Colombia 2024, part 12 (Leticia, Puerto Nariño)
After a relatively good night's sleep in Leticia, in the Colombian Amazonia, I woke up slowly because my transport to Puerto Nariño was scheduled for later that morning. I still felt a certain fatigue, possibly due to a cold or a similar illness, but now I was mainly troubled by a dry cough. It would calm down occasionally, but at times it caused significant problems and further exhausted me. However, there wasn't much help available, so after eating a few bananas for breakfast while sitting in the yard outside my room at the guesthouse where I was staying, I went out on the street and took a short walk.
I wanted to have coffee, so I chose a local café and billiard club for that. The coffee was excellent.
The previous day, upon returning from Santa Rosa river island in Peru, I stopped by the transportation office and bought a ticket for the boat that goes to Puerto Nariño, so I didn't have to rush this morning, which definitely felt good. However, the transport company insisted on arriving at the dock an hour before departure, so I soon returned to the guesthouse, packed my things and moved to the port and pontoon from which the boat was boarding.
There are two companies providing transportation between Leticia and Puerto Nariño, both using slightly larger, faster boats for this purpose. Luggage is placed on the roof, while passengers board into the covered area of the boat.
The distance between these two places, where Leticia is a city and Puerto Nariño is a village, is about 70 km. With these fast boats, the journey takes around 2 hours, as they make several stops along the shore for some passengers to disembark and others to board.
While I was waiting to depart, I saw a fascinating flock of American black vultures (Coragyps atratus).
While I was still in Belgrade planning my trip through Colombia, including this short stay in the Amazonia and transfer to Puerto Nariño, the mere thought of navigating the Amazon filled me with a surprising amount of joy. This feeling persisted the previous day when I crossed into Peru to eat ceviche and it continued today. The essence is that during these two hours of travel, I spent almost the entire time capturing my surroundings, with my camera, phone and video camera. Of course, not everything will be included in this travel story, but there's a lot of material.
To start with, here's a compilation of videos I captured with my video camera, showing the beginning of the journey, the speed of gliding along the Amazon and what the "docks" where the fast boat stops to allow passengers, both locals and visitors, to embark and disembark can look like. Along the Amazon, there are accommodations in various places, so it's not necessary to stay in Leticia or Puerto Nariño. I assume it's important to specify where you will disembark when purchasing the ticket.
I also made a short video using clips I made with my mobile phone.
As for the photos, well, the Amazon river was the main focus of my attention.
On my photos, the colours are partially different depending on whether I used the camera or the mobile phone, and also because the sky kept changing. At one point, I was particularly amazed by the clouds.
I could also see different types of vegetation. Some were floating on the river, while along the riverbank, various plant habitats were clearly distinguishable.
At some places, layers of soil could be seen. I'm not sure exactly what this gray field seen in the next photo is, although from a distance it looks like crumbling rock. However, I learned from a friend knowledgeable about these matters and the living world of the Amazon that the rarest thing here is actually – rock.
At several points along the river, clear signs of human intervention can be seen, such as the banana plantation visible in the photo below.
But, humans are present here in other ways as well.
For instance, whoever passes by here in their boat can also stop at a bar...
Or go to a shop and buy petrol, sodas or beer. It is all written visibly for the people to see.
These entrepreneurial ventures are usually located near landing sites, which vary in formality. Some of these sites also accommodate the fast boats travelling along the Amazon.
At one such landing site, I was delighted to see that a small settlement there is called Macedonia. Since I have a dear friend, Saška, who was born in North Macedonia, I had to take a picture of it and send it to her later.
But, besides the local population living along the Amazon's shores, visitors from various parts of the world also come here, requiring accommodation. In the next photograph, apart from the buildings along the shore, you can also see the roof of a much larger house towards the upper right. In the following few photographs, you can see more clearly various larger structures that are likely used for tourist purposes.
But besides the river, vegetation and traces of human activity, to my immense delight, I managed to spot and even capture a beautiful bird. This was a large-billed tern (Phaetusa simplex).
After two hours of travel and my intense enjoyment of the experience, we arrived at Puerto Nariño. Here's a map showing its location:
Puerto Nariño is a small settlement within the municipality of the same name, founded in 1961. It is home to around 6,000 residents, predominantly belonging to indigenous tribes who have traditionally inhabited the area.
Since this is the second largest settlement in the Colombian Amazonia, the pier here is more substantial, with access to land via some sort of bridge. I took advantage of this to capture a beautiful view and also a selfie.
