More from the Amazon

I have to write more about our days in Puerto Nariño, the jumping-off point for our jungle adventures. Forgive me the length of this post. It's just that there is so much to tell.

The first day we went on a boat trip to Lake Tarapoto, home of the famous pink dolphins. We only saw a couple that were kind of purple but to cruise down the Amazon in a little motor boat was incredible. We stopped in an indigenous village and later went for a swim in the river's very murky waters. I was sure something was going to attack us, but we emerged unscathed by either pirañas or any other scary critter.

The next day was our first big hike, this one to a different indigenous community called San Martín. It was a three-hour trek through the most mosquito-infested place I have ever been. They positively swarmed around us. On an otherwise tranquil hike, we did have a slightly nerve-wracking moment when we unexpectedly hit the end of the trail -- not where we were supposed to or where the boat was supposed to meet us. Fortunately, we came across a local Ticuna man, his hands and face painted a dark blue color from a plant dye used by indigenous people in the area, with a dugout canoe who ferried us across a stream so we could continue our trek. When we finally made it to San Martín we were greeted by, among other curious onlookers, by a toddler yelling "Turistas!" as we passed. It was hilarious yet disturbing at the same time. The kind of surreal experience continued as the local drunk insisted on being our tour guide through the community. Finally -- when, I swear, I didn't think I could walk another step in the rubber boots we had to wear for this muddy hike -- we headed back to Puerto Nariño by boat.

Our last full day in Puerto Nariño we went on a much more hard-core, much more jungly hike. We tromped through mud and grasses taller than us. We ate wild grapes and tasted some local yucca moonshine-like drink (not particulalry tasty). We walked through several communities (one complete with soccer field and covered bridges) in the middle of nowhere. Again, the silly-looking and spectacularly uncomfortable rubber boots proved to be the best $7.50 I've spent in a while. It was worth every step in them, following our guide Saúl who cleared the path with his machete when necessary and taking in the green that surrounded us and the blue sky when we could see it.

Now we are back in Leticia, winding down our trip -- but not before we go to Peru for a ceviche lunch. Last night's stay in the indigenous community didn't happen because it was actually REALLY expensive. So instead, we walked across the border to Brazil to try some Brazilian beer (far superior to Colombia's most popular brand, Aguila) and to buy some Hawaiana (i.e. kind of trendy (?) and over-priced in the States) flip flops and $3.50 cahaça. I see homemade caipirinhas in our future.

In sum, if you ever have a chance to come to this sweltering part of the world -- home to skies that seem bigger than in other places, even when the daily rain clouds roll in, as well as to this enormous river that cuts through a dense jungle populated by isolated communities of indigenous people trying to both preserve and share their customs and traditions -- take it. You will feel as lucky as I do to have been so far from the rest of the world and seen such wonderfully different things.