleeping quite difficult because it is noisy with all the bugs and things! Though I find it quite soothing now. The first few nights I found the heat very annoying hen trying to sleep as well, and then I would wake up freezing about 3am! But now it is fine.

On the Monday morning the man who works for the reserve maintaining the trail was meant to pick us up from our house at 7am to show us around, as we needed to walk it each end of the day to identify the animals and check for any maintenance – mainly fallen down trees! At 9:15 he turned up! He doesn’t speak a word of English, just Spanish and the language of his tribe – he is indigenous. He told us lots of stories during the walk, and with the help of his hand actions I think I got the idea of most of them, and then had to translate it all for Jack. Most of his stories were about people being bitten by spiders, and having to be flown off to Bogota for treatment, poisonous plants and trees, what trees are good for you, horror stories of students they’ve had in the past and got lost and the sacrificial rituals of his tribe – which surrounds the reserve. So, my fears were put completely at rest!

Made it successfully to Leticia, on the bus, to the supermarket and back! We were very proud of ourselves.

There was a power cut that night, and I came downstairs and something leapt across the room! Scared me to death, then sensibly thought that it was one of the bats – found a torch and it was an ENORMOUS frog! We weren’t sure how to get it out because we had been told that some are poisonous, even to just touch them. Then it jumped onto Jack’s back (very glad it chose him and not me) so seeing as it was already touching him we thought the easiest option was for him to go outside then somehow get it off. It worked. And after talking to Clara later, it is only the small brightly coloured ones that are poisonous.

To start with I thought the jungle was a bit underwhelming. Or rather I wasn’t a nervous wreck like I thought I would be! Plus the cold and the fact my ears were still really hurting and I couldn’t hear party were making me feel a little lousy so I might not have been taking it in properly. I was wondering how I was going to fill 3 weeks here! But then I started to realise that I could have a nice long relax, do lots of reading, try and get a tan – because in the town it isn’t jungly at all so no need to be all covered up – and see some local places. Only problem was that I had almost finished my last book! I had a look around the house though and found plenty of interesting books in English that I have been reading.

The rest of the first week was spent starting to measure out the trail. We needed to put markers every 50m along the research trail. On the Thursday we went into the school – we thought the woman who lived on the reserve was going to take us in, so we sat and waited but she never turned up. So we went to her house, and her husband (non-English speaking) husband rang her, and she tried to explain where to go (she also speaks no English) and resulted to ringing Clara who had to ring us back and give us the directions in English. We had to get the bus to Leticia, then walk to the other end of town, get a motocarro (basically a 3 wheel motorbike which acts as a taxi) to the school. It was a mission! Then met the English teacher, who basically took us into a class and expected us to start teaching! Their English is very basic, and so it was very difficult. The youngest are 3, up to 10 year olds. At least they are split into year groups here though which makes it easier than Bogota in that respect. Plus the classes have 10 pupils in them at the most. We agreed to go in 2 days a week, and would plan some English songs and activities to do with the various year groups. Then we had to get back to Leticia! That was another mission! The English teacher took us to get a motocarro back into Leticia and we waited ages – in the end he said we would have to take two mototaxis – motorbikes that acted as taxis! I was terrified! But it was surprisingly not nearly as bad as I was imagining. We have caught quite a few since. The other day I even had a conversation in Spanish with the driver! Very impressed with myself!

Also have to go into Leticia to do our laundry – though it is a very cheap service and comes back very neatly ironed and folded!

We had decided we would use the heads, shoulders, knees and toes song in our classes the next day – the English teacher though it was great and has had us singing it to very single class! I never want to hear that song again! But the kids love it and they now know all the body parts in the song, and a quite a few others. We also now know where to meet Marta (who lives in the reserve and works at the school) to get a lift to the school. We have to leave at 6:15 am to start teaching at 7am. I don’t know how her car gets us there some days! Almost more scary than taking the mototaxis!

The English teacher was also very helpful in recommending things we should do whilst we are here, and places to avoid. Found some very good places for lunch in Leticia – you get soup, a choice of chicken, fish or beef with different sauces each day, rice, pasta, and vegetables and a massive jug of fresh juice – all for £2!!!

