Our 5:15 wake-up call came for bird watching, once again, delighted to hear the chorus of the jungle as I first turned on my processors for the morning. We walked down to the port, already seeing an active market getting set up. Lorenzo told me that people get started around 5 AM around here — I saw lots of boats coming in with fish, bananas, mangoes, not unlike the scene I saw a couple days ago in Leticia. We met up with our birdwatching guide, also a member of the local Indigenous community.

We headed upstream for a bit in his boat and walked on shore, keeping an ear out for bird calls as they fly to and fro. We saw a few, but as you can imagine, there’s quite a bit of a translation delay! By the time he’d tell Lorenzo in Spanish, and Lorenzo would translate to me in English, I’d then look, and the bird would be gone! So I learned to just follow his blue light as he shines on the tree branches and ask later!

It was eerily dark, so the birds weren’t too active. In hindsight, they knew something was coming. We needed to head back to check out, get our bags, eat breakfast, and meet Wilmar at 8 AM for the boat ride downstream to Leticia to catch the noon flight to Bogotá, where I would say goodbye to Lorenzo and catch the layover to Medellín for my 2nd leg of 3 of this trip.

Monsoon Rain

Within moments of getting on Wilmar’s boat, light rain started to fall. I pulled out my rain jacket to stay on the dry side. The canopy of the boat wouldn’t be enough as the rain comes in the side as the boat goes pretty fast. Then suddenly, a huge downpour came and high winds picked up. Wilmar said it was a monsoon rain and he’d need to navigate with caution. He put on his poncho, handed Lorenzo and I one, so we just covered our legs. Within moments it became unbearable and Lorenzo suggested we tuck ourselves under the poncho so that the rain doesn’t hit our face so hard against the wind. Then a THUD came and the boat came to a stop. For the first time, I saw worry in Lorenzo’s face. We looked up, there was no one else on the river. Wilmar said he hit a trunk with his motor, but moments later the boat started back up again. I was so relieved. I decided from that point, I’d not ask for Lorenzo to translate what was going on, as to not get too nervous! Wilmar checked that the boat drain was working, but had his second mate on hand to bail water out of the boat. I just told Lorenzo to keep giving me the occasional thumbs up that all is ok and we’ll make it back in time to catch the flight out. 😅 I was surprisingly calm the whole time. I trusted Wilmar and his expertise navigating the river during a monsoon rain like this one.

After about 1.5 hours of zigzagging the river around rocks, trunks, the skies cleared up. Lorenzo kept saying what an expert boat captain Wilmar is, navigating us through that to get to our destination in time. So I was able to enjoy the last 30 minutes taking in the Amazon and watching the boats come back out on the water. (They didn’t have draining systems on their boats, so they’d surely sink had they been out in the rain, which explained why we were the only ones out on the water.)

I kept thinking to myself “I sure wanted an adventure, and I definitely got the big send-off from the Amazon!” I’m so grateful that the weather cooperated for the most part, beautiful sunset the first night, great weather the second day, and for it to storm early enough that it didn’t delay my flight out.

Leticia Port

We arrived at 9:30 and had some time to walk around, so we went in to a few shops. Lorenzo wanted to get some t-shirts for his kids. My nerves settled and I just took in more of my surroundings, noting the juxtaposition between these markets in Leticia and what I’d seen just hours earlier in one of the Amazonian communities. We headed to the airport, I changed out of my wet clothes and prepared for a close connection (1 hour in Bogotá) to make it to my next destination.

Arriving Cannua

Ana, one of the co-owners of True Colombia met me at the airport. Yet another “that was a close one” moment. My flight, although was slightly delayed, was the last one to make it out of Bogotá before the late afternoon storms rolled in, and all flights to Medellín after mine were showing delays on the board. I was definitely thanking my lucky stars! It’s was about a 1.5 hour drive to the ecolodge, Cannua, in the dark. It was a good chance to chat with Ana and get to know her a bit, and she told me a bit about the region. Totally different from where I’d been less than 8 hours ago: roads full of packed buses, trucks cars, swerving motorcycles and honking horns. Ana happened to mention that Cannua, where I would be staying the next 3 nights, had laundry services. I was so excited because I’d planned to wash my clothes in the sink with my laundry bag and hang on a clothes line to dry. I wanted to hit the easy button on the laundry service so fast!

When I arrived, I was handed a refreshing cocktail and shown to my cabana. I was excited to unpack my suitcase for real, and get settled for 3 nights. Took a hot shower, changed into “regular” clothes and came down for a delicious dinner. I was also able to get online for the first time in a couple of days and began writing and connecting with family and friends. It was a perfect way to end the “adventurous” day!