Already while I was standing on the dock, I met three fellow passengers who, like me, were staying at the same "hotel." Since this hotel is located outside Puerto Nariño, the agreement was that they would send a boat to pick us up. The hotel was advertised as having a restaurant where we could eat during the day and the fact that it was located away from the village was not supposed to be a problem. However, the young man who came to pick us up informed us that the restaurant at the hotel was closed. He suggested we eat in the village and recommended a place where we could do so.
So, the four of us – Jessica from England, Giacomo, an Italian living in Paris, Felipe, a Colombian living in the Netherlands, and myself – went for a short walk around Puerto Nariño with the intention of having lunch there.
Besides seeing the covered sports field, I also noticed a market, so I bought some fruit there for later.
Puerto Nariño is interesting as an urban settlement because the use of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, is prohibited there. This is often emphasised, highlighting Puerto Nariño as an ecological community. As far as I understand, the only motorised vehicle that operates here is some kind of tractor used for collecting garbage from bins in front of houses.
While I was on the boat moving relatively fast, I didn't even feel the heat of the tropical sun. Here, however, without the wind in my hair, the heat and high humidity were strongly felt and the proper shade was scarce.
So the four of us soon went to the restaurant that was recommended to us and the food was really good.
The agreement was to meet back at the dock in about an hour to transfer to the hotel. I used the waiting time to take more photos of the Amazon and its surroundings.
Puerto Nariño is located at the entrance to a branch of the Amazon, or it could be seen as the extended mouth of a smaller river, the Loretoyaco, depending on how you look at it.
In the meantime, the four of us began to get along really well and chat, so we boarded the boat together and then we also had to take some pictures.
As it turned out, we were interested in the same things, so the next day we went on two excursions together, which was extremely pleasant and cheerful.
For now, though, we had just transferred to our accommodation.
After dropping off my things in the room and changing, I went to the pool at the hotel. I'm not particularly fond of pools, but here the idea was more about relaxing a bit, especially since I didn't have any plans for this afternoon anyway.
I had a nice chat with Giacomo (the two of us were certainly the most talkative members of our group) and I also took advantage of the moment when a beautiful and interesting butterfly landed on the path around the pool. It was most likely a specimen of the Diaethria euclides species, certainly belonging to the genus Diaethria. Interestingly, butterflies from this genus are called "88" in Spanish due to the pattern on their wings.
Afterwards, I returned to my room, took a shower and then went for a stroll around the grounds of the guesthouse. I particularly enjoyed walking down to the riverbank.
When I reached the riverbank, extremely dark clouds had gathered in the sky, creating a very dramatic scene. I was absolutely fascinated!
It did not rain where I was standing and about 15 minutes later, the clouds moved away, lost their dark colour and the sun broke through again, creating a beautiful scene once more, just a bit different. By the way, January is one of the rainiest months in the Amazon, so all of this wasn't surprising.
As I’ve said the rain didn't fall where I was standing at that moment, but it did rain elsewhere. That's when a rainbow appeared!
Here, I made a short video clip to give a better sense of the sights and sounds that surrounded me.
All these events in the sky had no impact on some people who likely had to go about their business regardless of the weather conditions.
Then I wandered around the property, taking photos of birds. As the sunset approached and the sky began to create its own drama again, I returned to the riverbank to enjoy the evening calm over the Amazon. I was beside myself with happiness!
As for birds, the Amazonia is known for its vast diversity with around 1300 different species! Of course, this biodiversity extends to other animal and plant species as well. I practically stayed here for just a day and a half, and aside from going on two half-day trips the next day, I didn't move around much. Yet, without much effort, I managed to observe and capture around 15 bird species.
The most impressive ones were probably the yellow-rumped caciques (Cacicus cela).
They had a proper settlement on a large tree and it was such a captivating sight for me that I tried several times to capture them as best as I could. Hence, I ended up with two video clips of the same species, which makes sense. While filming the first one, the wind was blowing and causing the branches to sway, but it didn't disturb these birds from effortlessly flying into their homes. In the second clip, the wind calmed down, resulting in slightly different scenes.
I also noticed another interesting species a bit further away.
After it became dark, I sat by the river for a while longer and later I went to have dinner where I enjoyed another pleasant evening with my fellow travellers. We also finalised our plans for the excursions we would go on the next day. Jessica, however, opted to venture into the jungle again this evening to search for animals, but I was very content with the peaceful end to the day.
After some time, I retreated to my room and went to bed. Later on, it started raining outside. The sound of the rain was lovely and soon I drifted off to sleep.