With having to get up at 5am, to wither teach or do our walk round the trail at 6am, we fall asleep very early every night. Plus the heat makes you very lethargic. It is around 35 degrees Celsius most days. The children in the school still run round crazily though!

On the Saturday we went to Clara’s daughter’s 13^th birthday party. It was just down the road at a specific party venue owned by her uncle. There was a stream that you could swim in and canoe down, and a kitchen and big covered seating area. Jack and I went swimming in the river (yes, I actually went in!). It was really nice with how hot it was. Then we helped with the food, and ate lots of cake! We also made a birthday card – they don’t particularly have cards over here, and Waira (the birthday girl) thought it was amazing! Got quite a few bites on the way home because it was getting dusky – Clara had wanted to leave before the mosquitos came out but not all the children had been picked up so we had to wait. Saw a tarantula on the way home, then we had a small one in our bathroom that night.

Sunday we went to help in the minga – all the local community (or in this case the people living on the reserve) get together and do any jobs that need doing, and then everyone brings food. We had to block up some paths that the neighbouring indigenous community have made into the reserve to take wood and hunt animals. They have an enormous amount of their own forest, but insist on going into the reserve. It was very hot, and made the work very hard. Plus everything has to be done by hand because you cannot get machinery through. All the children have to help as well, and one of the little girls who we also teach kept bringing me lots of interesting fruits to try all afternoon, and she was amazed that I could speak Spanish! Afterwards we had fish that had been cooked on the barbeque. There were three different types and all were delicious! And we got more of the sauce that the indigenous community makes – it is like a mild marmite and really good. We also learnt how to peel and prepare the yucca, which they seem to eat with every meal here!

WEEK 2

There were amazing thunder storms on the Monday morning – no lightening, just incredible thunder. Then that night there was lightening without thunder! Really good to watch.

Had giant cockroach hell – luckily it was outside but it was huge! The size of my hand at least! The bats must be getting used to us being here now, because they don’t panic and fly off, hitting us on their way, every time we go into the kitchen now. We also have a gecko living in the bathroom, and another lizard which keeps appearing in the kitchen. There are tons of cats and dogs living on the reserve. Apparently everyone has cats in their houses to eat the bugs. I think we need to get one!

Teaching is very difficult, as we can’t explain anything. I’m sure it wasn’t this difficult in Bogota! But we did take one class completely by ourselves this week, and it actually went far better when they couldn’t ask the teacher to translate every two minutes – we taught them quite a bit. The thing that is frustrating is that some of the children really struggle with reading in writing in Spanish, so trying to get them to learn English as well really confuses them!

Realised this week as well that everyone has a siesta in Leticia – between 12 and 2, sometimes 3, everywhere is shut! Which was quite annoying when we wanted to go to the museum and things. We went back another day though, and we hadn’t missed much! The museum is basically one room, but it has quite a lot of artefacts and the history of the indigenous communities.

Anex, who works at the reserve, bought us quite a few bits of fruit and things from around the reserve this week – we had an enormous pineapple which was delicious. We also discovered another really nice fruit which we got from the supermarket. It tastes a bit like kiwi, but much nicer!

We decided we would try and go on a tour this weekend to see some local attractions. We went to the tourist office to get some advice on the best tour operators to use, and she gave us a few and said to go and get their individual prices. We thought we had picked which one we were going to go with, then this guy came up to us speaking very good English insisting we go with him, on a non-touristy trip for 2 days. We said no, but he kept following us and insisting we go to his hotel. The hotel was on the list of good hotels the tourist information had given us, so we thought we would at least go and listen. He showed us his buck full of positive reviews, and a photo album of all his past customers. It did look quite good, and less touristy, but almost too good. We said we needed to discuss what would be the best day to go, and that we would go back the next day if we decided to go on his tour. Then we went back to tourist information and asked about him – ILLICIT the woman wrote in big red letters on a piece of paper – FALSE she added. Then started doing lots of actions, and basically you pay your money then get no tour – glad we went and asked! So we went for one of the touristy ones.

It was touristy but still good – we travelled along the amazon to a reserve and held parrots, then we went to another reserve and fed monkeys, then we went to an indigenous community and took part in a tribal dance, and watched them make the crafts and things. We then travelled to a lake where there are pihranas and later had pirhana for lunch. It is very tasty. Whilst on the river we saw two separate groups of grey dolphins, but unfortunately there were no pink dolphins. Then on the way back we went to Puerto Nariño which is an eco town – they have no vehicles what so ever! And whilst I was there I bumped into the girl I met in Bogota who is going to Langford (the campus at Bristol uni that I will be at) in October! Strange to bump into her twice! We also stopped at a Peruvian island where you could pay to have photos with the animals that they had – it was horrible, almost ruined the whole day. They had sloths, baby crocodiles, jaguar cubs, tortoises – all just sat there. They must have been drugged or something. Jack and I didn’t even get off the boat.

That night we had a big trauma!! There was a power cut when we got home. Luckily I had my torch in my bag, then went upstairs and still nearly stood on the biggest spider I have seen whilst we have been here! Which was fine, but we decided to put it outside before we went to bed, just so as it didn’t walk all over us. Then Jack went to fetch his ipod which was on charge on the desk at the end of my bed and as he was getting it a tarantula walked over his hand!! That had to be moved before I went to bed! And it was at least double the size of any of the others we have seen whist we had been here! We couldn’t find anything big enough to catch it in. Then luckily we found a bucket – that had a lid! We dropped the bucket over it (well Jack did – I videoed the process) and then we slid the lid under it and had it captured. Then outside it went. Very traumatic experience. Now have to do a thorough tarantula check before bed every night! If Jack hadn’t gone to get his ipod I probably would never have noticed it! And goodness knows how many other nights it might have been there! Apparently they are a good thing to have though, because they won’t go for humans but do go after all the other bugs and insects in the house. It was a little too close to my bed for my liking though. We told Clara, and she said if it had been near her bed she would also have moved it. They move scarily fast for their size though!

On Sunday we went round the trail with Oskar because we weren’t sure which path some of the markers should be going on – the indigenous people have made that many paths of their own it is difficult to know which one we should be following. He then decided, because of this and because they would probably take down any markers they found to be spiteful, that we should mark a different part of the trail! Which meant we had to go round and take down all the markers we had put up and change them, and then go round and put them in the new places!!

THE FINAL WEEK

The last week in Leticia has arrived. More than half of my time in Colombia is now over, and I have only one place left to go. It feels like the end is coming already!

We decided to visit Santa Rosa, which is an island on the Amazon and is Peruvian territory. You can catch a boat taxi there, which is basically a canoe with an engine propelled paddle. Quite an interesting trip but luckily quite short – literally across the river. We had lunch there – the English teacher had recommended a restaurant and what dish to have, which I think is the typical Peruvian dish of raw fish in a lemon dressing that I had read about in one of the books I have been reading – the fish didn’t seem raw, but it could have been. It was good whatever it was! We then meandered along the only two roads on the island – or rather concrete strips about 1m wide. It was a very basic, rustic area. But again, with the weather during the wet season it is probably not worth them having anything better. The surprising thing was the fact that they had street lights! They also had several bars and nightclubs, a police station, an anti-drug military base and quite a big, modern health centre. I think it is quite focused around tourists, with its location, but as with Bogota they don’t push their tourism nearly as much as you would expect. We got a boat back with a very friendly man. He took us right into Leticia’s port, and we got stuck because the water is so low at the minute! He had to get out and push the boat – I felt really bad and was expecting him to put the price right up, but he didn’t. And he wanted to chat for ages when we got there – genuinely friendly, interested chat about where we were visiting, and where should visit. Only my Spanish seemed to go on strike and I could not think how to say anything! Very annoying!

On Wednesday we went to Tabatinga, which is in Brazil. The two towns (Leticia and Tabatinga) are almost one town – apparently. But they are quite different. You can walk straight across the border (past lots of armed military). There is one hour time difference, they speak a different language and the currency is different – so not really the same town at all! Plus the road is immediately bigger, appears more maintained and is a lot busier. The cars and trucks also seem (slightly) more modern. One of the first shops you come across is “Casa de Chocolate” and basically just ssells lots of chocolate. We went in, and immediately felt very stupid when the shop assistant started talking to us in Portugese – we hadn’t even looked what hello was! Once she realised we didn’t have a clue what she was saying, she asked if we spoke Spanish – “Si!” we shouted enthusiastically, then as she repeated her speech in Spanish, we remembered we don’t really speak Spanish! Oh well, we couldn’t buy anything anyway because we didn’t have the right currency. We carried on towards “down town” as the tourist information woman had called it, but never really found it. We wandered off the main road roughly where we thought it should be and found the street vendors selling the usual juices and empanadas, but nothing else really. We had been told that there wasn’t really much to do, and everyone advises you stay in Leticia rather than Tabatinga, but I can at least now say that I have been to Brazil. We could have gone to the DAS and got our passports stamped to prove we had been but seeing as I manages to get a full 90 day visa when I arrived I didn’t want to risk having problems back in Bogota trying to get it reissued.

On Thursday we went for a final lunch at the amazingly cheap restaurants in Leticia, wandered round the park, visited the local arts museum (which had some very nice but over-priced things for sale) and did the touristy shops – they may win the record for how much junk you can fit into one shop! Some of it would have been quite nice if they hadn’t ruined it with tacky “Colombia” and “Leticia” slogans. We considered going to the fish market and buying some fresh fish (we haven’t manage to do the entire time we’ve been here as we’re never there at the right time!) but with how much food we had left to eat up we decided not to.

Friday was our very last day. We finally made it to the Serpentario museum, owned and run by a Serbian, who grew up in Germany then moved to Colombia 15 years ago! He spoke really good English and the tour was really good. All of the snakes have been given to them by the local police, or people in Leticia when they have made their way into the town and are causing trouble. The people normally try to kill them, and so they can’t be released back into the jungle as they are injured and would not survive. They also have an Asian snake – they only intended exhibiting local snakes but this belonged to a collector in Bogota and he needed to get rid of it. They also have a beautiful black alligator. He is 80, and blind so cannot be released (when he was originally captured he was tied up on a beach and ants attacked his eyes damaging his coronas. When the Serpantario took him in they had several experts out to see if there was anything that could be done as they had hoped they may be able to release him back into the wild, but there wasn’t). He used to belong to a zoo that closed down, and because he is blind and cannot hunt his own food he was going to be killed as everyone though it would be too expensive to feed him, so the Serpentario took him in. He eats fish and chicken, and only bothers to eat very few days. He goes into a semi hibernation for days on end, and also because he is blind he is really easy to keep – there is a tiny fence around him but he cannot see to get over it so never attempts! They tried putting turtles in with him, but because he cannot see every time one touched him he would pick it up and throw it in defence. So they have realised he is happier alone. He knows his name, but only when he is hungry. The owner of the Serpantario has set up a project involving Colombia, Peru and Brazil to protect black alligators and increase their numbers – they are almost extinct as they were poached for their skins. The rest of the day was spent tidying, packing, writing up our field notes to give to Clara and Oskar, and a little bit of sunbathing! Oh, and getting tarantulas out of my bag!

Today, we finished eating all of our food, then caught the Collectivo bus to Leticia for the last time where Clara picked us up and took us to the airport where the rest of the family was waiting to say goodbye!

Arriving back in Bogota was really nice – all the staff at the hostel came to say hello and ask about the Jungle, and they had kept by bed free that I stayed in before. It felt like I had come home! Looking forward to a nice sleep in a comfy bed, without any risk of tarantulas. Though I don’t really want to open my rucksack in case there is something lurking in there!

I have spoken to Chris and Alice who are already in Cartagena – they say it is VERY hot, but at 31 degrees it is still cooler than Leticia. Jack and I arrive there tomorrow night, so I will give you an update then! And post some pictures of the Amazon.

Colombia!!!!

Wednesday, 31 August 2011

The flora and fauna

Tuesday, 30 August 2011

Leticia

Mi casa

Saturday, 27 August 2011

The Amazon

Saturday, 6 August 2011

Last day of civilisation!!